brand marketing blog

Having watched a few days of TV here in South Africa, it made me realise just how boring and bad television advertising is in New Zealand.

I mean, just about every 2nd ad on NZ TV is a retail ad promoting some form of 40% or 50% sale. They are crass and lack any form of creativity, thought or brand building element. The cheapest offer is deemed the best.

In contrast, by far the majority of TV ads in South Africa are noticeably more sophisticated and drive a very strong brand value proposition or market positioning message. Very few retail sale ads at all.

The long term result of retail sale/discount based advertisng is that these brands become devoid of any value add and are simply judged on the day based on their current product price. On the other hand, brands that invest in developing a strong value proposition through their advertising campaigns will be far better positioned to command an ongoing price premium.

There's nothing wrong with the occasional, well-timed and promoted sale, but when you offer a new sale virtually everyday of the year like Briscoes, Rebel Sports, Big Save Furniture and several other major retailers do, you build a low-price market position from where there is no coming back.

How I sympathise for those advertising agencies that have (chosen) to churn out this crap week in week out.