Are you thinking about forklifts right now?
We had a workshop couple of weeks ago. One group got the task to plan an awareness campaign for a brand. The workshop leader talked about how nice it was to get an assignment like this. How important it is for a company to build a brand. How crucial it was to be top of mind.
The group rolled out a perfect campaign plan. Printed ads, national newspapers. Not a person in the country would be able to completely avoid the ads. (Well, Sweden is a newspaper loving country.)
Everyone in Sweden would for a measly 5 millions kronors know that this company made forklifts.
Now, we could probably list pretty many other things that could be done for 5 million kronors, starting with taking better care of employees and ending with branded forklift toys for the kid, dreaming about big machines. But most of all, why on earth would the common housewife or retired citizen etc. need to be able to name a brand of forklifts?
I know and admit it, occasionally my home is messy, but never has it been so bad that I have been in the need of a forklift. I will probably go through my whole life without needing to name a brand of forklifts.
Why is it so?
Why on earth does companies spend millions on big adcampaigns to become top of mind in consumer groups that will never ever in their lifetime be in need of what they are selling? And why are agencies telling companies that it's well invested money?
I do get why.
But I think that if you always scream at the top of your voice so that everyone can hear you, you will get a sore throat and people will stop listening at you. No matter if you're saying something interesting or not. We have a responsibility when producing advertisement, not only to the customer but also to the market. We have to nurse the market and make sure that the next time we launch and ad campaign, people will listen.
Selling forklifts to my granny is not market nursing.
