Professional Documents
Culture Documents
March-April 1955
PER CENT
10
believes that a certain brand is of inferior quality, bit daring and frivolous (and skip a lot of moral
or that another is "on the skids," or that some other middle-class housewives)?
has all the latest improvements, these beliefs are
not usually modified very rapidly. Such reputa- Decision Making
tions are built through time, frequently in ways Basically, although advertising and research
that management is not aware of. people can contribute a great deal toward mak-
(2) It is rarely possible for a product or brand ing the judgment most realistic, this is a man-
to be all things to all people. It may be most de- agement decision. A great deal can stand or
sirable to sell to the most people, but hardly any- fall on the direction taken — such as whether
one can sell to everyone. Some brands have very the company stakes its success on winning a
skillfully built up reputations of being suitable for
a wide variety of people, but in most areas audience larger part of a smaller market, or moving more
groupings will differ, if only because there are goods at a lower margin, or whatever the long-
deviants who refuse to consume the same way other range strategy may be.
people do. Knowingly or not, management makes this
More significantly, there are different age, sex, decision. Thus, some companies do it by refus-
social class, personality groupings, to say nothing ing to sponsor certain radio or television shows
of special interest groups, ethnic groups, and occu- because they believe they are undignified and
pational groups. It is not easy for a brand to appeal (by making these and other such decisions) may
to stable lower middle-class people and at the same v^ind up in the public eye as a rather stufFy
time to be interesting to sophisticated, intellectual outfit with a too-expensive product. Other man-
upper middle-class buyers.
agements insist on "hard sell," until they dis-
Accordingly, management has to determine cover to their dismay that their market has be-
what kind of brand it wants to present. Does come predominantly lower class.
it wish to be very dignified (and forego the Deciding about each campaign or action may
teen-age, dime-store customers); does it vivant not require a session on the razor's edge, but the
to be smart and individual (and latch onto The most fruitful approach is one that involves an
New Yorker readers); or does it want to seem a awareness of long-range goals for the character
38 Harvard Business Review
of the product as well as some attempt to be should be creative, businesslike, or sociable;
consistent with the chosen course. whether it should nursemaid the client (and
maybe his family) or strike out for independ-
Preparing for Action
ence and professional integrity.
It is not enough for management to say to Advertising has been subject to pressures
itself, "Of course we want a favorable brand from the whims and presumed knowledge of its
image. So having decided that we want one clients in a way that well-established professions
which will appeal to all groups, which will have refuse to tolerate — and for several reasons:
all good qualities and no negative ones, let's tell
the world that this is what we are." The man- C Advertising has been an occupation of crea-
agement which takes this approach to develop- tivity and individual personalities.
ing an effective brand image is no more likely C The effects of advertising campaigns are often
to succeed than the management which tries to difficult to measure.
convince its employees it is benevolent and only e Single accounts can mean life or death to an
concerned with their good by telling them loud agency.
and often about its benevolent intentions. e Everyone believes he knows what an advertise-
For management to be able to handle this ment should be like.
problem effectively it should evaluate its brand's
current public image, the differences seen by However, as advertising builds up a body of
different important consumer groups, and the principles, an increased understanding of audi-
images of competitive brands. Otherwise it does ence composition and reactions, and a wide-
not know just what it is working against, what ranging familiarity with procedures and tech-
limitations in image must be overcome, and niques — plus a sense of responsibility and pride
what strengths it has to build on. in good performance — management should
Basic attitudes toward products may set limits recognize these developments and take advan-
on the kind of image which might be developed tage of them.
or in the kinds of satisfactions which the product Having set the goals for its product, manage-
image may imply. Or a given brand may have ment ideally should leave to the skills and know-
such a strong image in some respects that it is how of the advertising people the job of imple-
more feasible to accept these than to change menting them. A layman (with reference to any
them. For example, if a product has a strong profession) is frequently not in a position to
image of high quality and special-occasion use, understand how a particular process or step —
it might be disastrous to try to reduce it rapidly or advertising layout — is conducive to the de-
to more prosaic everyday use. sired goals.
