Ask yourself these questions. What is my current branding strategy? Should I be doing something different or should I be doing more?
The world pandemic of the coronavirus, social distancing, are difficult concepts for us to grasp when a few short weeks ago we were a global world with a global economy. Now we are faced with mandatory shut downs of non-essential business and places of worship.
During this unprecedented time, we need to reshape our thinking process in regards to best business practices. This can be difficult to do when we have employees and business relationships that we are worried and concerned about. In my 20 years of experience in the Advertising /Brand Building business I can attest to the fact that the decisions you make today in the middle of the chaos will affect your business when there is no chaos.
Companies are making necessary decisions to cut back on unessential costs during this time and it’s a totally understandable reaction to believe that cutting advertising and branding are the least painful cuts to make. However, the reality is that on the other side of this economic downturn is what will people remember about your business when our economy begins to rebuild. It is important to think about today and tomorrow when making your decisions. Let me share examples of business decisions that were made that demonstrate the need to take action today knowing it does affect the future success of your business as well.
In the 1991 recession, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell both doubled down on advertising, Pizza Hut sales went up 61% and Taco Bell sales went up 40%. During the same time McDonald’s stopped advertising and their sales dropped almost 30%! (Harvard Business)
My favorite story about advertising and branding, is the cereal battle that was going on in the 1920’s between Post and Kellogg’s that occurred during the Great Depression. Post decided to pull back on advertising cutting their ads to almost zero, while Kellogg’s doubled down on a new branding campaign of Snap, Crackle, and Pop. This decision has had ramifications which have lasted almost 100 years! Kellogg’s is now the world’s leader in cereal, controlling 30 percent of the world’s market, while Post is 30 times smaller!
Amazon used the recession of 2009 to springboard themselves into the successful business giant that they are today! Not many people knew about Amazon until it’s management made the decision to spend millions of dollars for ads during a recession. This decision also an immediate increase of sales increase by approximately 35% ( Forbes)
Your business is important to you! We are selective who we work with because we want business that will do a great job! Let’s see if it would be possible to work together to create a plan of advertising and branding that will benefit your business now and in the future.
James Keller
jkeller@decidedexcellence.com
(253) 533-5888
