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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
IMC PERSPECTIVE 22-4
VII. Special Topics and
Perspectives
22. Evaluating the Social,
Ethical, & Economic
Aspects of Advtising &
Promotion
The AAF Promotes the Value of Advertising
The advertising industry in the United States continually
promotes the value of advertising. Major advertising
associations, such as the American Association of
Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the American Advertising
Federation (AAF), along with trade associations
for various media, such as the Magazine Publishers of
America, often run campaigns reminding the general
public of advertising’s contributions to the economy
as well as to consumers’ social well-being. However,
sometimes the industry must also remind advertisers
themselves of the value of advertising.
In 1998 a nationwide survey of 1,800 top corporate
executives revealed that modern business fails to
appreciate the true value of advertising. Although
advertising was valued, the survey showed that executives
do not truly appreciate its strategic capacity and
that the industry’s knowledge of consumers was not
fully understood. Of the marketers surveyed, 27 percent
indicated that advertising would be among the
first budget items cut in a sales downturn. Concerned
by these results, the American Federation of Advertising,
which is the advertising industry’s primary trade
organization, decided to take action to change the way
advertising is viewed by companies. The AAF is a unify-
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
ing voice for advertising and serves as a home base for
advertisers, agencies, media companies, direct marketers,
online publishers, and many other specialties
that constitute the advertising industry.
The AAF decided that the best way to get marketers
to recognize the value of advertising was to practice
what it preaches, and thus an integrated marketing
communications campaign was developed to redefine
advertising in the eyes of corporate executives. The
campaign is targeted at the “O’s”—CEOs, COOs, CFOs,
and CMOs—who are responsible for establishing and
maintaining budget levels for advertising. The theme
of the campaign is “Advertising: The way great brands
get to be great brands,” and it cautions corporate
America not to neglect brand development. In today’s
business environment and time of economic challenge,
the campaign stresses that advertising is more
important than ever and plays a very significant role in
building brand equity and profits.
The “Great Brands” campaign broke in October
2000 and initially was run in national newspapers such
as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York
Times; financial magazines such as Forbes and Fortune;
and leading trade magazines such as Advertising
Age, Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek, and Brand Marketing.
The campaign featured successful brands such
as Altoids, Intel, Coca-Cola, Energizer, Budweiser, and
Sunkist. In early 2002 the campaign moved to television
with the premier of two TV commercials. The 15second
spots feature the Coca-Cola and Intel brands.
All media time and space for the campaign are
donated; since it began, more than $4 million worth of
media coverage has been given to run the ads. The creative
work for the campaign is also done on a pro bono
basis, by the Carmichael Lynch agency.
The AAF president and CEO, Wally Snyder, notes
that the Great Brands campaign is a way to illustrate
the economic power of advertising by featuring companies
that are synonymous with quality advertising
and for which advertising has played a critical role in
building brand equity. His goal is to make sure that
other marketers get the message regarding the value
of advertising.
Sources: “AAF’s ‘Great Brands’ Campaign Moves to Television,”
press release, AAF News, Jan. 29, 2002; “Advertising. The Way Great
Brands Get to Be Great Brands,” Great Brands Q&A, www.AAF.org.
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