Digital Dealer - July 2019 - 40

M A R K E T ING & ADVERT ISING: Co n te n t

By Jim Boldebook
Founder,
CBC Automotive Marketing

Creative is King
Marshall McLuhan was
a Canadian philosopher
born in 1911. He passed in
1980 but his treatise on
advertising set forth in 1964
is still considered one of the
most important ideas on
marketing in modern history.
The most quoted McLuhan
phrase was (and still is) "The
Medium is the message...
This is merely to say that the
personal and social consequences of any medium /
that is, of any extension of
ourselves / result from the
new scale that is introduced
into our affairs by each
extension of ourselves, or by
any new technology."
McLuhan wrote that in
1964, most likely in reaction
to the power of television
which was becoming the
dominate marketing influence worldwide. Although
he didn't live to see the
digital explosion, that revolution lends credence to
his boldest predictions. The
impact of the medium itself
is at least as important, as
the content it carries. Every
medium influences a branding message by virtue of its
connection with the listener/
viewer. How a marketing
message is communicated/
delivered affects the consumers interaction with that
brand.
While there is a lot of truth
to McLuhan's basic theory,
he never envisioned the
sheer mass of messaging
from countless mediums in
every waking moment of the
40

J U LY 2 0 1 9

consumer's life in the 21st
Century. In the latest estimates, most Americans are
subjected to between 4,000
and 10,000 messages each
day. We are never disconnected from our phones, TV,
radio, satellite, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. As a
result, our attention span
has been massively diluted.
The most popular topics on
Twitter in 2013 stayed on top
for an average 17.5 hours.
By 2016 that had dropped to
11.9 hours. A neurologist at
George Washington University School of Medicine says
the immersion in technology is actually creating an
increase in (ADHD) Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in adults.
WHY CREATIVE IS
STILL KING!

No matter where your
customer hears, sees or
experiences exposure from
some sensory input to your
advertising, there has to be
a common thread of strong
identity to your brand...your
idea. It doesn't always have
to be a 'big idea' but it has
to be that is yours and yours
alone.
Whether it's a display ad
or video clip on a social site,
a page on your own website,
a sale offering or a shareof-mind impression, the
customer should know the
message, regardless of the
medium, is from you. Think
'Mike Lindell and My Pillow.'
You can probably hear the
jingle and tag line in your

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

head right now. I'll bet you
can even tell me what color
shirt Mike always wears in
his commercials. And you'll
hear the same jingle and
see the same shirt whether
Mike is selling his famous
pillow, his bed topper or his
giza cotton sheets.
The right creative adds
cumulative value to your ad
spend. No matter what the
specific offering is, whether
it is for a new vehicle, used
vehicle, parts or service,
continuity of creative elements increases the overall
impression value of your
brand.
One of the best books
out there on the value of
creativity in advertising is
"The Case for Creativity"
by author James Hurman.
In his research of three
decades of ad campaigns,
Hurman found that when
executed effectively, creative
ad campaigns deliver an
ROI that is as much as 11
times higher than non-creative campaigns.
CREATIVE IS THE
MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF ADVERTISING
EFFECTIVENESS

With the right creative
message, you break through
the 'noise' of as many as
10,000 messages per day.
Your ad becomes more
memorable, more relevant,
and often more viral. We've
always known that word of
mouth is the absolute best
advertising and today with
the ability to forward, like,

and recommend something
with just a click, creating
something viral worthy is a
powerful tool in the ad arsenal. Create an engaging ad
and watch it go viral!
Nielsen Research published a paper comparing various elements of advertising
effectiveness. In short, of the
6 most important elements,
creative was king, contributing 50% of the value to an effective ad. Reach (by media)
was 22%, brand value was
15%, targeting 9%, recency
(how close to purchase the
ad was experienced) 5%, and
context 2%. For the Nielsen
whitepaper, email me and I'll
forward it to you.
At his death in 1980,
Marshall McLuhan knew
nothing about the future of
a digital revolution, but he
made an interesting observation, stating: "We drive
into the future using only our
rear-view mirror. We march
backwards into the future" He
was fascinated by the idea
that humans essentially lived
in the past, devising solutions
for yesterday's problems.
In his day we experienced
around 500 ad messages a
day. If we drive into the future
using more imagination, we'll
recognize that no matter how
many more mediums there
are, and how great their contextual influence, Creative will
always be King!
JIM BOLDEBOOK is founder
of CBC Automotive Marketing,
an advertising/marketing agency
working with some of America's
most successful dealerships. He
has been in the broadcasting,
advertising and marketing fields
for almost 50 years. EMAIL:
jim@cbcads.com
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Digital Dealer - July 2019

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