Mad Men: Advertising Then and Now

Advertising has transformed with the increase in channels and the plethora of targeting options to segment your audience.

Mass marketing vs targeted marketing

Up to the 1960s, advertisers were very limited in their ability to target certain consumers which resulted in advertisers creating attention grabbing, generic ads which effectively shouted to the mass market. From 1960, the U.S. Census began to offer segmented research, not only on per-capita income and population density but also on lifestyles. Advertisers could more narrowly target their consumers, and increasingly did so using “psychographic” data to create image campaigns. Now with the rise of the internet and social media, advertisers can target consumers based on geography, gender, age, interests and online behaviour to name a few. This has led to a shift away from mass marketing and into targeted campaigns to increase their customers’ loyalty and generate a higher ROI.

Loyalty campaigns are very fashionable at the moment and are extremely popular amongst the retail/airline industries. Many have claimed to have had huge successes with this approach which was not possible in the mad men era.

Some, however, would suggest that advertising hasn’t changed a lot. Although digital has changed the way the game is played, the fundamentals are still relevant as they were decades ago. Mass marketing still works according to Byron Sharp — professor of Marketing Science and author of “How Brands Grow”. Sharp suggests that building memory blocks and increasing its mental availability (brand salience) is key in growing your brand.

Coca-Cola is one of Sharp’s many examples. The average coke buyer (2005 research) purchased the drink 12 times per year. Anyone that analyses data frequently knows that the average can be misleading and understand the need to dig deeper into the numbers. Over half of consumers purchased coke only 1 or 2 times a year. This is why Coca-Cola spend a huge amount of money on mass marketing so they are top of mind for when the consumer does buy a fizzy drink.

Transparency

Agencies have traditionally been seen as a black box with regards to advertising; brands would provide a brief, direction, budget and schedule and the agency would go away and come back with creative magic.

With the growth of the internet, governmental regulations and increasing pressure from brand clients to unbundle their services, agencies (and advertising) have had to become transparent. Gone are the days when an agency inserts marbles into Campbell’s soup to prevent the vegetables from sinking (BBDO 1968).

In the mad men era it was easier than it is today to gain trust from consumers. As the digital channels of today that allow brands and consumers to have a conversation did not exist in the 60s, brands had more freedom to stretch the truth and sell a lifestyle, a dream, a product without much backlash from consumers.

The transparency of the digital tools today gives power to the consumer, it is harder for brands to claim trust. If a brand screws up, people will share about it in real time and brands will have nowhere to hide.

Consumer behaviour

Not only was there a shift in power to the consumers but consumers’ attitudes towards advertising and brands have also changed over time.

As digital ads are generally cheaper than traditional ones, consumers are subjected to an overwhelming amount of marketing messages. According to Razorfish, consumers in the US see on average 5,000 marketing messages per day. Due to consumers being bombarded and the fact that more often than not, the ads are poor and irrelevant there are two things happening at the moment: ad blocking has increased and adverts that “sell” are becoming ineffective.

Ad blocking is one of the major topics of conversation this year so I won’t explore this area here.

As consumers are increasingly disaffected by ads that “sell”, brands and agencies have had to adapt since the one-way-selling approach of the 1960s. Until the 1970s, advertising was considered a part of the sales department. Advertising was meant to persuade a consumer to buy their product or service. The most effective ads don’t sell, but they do make people buy. By keeping the brand alive in your mind (mental availability) it increases the chance that the consumer will recognise your brand amongst the plethora of competitors and purchase your product or service.

Consumers increasingly engage with a brand if they are more socially responsible. According to Nielson’s recent research (2014):

55% of global online consumers across 60 countries say they are willing to pay more for products and services provided by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact

Below are two ads from Coca-Cola where you can see this shift in message:

Hundreds of brands in various industries have become more socially responsible including BMW’s sustainable value, Google and Facebook on their green data centres and Unilever’s sustainable living plan. Although brands become socially responsible for various reasons, ultimately they are a business and so are always looking to generate greater revenue and they know that these initiatives influences consumer’s purchasing behaviour.