Who is Your Brand Spending Time With?

I wrote a short piece on this last week, but felt it to be a topic worthy of a bit more musing. As Marketers, we spend a tremendous amount of time working on, and worrying about the message we send to our consumers. We then spend more time (and a lot more money), choosing the media that will expose that message to our consumers. But, do we really understand the environment in which our consumer will see our message. How much control do we have, and have we taken, over where, when and what is in close proximity to our brand?

Picture a television ad for a brand of Beverage-Alcohol. The Brand Team and Advertising Agency have worked hard to develop what they think is a create piece of creative, that will be unique, memorable and motivating for their target consumer. They have built a media plan that includes television, out-of-home and a selection of digital and social media placements. They are delighted to know they got "Grey's Anatomy" as one of the shows in the television buy - the viewing audience is large and skews to their target demographic.

Imagine their horror, as one of the episodes they bought depicts a drunk driver smashing into a another vehicle, critically injuring the family inside. The commercial break begins immediately after, with their brand as the first spot to run.

Too few media plans are built with the level of granularity and clarity of direction, to ensure these types of things do not occur. There are a number of potential placement errors that can happen:

1. Mismatch of Mood: The tonality of the show is completely different from that of the commercial that comes on. A high energy, loud and potentially violent scene, followed by a cute ad for kitten food.

2. Mismatch of Subject Matter: As in the DUI example above.

3. Mismatch of Adjacent Brands: Your premium brand ad is placed on the same cluster or page, or across page from a value brand.

4. Mismatch of Daypart: Your beverage-alcohol brand, which prides itself on being socially responsible, gets "bonused" with an ad that runs at 8am.

The key is to sweat the details, along with your media agency - know exactly what shows you will be on, what each show episode is about, and whether there are land mines lurking. The same goes for print or digital. While the television station or print vehicle or website may not be able to tell you which other brands are running in the cluster, or in the same mag, or on the tri-fold billboard, or what-have-you, you should be able to guide them as to what you do not want to be seen beside, or near. While it takes more time and effort, the sweat equity expended is far less than the flop sweat generated when something goes wrong.