Military Strategy in Advertising

Issue 6 - July 2008 (with special thanks Max Sutherland)

The use of military terms in marketing is not new. We ‘launch’ campaigns, ‘target’ audiences and ‘do battle’ for the mind of the consumer. Military theory often fits the ad industry well, including that of using ‘attack’ forces and ‘occupation’ forces, each with their own unique applications.

The two stage analogy of using attack forces first and then the occupation forces has numerous implications:

1. Once the mental ‘territory’ has been captured, it then takes much less media weight to defend it.
   
   
2. It makes sense of why it is good strategy to use longer length commercials first (as attack forces). Then to shorter lengths (occupational forces) after the mental territory has been captured.
   
   
3. Likewise, the analogy helps us understand why radio, billboards, print ads and web banners could sometimes seem totally ineffective and yet at other times be wonderfully effective. Research has left little doubt that these media make very effective occupation forces for re-triggering and reinforcing memories implanted by the much more expensive attack forces (such as TV). However, these same media are nowhere near as effective in the short-term role of capturing the mental territory.
   
   
4. Different ‘troops’ are used for different missions. For any new ad campaign, the mission must be clearly defined. It is to capture completely new territory (build market share)? Or is it to relieve/freshen up the existing occupation forces? If the former, you will have to allow time for completely new campaigns to ‘wear-in’.
   
   
5. Make use of ad sequels as occupation forces. Our minds process the familiar more quickly so sequels don’t have to ‘wear-in’. They minimize media spend by building on the mental territory already held. Remember, it is harder to get into peoples’ heads in the first place than it is to stay there.
   
   
6. Occupation forces need a consistent and uniform presence. This means a consistent (though not necessarily heavy weight) ad presence and importantly it means a consistent ad style. To re-trigger what is already in peoples’ head, requires less in the way of resources and firepower – the source of the advantage. ‘Ad equity’ exists in past advertising. It consists of any unique characteristic features and icon(s) – associations in peoples’ minds that are now ‘owned’ by your brand, as a result of its past advertising. Qantas, Vegemite and Sony are three examples - three brands that have remained true to themselves and their advertising heritage over many years.
   
   
7. Ad campaigns for new brands fail if they don’t increase sales. With large brands, however, this is not, necessarily the case. The larger a brand’s share, the larger the role its advertising has as an occupation force - to reinforce and maintain its existing share. Campaigns for well-established brands are not necessarily failures if they hold on to, and reinforce their already captured territory.

The empirical evidence for our theory is compelling as the following case study illustrates.

An fmcg (fast moving consumer group) product, with very strong (around 70%) market share stopped advertising, for budget reasons, and remained off air for 3 months (eg. retreated). Market share and the numbers of buyers of the brand remained unchanged over the first two months. Supportive cognitions did not decline during that time.

Brand Differentiation - One supportive cognition was that a majority of the brand’s buyers believed and continued to ‘believe’ that there were real differences between brands in the product category.

After holding up for 2 months, this (and other supportive cognitions) began to deteriorate rapidly and by the end of the third month, even though buyers were still buying the brand as before, many more of them no longer professed that there were any real differences between brands.

Implicitly this acknowledged their repeat buying was anchored in habit rather than any commitment. Habit itself is never easy to break but it is harder to change when it is underpinned by ‘supportive cognitions’.

Brand Vulnerability - When the brand is left exposed and vulnerable like this, does it inevitably lead to market share decline? Not necessarily. Much depends on how long it pertains and what the competitors do.

Any sensible company, faced with tracking evidence of looming vulnerability as alarming as this, is clearly not going sit back, do nothing and watch what happens. Despite its budget problems, this brand went back on air immediately the deterioration became evident.

It was very fortunate in that its major competitors advertise periodically rather than continuously and they happened to be also off-air during the very same period. So the supportive cognitions were able to be recovered by resuming advertising. Otherwise, we'd expect this situation would have led to market share losses after which it would have been a much more formidable task for the brand to win back those supportive cognitions.

Conclusion
The analogy of using military-type strategy has useful implications for the planning, design and execution of advertising campaigns. It assists to avoid over-simplification and compels us to develop clear objectives.

Neither the attack nor occupy tactic will necessarily work on its own and both should be deployed when the timing is appropriate. We must apply strategies and tactics suited for each stage of a campaign for maximum efficiency.

Finally, it serves to illustrate well the need for consistent and uniform (on-going) advertising presence. Otherwise, competitors will eventually undermine our brand’s position in the mind of the consumer, and the long and expensive process of re-gaining lost territory will become, once again, a necessity.

Qantas... 'Vintage' Sale Click here to play	Qantas... 'I still call Australia home' Click here to play

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