Traditional Advertising, A Must for Increasing Regional Brand Recall

Utilizing a good mix of traditional & digital advertising is key if mid-market companies want better brand recall.

Many of the most data-driven companies in the country are over shooting the runway when it comes to truly understanding the landmines that still exist in the digital space. Therefore, many mid-market companies that don’t have data mining departments struggle when it comes to determining which mediums provide the best returns.

Please don’t be confused. I believe digital media is a necessary tool and depending on the demo your company is trying to reach may warrant being the lead medium to accomplish your goals. Digital is already good and getting better every day at reaching a specific group of consumers with targeted messages quickly, efficiently and often and at a lower cost. But it is far less effective than bigger traditional media in getting consumers to recall or bring back to mind these brands when they are ready to make a purchase.

Let’s compare TV. vs. Digital. Analyzing the costs associated with each, the digital is normally less expensive than TV especially when it comes to reaching one specific group of consumers, but the brand recall for this type of advertising is also lower with fewer consumers retaining brand recollection.

By comparison, traditional TV advertising is much more scalable. And while on the surface it appears more costly than digital maybe what needs to be factored in to the equation is the second and third tier of consumers TV may reach that aren’t being reached by your digital spend. Keep in mind TV messages are recollected at a rate that is more than double that of digital. With the repetition of the same ad, a regional brand using traditional TV will gain incremental reach and increase its brand’s recall among consumers who have previously seen the ad.

TV also has residual reach rarely calculated when comparing them both. Residual reach is the second and third tier consumer, not evaluated in the cpm calculation, but consumers none the less that could impact the brand. A good example of this is an NFL game. The cost per impression is usually posted against the male population, which averages 60% of the audience and is rarely calculated against the total audience. This means that the 40% female audience is technically non-existent in the costs but are clearly there. This mistake is often missed and can be a game changer, as it was for Michelob Ultra and Corona.

Many regional brands assume that digital is the best option because specific ads are more engaging and target one group. However, remember that purchase intent increases with multiple exposures served through several touch points. In most cases one source of media will not do all your heavy lifting to increase brand retention.