Today is Groundhog Day. In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, people are gathering to see if the local groundhog (Phil) will see his shadow, indicating six more weeks of winter, or not, which will mean there will be an early spring. You might remember the 1993 movie "Groundhog Day” about a narcissistic weatherman named Phil Conners who got stuck in Punxsutawney after a snowstorm on February 2. He woke up the next morning only to find he was repeating Groundhog Day – the same events happened exactly as they had the day before. This time loop went on day after day until he learned to be kinder and more considerate of other people.

Is there a connection between your marketing and Groundhog Day the movie? Are you in a cycle of doing the same thing again and again hoping for better results? Marketing has a shelf life for any brand. We are a week and a half away from the Super Bowl, which as far as media marketing is concerned, is the most expensive advertising day of the year. A 30-second ad will cost $7 million (which does not include the cost of producing the commercial, just placing it on the broadcast.) Why do Super Bowl ads cost so much? Because they are effective! They have become the launching pad for many brands. When you watch these commercials, note that nearly all of them are trying to give you a new perspective of their brand (if they are an established brand) or they are trying to introduce something new to you. For instance, you will see the fabric softener, Downy, introduce a new product called Unstopables. What you will not see is an old Super Bowl commercial repeated from years past. Budweiser has ditched the football-playing horses in an attempt to draw in a younger demographic with their Six Degrees of Separation ad. Why not show the old ads? It is the same reason Phil Conner was driven to madness in Groundhog Day – we have seen them before. We know what is coming. It is time for something new and catchy. (Get a sneak peek of this year's commercials.)

The point is this: it is the job of marketing to constantly engage with consumers. That means knowing when to switch to a new marketing campaign, when to rebrand old products and services, when to give your customers a new reason to take a second look at you, etc. It is easy to rerun the old marketing campaign. There are only so many times I will laugh at the same joke. There are only so many times I will cry at the end of a movie. There are only so many times you will turn my head with your marketing before I ignore it. Marketing has to be kept fresh or it will cease to be effective.

On Groundhog Day, give your marketing another look. Is it time to make the change before you repeat it all over again?