By knowing the possible directions in which
Building the Brand
it might go, management is in a position to
judge the specific moves or campaigns designed In creating, developing, or modifying a brand
to reach the goals it has set. image, the advertising people must have a good
understanding of the situation that confronts
The Agency's Role them. This includes a nuanced appreciation of
the brand image as it already exists — with an
Once the current public view of a brand has awareness that the momentary sales position of
been explored and an image to be aimed at for the brand may be less important for its future
the future has been determined, the major prob- than the danger that people may think of it as
lems are assumed by the company's advertising getting increasingly passé, perhaps.
agency. It is the business of advertising to assist Advertising men must think about such prob-
in the creation of brand images, to give them lems as:
structure and content, to develop a pattern of
consumer attitudes likely to lead to brand pur- 1. In a lively product area, is the brand
chase. How can the advertising agency go about thought of as dull?
this; what is its role? 2. In a conservative product area, is the brand
too frivolously presented?
Professional Standards 3. Does it involve anxious connotations?
As a profession, advertising is in the Hux of 4. Does its use pattern seem increasingly cir-
transition. It is uncertain whether its image cumscribed?
The Prodtdct and the Brand 39
5. Is it an "unfriendly" brand, an overly mas- question, certainly, since presumably advertis-
culine brand, a weak-seeming brand, and ing that does not sell is unproductive. Never-
so on? theless, a single campaign is not the manufac-
Understanding the brand problems and the turer's only salesman, and he usually intends
manufacturer's goals (and remember that his to remain in business for many following years.
objective is not always just to sell the most From this point of view it is more profitable to
goods the quickest) is a basic requirement. Then think of an advertisement as a contribution
a thorough knowledge of how to move ahead is to the complex symbol which is the brand image
needed. \\Tiat are the kinds of variables that — as part of the long-term investment in the
have to be dealt with? How can they be got reputation of the brand.
across to the public? This point of view has many implications.
The truly sophisticated advertising man real- It means that:
izes that communications are subtle, that many e Copy should be thought about in terms of its
an advertisement says things about the product symbolic and indirect meanings as well as its literal
that were never intended by the copywriter. To communication.
illustrate : C Color and illustration are not merely esthetic
Some time ago a less sophisticated advertising problems since they also have social and psycho-
man wanted to know why it was that instant co£Fee logical implications.
had come to be regarded as an inferior substitute c Media selection should be related to a brand
when it was originally thought of as an expensive image plan and not merely geared to circulation
concentrate. It did not occur to him that his own figures.
agency had for a long time been instrumental in
e Research should seek out ideas and meanings
offering a brand of instant coffee with constant em-
as well as audience statistics.
phasis on savings, bargains, deals, economies.
Brand images do not grow in a vacuum. A Conclusion
newspaper advertisement that employed a heavy
black border to demarcate it from its neighbors We have sought to highlight some ideas that
was noted by consumers as dead-looking, and seem to be important in the thoughtful presenta-
the product was thought impure. An advertise- tion of products and brands.
ment that showed the fine texture of the product Products and brands have interwoven sets of
under a microscope made people think of disease characteristics and are complexly evaluated by
bacteria. consumers. Hence, advertising a product is not
a matter of isolated messages. It calls for anal-
Long-Term Investment yses of attitudes and motives. It also calls for
In themselves, such instances of individual a differentiated knowledge and judgment on the
advertisements may not be crucial; certainly a part of management and advertising people; in
product image is the result of many varied ex- a sense, their tasks become richer, and the divi-
periences. They all make their contributions, sion of responsibility more meaningful.
for good or for bad, and will do so best when With the findings of qualitative research,
the long-range goals are kept in mind during management can see its product in a clearer
their creation. Too many advertisements are perspective. Advertising people can increase
built as individual units, with a conglomeration their awareness of the social-scientific nature of
of elements to satisfy different agency and client the communication process and the way in which
tastes rather than with reference to a guiding, their actions influence it. Those on the creative
governing product and brand personality that is side of advertising, particularly, can find new
unified and coherently meaningful. sources of stimulation and inspiration in break-
In many advertising conferences someone ing away from the preconceptions and conven-
will ask: "Which of these campaigns will sell tions that have fixed so much advertising in
the most packages?" This is not an irrelevant set molds.
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