Have you ever played tug of war? I remember attending a summer camp as a boy when I was about 12 years old. On the last day of the camp, the college students who made up the camp counselors had run out of activities. While we all waited on our parents to pick us up, one of the counselors thought it would be a good idea to stretch a rope over a muddy creek and commenced a counselors vs. campers tug of war competition. It all sounded like a good idea to us, so we gathered with our cabin mates to form teams. It was a group of 12 year olds taking on twenty-something college students. As much as we had the desire, they had the brawn; so one cabin of campers after the other were pulled screaming into the muddy bottom of the creek. When it came time for my cabin, I was determined that I was neither letting go of the rope, nor would I fall into the creek. As the counselors pulled me to the edge of the bank, I grasped the rope with both my hands and feet and soon found that I was dangling in the middle of the gorge. Had it not been for the sight of my best friend laughing at me from the shoreline, I think I would have been just fine hanging on in the middle. Laughter is contagious. It also zaps my strength. As I began to laugh along with him, I lost my grip. I ended up splashing down on my back in the middle of that muddy creek. (The counselors had a lot of explaining to do to the parents who were showing up to pick up campers only to find them all covered with mud!)

There is a tug of war that goes on when it comes time to change the creative aspects of your marketing efforts. As marketing consultants, we often find ourselves in the muddy middle of the tussle between those who believe in the current (or traditional) message of the company and those who want something new and fresh. I recall a number of years ago working on a new logo for a client who had been around for about 75 years. Their current logo had been used for 35 or 40 years as best as anyone could tell. It looked it. Their CEO really wanted to give it a new look that reflected a younger demographic than they were used to selling. We did our homework. We researched the target audience and suggested about 30 or so logos over a period of several months. Finally the CEO and his executive team decided on the logo they thought would work best. The problem came when the CEO showed it to his board members, which were made up of mostly retired executive team members. To them, the new logo was a slap in the face of all they had worked for in their careers, like the past 75 years had all been for nothing! It started a boardroom war. The CEO, trying to find a peaceful solution out of the situation, went back to his office and pulled out all 30 of the logos we had designed. Instead of resolving the issue, it only further escalated the traditionalists’ opinions that the old logo must stay! They pushed forth a motion to keep the current logo and reject all 30 of the new logos! The problem was, the old look was not effective in attracting new, younger customers. In the name of tradition, the marketing was tripped up.

When is it time to change out your look as a company? When are your old marketing phrases in need of something new? Our world is filled with so many marketing messages, even the most clever marketing can become stale quickly. Once you have heard or seen it, how long will it be until you tire of a marketing message? To answer that, let’s make a distinction between branding and campaigns. Brands are the visuals and the words used to identify a product, service or company. Hershey’s is a brand for a company that makes chocolate bars. The combination of the brown and silver colors of the wrapper, the font used in the logo, the shape of the product- all contribute to the brand. A campaign is a marketing strategy to sell a branded product or service. It can involve appealing to a specific niche market, taking advantage of a special event, or riding a popular wave of opinion. For instance, Hershey’s produces Kisses in foil wrappers for the current season. You might have heard that Hershey’s is producing a candy coated chocolate egg this year for the Easter season. These are examples of campaigns.

Campaigns are meant to last one selling season before they are changed. Beyond this, the message just gets overlooked. It is predictable and is tossed aside by your customers. On the other hand, brands rarely change unless there is a need to appeal to a totally different audience than what you are selling to now. But is there a time to change out a brand’s logo without renaming the brand? Yes, if the logo is not getting the recognition it once did and needs to be updated, it makes sense to change the look to appeal to your target audience. The Hershey’s logo has not changed in over 100 years. However, the way it is used has changed with expanding product lines. Take a look at some of the newer products in the Hershey’s brand.

When should you change the creative of your marketing? The answer is when it stops being effective with your target market. Despite the tug on the rope by the traditionalists in the boardroom, the deciding factor is not their feelings, but the response of potential customers that makes the decision. Eventually it all needs a new look.

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Photo by AVAVA