If you’re going to make any changes to your marketing strategy, it should be making your ad creative work harder for longer says managing director at Door4 Sean Dwyer

There’s been a long-held belief in the advertising industry that consumers quickly tire of ad campaigns and new, fresh creative is constantly required for ads to be effective. I believe that this is down to two factors:

• Marketing attracts “ideas” people, who get bored and need change
• A widely held belief, possibly driven from decades of the above, that customers ‘tire’ of ads (also known as advertising wear out).

But when marketing budgets are tight, this constant churn of new creative could in fact be seriously hindering your marketing effectiveness and return on investment.

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In fact studies over the past couple of years have proved that the whole idea of ‘advertising wear out’ just isn’t true.

The data even shows that better-performing ads can increase in effectiveness over time.

The need for ‘fresh’ is even more prevalent, in the kitchen and bathrooms market, owing to the nature of this sector – consumers are so rarely “in market”, it can become tempting for brands to “refresh” because they’re bored.

There are also changing trends to contend with. Photography, CGI and assets are continuously created for websites, brochures, and general collateral.

Too frequently, I hear from clients “well we need to have the new shot of x in our ads” or “while we’re doing that shoot, why don’t we…”

The risk herein owing to the simplicity of creating new assets, is that we create inconsistency and become three degrees removed from the original strategy and focus.

Build memory structures

The key to a successful campaign is to focus on building memory structures, this comes from consistency (having the same/similar tone to everything we do), and memorability.

As an example, M&Ms have run the same TV ad for nearly a decade, it’s not any funnier now than it was back then – but it’s memorable and consistent!

In homes and gardens no one does it more consistently than B&Q.

Blessed with hefty budgets, they have freedom to tell stories, but crucially they are that size because of their historical consistency and memorability, allowing them to continue to leverage that equity. “You can do it, when you B&Q it” and THE orange has been around since the late 60s.

It’s also important to remember that customers don’t want “different” – human beings want familiarity to build recognition and memory structures.

In fact, 85% of digital ads don’t receive the required 2.5s to build mental availability. Thus proving that repetition in this space is even more necessary to create cut through.

Maximise impact

So how can retailers in the kitchen and bathroom sector make their budgets work harder?

The simple answer is to spend it on media and not replacing existing creative.

As an agency focused on maximising impact and minimising wastage, a common conversation with clients is to get the creative right and less is more!

It’s simple; speak to the same audiences, in the same way as often as you can. Lean into core ads. New and fresh may be fun for marketers but it’s detrimental to your audience.

Of course, you need your ads to be hitting the right mark in the first place. But once you’ve got that right, it’s about working those assets hard.

Not being afraid of repetition and never being too quick to switch up an ad campaign based on the belief that your audience may be tiring of it.

The online world is busy and noisy and our attention spans are getting shorter.

Instead of changing your creative with every season or campaign, consistently delivering your key messages effectively to your target segments will help you get one step beyond the competition.

Your investment in memorability is like compound interest, it pays off exponentially.

Go further and read more from Door 4, as founder Leon Calverley advises KBB businesses on how to balance performance marketing with brand building.