How Did They Do This?

Someone’s getting a raise

 

In 2017, P&G announced it would be cutting its online ad spend by 200 million dollars.

They were concerned about fraud, inaccurate ad view measurement, bots, fake stats, and more.

Here’s the surprise though…

In March this year, this headline appeared in AdWeek: When Procter & Gamble Cut $200 Million in Digital Ad Spend, It Increased Its Reach 10%.

Cutting their online ad spending actually increased the reach of their marketing because they put that money into more traditional mass marketing options, like TV and audio.

Then, last week, I saw this headline in AdAge: P&G has best quarter in five years despite marketing cuts.

P&G still spends an enormous sum on marketing its products, they’re just spending it differently. Like releasing this short film on their YouTube channel:

https://youtu.be/kbHXIN6EzWo

If you watch football on TV, you’ve almost certainly seen the 30-second version of this Gillette ad.

And I featured this one just a couple of weeks ago: I’d Do Anything For Him.

More story, inspiring story, than hard sell.

More emotional than statistical.

And it seems to be working amazingly well.

What does this mean for your radio station?

Pay attention! Change the way you market your product on your own station. Stop the unbelievable claims of superiority and variety that every other station is yelling.

Let your most passionate listeners tell their stories and how your talent and your music and your local involvement have impacted those stories.

I know you don’t have enough marketing money to run ads on TV, but you have enough to produce a really good, professional qualityimpactful short film you can post on your YouTube channel and FB page.

Don’t follow the pack. Don’t shout about your format.

Don’t make it about your station.

You need the courage to be different, to tell a story that moves people who see it.

You need the will to do it and the patience to let it work.

Most of all, you need an extraordinary product, content between songs that’s different enough to be noticed and talked about.

You need great talent!