Poor Visibility

To start with: Mea culpa, sorta.

In several recent makeovers, I dissected and redid an ad which I later discovered was one of a series of ads.

The presumed theory of a brand-advertising series is that it gradually paints a favorable picture of the brand’s personality, one brush stroke at a time. And hopefully that favorable impression lingers in the prospect’s mind until the time comes to make a buying choice between that brand and its competitors.

Literally billions of dollars have been spent on advertising this way. And there’s no question that at its best it is extremely effective. But there are a few catches to note.

  • Its sales effectiveness is hard to measure beforehand. An indication of this is cases where a big brand launches a $500 million campaign with much fanfare