Brand Development

by Tony Fannin, president, BE Branded

Do other forms of advertising contribute to "buzz" or is it the marketing nirvana that needs no help? Some claim that generating buzz is completely organic. They think it's free (even though marketers spent about $55 mil. a year on “free” buzz). They think it’s the only way to drive sales (even though it's only short lived, about a week or two). And they think that once you have buzz, everyone will remember who you are and what it was for (does out of sight, out of mind mean anything to you?)

There's a study that has just been released by YouGov’s BrandIndex that had some very interesting findings. They measured daily feedback from thousands of consumers for the first half of this year to find out what brands they are “buzzing” about. BrandIndex found that brands who took the initiative and advertised heavily, were able to make significant inroads on brand buzz. LG advertised heavily the first half of this year in conjunction with promotional events. They became the buzz standout with 17.7% in increased perceived value and 22.1% in buzz improvement. In the hard hit financial sector, almost everyone came up losing except Morgan Stanley. While everyone declined in perception and positive buzz, Morgan Stanley gained 11.2% in buzz improvement through aggressive advertising touting their revamped firm with the purchase of Smith Barney. Here’s a short list of some of the winners and losers in the first half of the year. Almost all of the winners had aggressively increased their advertising spend the first half of this year:

Biggest improvement in Perceived Value
1. LG 17.7%
2. Ford 15.2%
3. Facebook 11.5%
4. Best Buy 8.5%
 5. Crystal Light 8.3%

Biggest decline in Perceived Value
1. Craigslist -13.7%
 2. GE -10.9%
3. Citibank -8.5%
4. Bank of America -8.3%
5. Pioneer -7.4%

Biggest improvement in Buzz
1. Ford 24.2%
2. LG 22.1%
3. Microsoft 15.4%
4. Home Depot 14.9%
5. Dairy Queen 12.5%

Biggest decline in Buzz
1. Craigslist -32.6%
2. Air France -27.5%
3. Pontiac -17.3%
4. Hummer -12.8%
5. Chevrolet -12.2%

According to Mr. Marzilli of BrandIndex, believes the brands who take risks and invest in advertising stand to gain the most in the second half of the year. I’m not denying the importance or influence of buzz, but how you get it may be different than you think. A comprehensive strategy that includes online, offline, traditional advertising, and social media all contribute to an ocean of buzz that’s hard to beat. In the end, the real measurement isn’t in visitors to your site or comments to your blog. It’s revenue. Unfortunately, I can’t pay my suppliers with visitor counts or click throughs.

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