Three Ways Brands Can Combat Information Overload and Skepticism

Brand builders face a hostile advertising context. Confronted with media clutter and overwhelming information overload, audiences have adopted a skeptical mindset and often view advertising as confusing and irrelevant. At best, it’s noise to be tolerated or avoided; at worst, it’s a series of annoying interruptions from profit-driven and sometimes hypocritical sources. Further, in a polarized world, people tend to firmly hold their positions and are less receptive to attempts to change their perceptions and opinions.

Brands are more central to marketing strategy than ever, and advertising remains key to increasing awareness and demand. Given how hard it is to break through the noise and shape — or change — consumers’ attitudes and inclinations, how should brand-building adapt to make its programs effective?  Marketers should consider three routes: 

1. Develop a Tagline That Enables and Controls the Conversation.  The tagline can be a game changer, making the benefit or brand characteristic that represents a business’s point of advantage visible and relevant. The big idea is to change the goal from communicating facts and descriptions of benefits in an effort to win the “my brand is better than your brand” argument, to framing the discussion so that the organization wins the “my brand is more relevant than your brand” battle. If the framing is effective, the brand will win by being the most, or the only, relevant brand.  A tagline can not only frame the discussion but also make an ad’s takeaway message a cognitive anchor that helps the ad stick in the audience’s memory. When a series of ads is held together with a tagline, each brand communication builds on the last, reinforcing the message and adding depth and breadth. The audience already has a reference point and is spared the cognitive work of processing and interpreting a completely new message.  For taglines to be effective, brands must commit to them for years or decades; the longer the tagline can stay relevant, the more exposure it will have. Taglines must be well-thought-out and researched to ensure that they will resonate with the right segments and have the right message. A weak, bad, or ill-fitting tagline or other cognitive anchor can do a brand more harm than good.
2. Distract With Intriguing Content.  When marketers are charged with communicating brand benefits, they tend to create advertising that describes those benefits and explains why they have value. But most people do not read or see such ads, and, even if they do, they tend to counterargue and/or soon forget the message. These two barriers can vanish when content draws people in by being entertaining, informative, or emotional.
3. Engage With Customers Rather Than Talking at Them.  To break through today’s messy and sometimes hostile media environment, marketers must develop communications that invite the audience to participate rather than be subjected to a lecture. That means taking another look at vehicles such as events, sponsorships, and brand communities that may not have seemed appropriate in the past.