Many politicians use this strategy; many decry the method and say they’re above it. Ad campaigns for insurance companies and fast food restaurants still employ it. What strategy are we talking about? Going negative!

Nobody really wants to be negative, do they? If we would all much rather keep it positive, why do we continue to see advertisements that criticize competitors? There can only be one reason. Because that strategy works! But why does it work? As advertisers we do everything we can to be memorable and to set ourselves apart from our competition. And, there is so much clutter to overcome — especially during political season! If we can touch the emotions of the potential customers (or voters) that see and hear our commercials, we have a much better chance at being remembered. One good way to touch their emotions: provoke fear of what that competitor or political opponent will do if they’re chosen — everything from making you fat to raising your taxes!

Remember the Subway TV commercials that showed people ordering fast food at a drive thru window? They were ordering the effects of the greasy fried food: the love handles and thunder thighs. They played on our fears, yet made it funny. More recently we have State Farm Insurance throwing jabs at GEICO with dramatizations illustrating how 15 minutes can get you in a lot of trouble (i.e., learning to ride a bull). The bottom line is, as long as going negative works, it will continue to be employed an advertising strategy.

Is it the right strategy for you and your company? Maybe. Your Marketing Consultant or Advertising Agency should help you decide if going negative will be helpful given your product offering, your competitive environment, your brand, and your overall marketing plan.

Are you hearing them yet? Candidates and PAC’s are hitting the airwaves, newspapers, billboards, and yes, even the roadways with their messages, ensuring that none of us will forget that this is election season. Even though it may seem like every other ad is political now, advertising for candidates will continue to increase right up until Election Day! “Why so much?” you might ask. Don’t we all get tired of those ads by August? Aren’t the candidates afraid we’ll get sick of seeing and hearing them?

Even those of us in the advertising industry get tired of the seemingly constant barrage of political advertising during election years. But I can assure you that political campaign strategists do their research. They know that in order to reach voters with their message, they have to repeat themselves — a lot! They know that their message has to be in front of you an average of nine times before it even catches your attention! Nine times! 

As an advertiser you may get frustrated when you’ve been running a commercial or campaign and you haven’t seen results. Like a political campaign strategist, you should make sure that you have plenty of repetition in your advertising schedule. How much is enough? There are rules of thumb for each type of media. Your advertising agency or marketing consultant should be able to advise you about the optimal number of repetitions for your message in a given time period. Your message is important. You have to repeat it enough to make sure your target audience will hear it and pay attention!

TMI – if you have teenagers or tweens you’ve certainly heard this acronym. It stands for too much information, and TMI is one of the most frequent mistakes I see local advertisers make. They try to cram too much information into a 30 or 60 second commercial. The result? The viewer/listener hears the first few words and then all they here is blah, blah, blah. There are ways to get your message across in fewer words. No one (besides you) wants to listen to an exhaustive list of all the products and services you provide. Be honest. Do you want to listen to a list of all the vehicles your local car dealer has on the lot? You’ll change the station (or at least tune out) once he or she launches into it.

As an advertiser, your message needs to be concise and simple enough to be memorable. You have to stick in the minds of your potential customers in order to get the results you want. What are your favorite commercials? Why do they stick in your mind? It’s not because the advertising company gives such a complete list of all the services they offer. It’s not likely that you remember it because that advertiser is the company that has been in business since 1902 or because they have “friendly professionals” ready to serve you. That stuff is too predictable, too cliche.

You remember the commercials that are clever, funny, outrageous, or are a very realistic slice of life. Remember the “dropped call” commercials? Of course you do. They seemed so real. It was something we had all experienced — that uncomfortable silence, making you think you had said the wrong thing; then backpedaling like crazy to try to undo the damage. What was the message of that advertising campaign? Fewer dropped calls. Three words that are very simple… and memorable!

Your advertising agency should be able to help you clarify and focus your message, stick in the mind of potential customers, and get the results you want from your advertising!