Friday, May 8, 2009

╠ Brand's aren't forever ╣

I was watching through some old recordings recently and when looking at the ads remembered seeing a lot of things I had since forgotten. It really surprised me how much I had forgotten some things that had previously been so prominent in my mind. The best examples of these brands fading out are movies. There were so many that I remembered there being a big buzz over but then haven't heard anything since for months. To show what I'm talking about who here remembers these movies from last year?

-Wanted
-Marley and Me
- Bolt
- Bedtime Stories
- Step Brothers
- You Don't Mess with the Zohan
- Yes Man
- Pineapple Express
- Jumper
- 27 Dresses
- Role Models

The thing is most of these movies weren't even failures, they're all in the top 50 movies of the year raking in a minimum of 67,266,000 total gross. This is just last year as well so a lot of these may still be new release DVDs or in some cases yet to be released.

Just goes to show without maintenance how quick a brand can deteriorate and be forgotten.

7 comments:

Jono Sumner said...

Well yes, but there is a lot of in store advertising at Target at the moment for Yes Man and Marley & Me (because it was just released on DVD last week) you can't expect them to keep pushing advertising money at it forever, they advertise where it is most relevant. I'm pretty sure Video Ezy or Blockbuster have plenty of ads around for them too.
But there are always new films coming out, replacing the old ones in cinemas, in new release stands. The only way to make a film stand out is to have a large point of difference, be very original. Like Star Ways, Lord of the Rings, Pulp Fiction, Sin City. All these have very original ideas, stories and or structures.

Tannie said...

My point wasn't that they should advertise more, just how easily we forget brands. There's nothing wrong at advertising at the best times. Movies were just the example.

I mean if you trade the movie with a normal brand I think it would be scary as that brand manager to know that your brand could be forgotten so easily.

Tannie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lili said...

I remember them all. ;_;

(Or at least the ones that had caught my attention/I had watched an advert for, considering I don't receive much advertising due to a lack of TV viewing and such.)

Might also be because I tend to be late into the movies as I'm not a fan of sitting in cinemas (I think it's to do with my back) watching movies. I much prefer DVD at home. ^_^; So if I see a good ad for a movie on TV (Not that I watch that often) then I usually remember it right up until I buy the DVD months later, and watch it.

Tannie said...

Well thanks for being the hole in my theory ;_;

In this case I think I'll just count you as a special case

Jono Sumner said...

I remember them all too, but again, I am a film student so I have a high interest in this area.
Also a thing to consider, I think if cocacola did no advertising at all for 10 years, a lot of people would still drink coke, the number would definitely decrease, but I would imagine it would still be the market leader in soft drinks.
I understand were you are coming from, I've considered the fact that movies are forgotten fairly easily, I see DVD's come in to Target that were released in 2003 that I had totally forgotten about, even if I thought it was a good film. I just think that using movies as an example here isn't the best because film is a constantly fluctuating medium. The themes change due to society's values at the time, they are a product and not a brand. Movie Brands are companies like Disney, Universal, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Paramount and these companies have all been around for decades. Sure, their products might come and go, coke tries out new coke products all the time, diet coke with lime, a range of different fanta flavors, most of these have been forgotten too, but the company still exists.
So my point it, whilst a film might appear to be a brand and involve a marketing campaign, it is just a product of a film company.

Tannie said...

I don't think your view of coke would really be true. If they didn't invest in advertising there is no way they would be the market leader ten years down the track.

I'm doing a case analysis at Uni for Snapple which is a US drink. They screwed up their advertising plan over a period of 2 - 3 years, like not just didn't advertise but just advertised at the wrong time. Their company value dropped for 1.7m to 300,000.

If coke didn't advertise pepsi would have free run and all of a sudden Pepsi would pick up as the better and cooler drink.