What's the Ask?
Anytime I submit a piece of marketing materials for approval from my boss, I get one question.
What is the ask?
To him if it is not apparent why we should spend the money on something he wants to know what we will get in terms of ROI.
Fair enough and sometimes the answer requires a long winded explanation.
Today I got an email from Nike featuring the famous "Thank you" ad that Nike ran in the Sunday Edition of the New York Times, as well as banner ads around the city. Read more about it here.
So my question to Nike and to you is, what is the ask?
- Increase awareness on an already controversial issue that can somehow translate into shoe sales?
- Improve brand identity by showing support for a school you are already affiliated with?
- Or was it to merely show your company has a social conscience and able to keep up with current events?
Your thoughts are welcome.
1 comment:
In my experience, there are two primary reasons to advertise:
1. Branding/Name Brand recognition
2. Enticing your customers and prospects to buy
In their book “Be Your Own Brand” David McNally and Karl Speake define brand as relationship. That relationship is based on the feelings and experience you have with a company. Nike has always tried to sell based on relationship and the PERFORMANCE their products provide. You can see this from the way they have publicized their corporate culture to their major product campaigns, with Air Jordan and Nike Golf as examples.
Other ads do in fact “ask for the order.” (Mike, I’m an “Ask” guy as well.) They have a definite call to action that is built through the ad and has some sort of climax at the end that compels the buyer to take action and buy the product or service. Many times these ads have a critical, tangible factor that is involved with the sale; a sense of urgency, if you will. Solving a problem, limited quantities, and low prices are features of these ads. Nike leaves these types of ads to the RETAILERS, while they focus on the relationship they want to have with their end-user customer.
Brand and name recognition marketing and advertising are a tougher sell to bottom line oriented management, UNLESS they fit within the overall corporate marketing strategy. At the end of the day, you have to have good products and services to survive and thrive in an ever-increasingly competitive marketplace. If you do, and you are able to build the relationship with your customers…you become a Nike!
Post a Comment