New Reports
A Breakthrough Approach to Brand Creation
A new report by The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) should cause all of us in branding, advertising and marketing to stop, question and re-evaluate the way we see our world. The report is titled, “On the Road to a New Effectiveness Model.” No, it isn’t a revision of the Kerouac novel. But it is no less radical.
The report summarizes findings from a three-year taskforce looking at the underlying principles and theoretical constructs of advertising effectiveness. We actively participated in the taskforce during that time and agree with the conclusions and implications, particularly the statement, “The findings of this project require us to completely rethink how advertising works.” And rethinking advertising isn’t even the half of it. The findings shake the very bedrock upon which advertising, branding and marketing as a whole are built.
The findings indicate that “brand positioning” is perhaps the most misguided marketing idea in the past 30 years.