Don’t count your distinctive brand assets, make them count
I am fed up with hearing distinctive brand assets talked about as if they are a magic fix for poor branding in advertising. Now, apparently, we need to use seven distinctive brand assets, brand codes, whatever, to get the highest level of recall? Stop the counting madness. It is not how many times brand assets are used that matters, it is how they are used.
The inherent challenge in advertising
We all know that getting people's attention is the precursor to any advertising effect, but we also know that people don't want to see advertising. When an ad successfully resolves that inherent conflict it can be incredibly powerful, but all too often the conflict is not resolved, it is avoided, particularly when it comes to making sure people remember which brand is being advertised.
There is a long-lasting and widespread belief in the ad industry that because people do not like advertising, the appropriate response is to try to engage people's attention while at the same time downplaying the brand. Far from it, if you want your ad to be effective you must earn attention while at the same time making your brand an obvious and integral part of the action.
Not a murder mystery
An ad is not a Knives Out murder mystery. People do not try to figure out what is going on in an ad. For a start, there is no pause for reflection, because the ad is over in thirty seconds and people's attention has either waned or moved on. For an ad to be effective, everything shown and said needs to be coherent and easily intelligible, and the brand so obvious and integral to the action that the ad cannot be mistaken as being for another brand.
Seven is the magic number?
In his video titled, "The Creative Dividend: Four Ads, Three Factors, Two Bears", Mark Ritson reports that using seven distinctive assets or brand codes within an ad is associated with the highest levels of brand recall (importantly, this could be the same asset used multiple times). He uses an ad for Twix featuring the product's iconic wrapper and its two bars to illustrate the point.
Efficacy depends on how distinctive assets are used
I absolutely believe that brands should identify, build, and use distinctive assets to ensure every touchpoint is well-branded. Distinctive brand assets are the mechanism that helps people connect the dots between ads, in-store display, seeing the brand being used or consumed, websites, and more, by triggering the memories and associations linked to the brand. So, yes, make sure you use your most distinctive assets to identify your brand in an ad.
However, just asserting that you need to use seven brand codes or distinctive assets for an ad to be effective is missing the point. It is not a matter of how many; it is a matter of how they are used. I think Ritson admits the Twix ad only had four codes. Well, that is because of how they are used. The structure of the ad, with two campers looking at and talking about Twix while two bears echo the conversation, directs attention squarely at the brand. The ad does not need any more codes to be well-branded.
Lots of distinctive brand assets go unnoticed
On a recent call, a client congratulated themselves for cramming their ad full of their brand's distinctive assets. There was only one small problem, I had not noticed any of them, except for the logo on the end card. The primary reason for my lack of recognition is that my attention was following the protagonists in the ad, tracking their expressions, movement, and dialogue, not looking at the background. If I had been looking at the background, I probably would have no idea what was going on and failed to appreciate the intended message.
A secondary reason is that I am not a customer, so I was unfamiliar with the brand assets used. But guess what? Part of the job of advertising is to help familiarize people with a brand's distinctive assets. To do that, you must make the brand's distinctive assets part of the action, not part of the scenery.
There is no recipe for effective branding
The inherent challenge in advertising
We all know that getting people's attention is the precursor to any advertising effect, but we also know that people don't want to see advertising. When an ad successfully resolves that inherent conflict it can be incredibly powerful, but all too often the conflict is not resolved, it is avoided, particularly when it comes to making sure people remember which brand is being advertised.
There is a long-lasting and widespread belief in the ad industry that because people do not like advertising, the appropriate response is to try to engage people's attention while at the same time downplaying the brand. Far from it, if you want your ad to be effective you must earn attention while at the same time making your brand an obvious and integral part of the action.
Not a murder mystery
An ad is not a Knives Out murder mystery. People do not try to figure out what is going on in an ad. For a start, there is no pause for reflection, because the ad is over in thirty seconds and people's attention has either waned or moved on. For an ad to be effective, everything shown and said needs to be coherent and easily intelligible, and the brand so obvious and integral to the action that the ad cannot be mistaken as being for another brand.
Seven is the magic number?
In his video titled, "The Creative Dividend: Four Ads, Three Factors, Two Bears", Mark Ritson reports that using seven distinctive assets or brand codes within an ad is associated with the highest levels of brand recall (importantly, this could be the same asset used multiple times). He uses an ad for Twix featuring the product's iconic wrapper and its two bars to illustrate the point.
Efficacy depends on how distinctive assets are used
I absolutely believe that brands should identify, build, and use distinctive assets to ensure every touchpoint is well-branded. Distinctive brand assets are the mechanism that helps people connect the dots between ads, in-store display, seeing the brand being used or consumed, websites, and more, by triggering the memories and associations linked to the brand. So, yes, make sure you use your most distinctive assets to identify your brand in an ad.
However, just asserting that you need to use seven brand codes or distinctive assets for an ad to be effective is missing the point. It is not a matter of how many; it is a matter of how they are used. I think Ritson admits the Twix ad only had four codes. Well, that is because of how they are used. The structure of the ad, with two campers looking at and talking about Twix while two bears echo the conversation, directs attention squarely at the brand. The ad does not need any more codes to be well-branded.
Lots of distinctive brand assets go unnoticed
On a recent call, a client congratulated themselves for cramming their ad full of their brand's distinctive assets. There was only one small problem, I had not noticed any of them, except for the logo on the end card. The primary reason for my lack of recognition is that my attention was following the protagonists in the ad, tracking their expressions, movement, and dialogue, not looking at the background. If I had been looking at the background, I probably would have no idea what was going on and failed to appreciate the intended message.
A secondary reason is that I am not a customer, so I was unfamiliar with the brand assets used. But guess what? Part of the job of advertising is to help familiarize people with a brand's distinctive assets. To do that, you must make the brand's distinctive assets part of the action, not part of the scenery.
There is no recipe for effective branding
Assertions like you need seven distinctive brand assets to get high brand recall are comforting, but not very useful. Every ad is unique. It is perfectly possible to create an effectively branded ad using only one brand asset, and it is perfectly possible to load an ad with seven distinctive brand assets, and no one recognizes them. So, if you want your ad to be well-branded, make sure the plot directs people's attention to the brand as part of the narrative, do not fixate on the number of assets used.
Stay Informed
When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.
Comments