Sellers Source

[Karin's Take] Here’s a perfect example of how changing your advertising can result in a major sales boost. This is why it is imperative to understand who your buyer is, what they are looking for, and that your advertising message actually matches up and speaks to that buyer. If you’re not hitting them in a way that speaks to them, your ad isn’t doing everything it could for you.

So if you’re not getting the results you want, make a change and test it. Keep changing, and keep testing, and keep measuring and analyzing the results. If you don’t track the changes you make, measure and analyze the results of each change, then you have no idea what’s working and what’s not!

Now let’s read how the boys at Absolut kicked some butt. ##

By Jeremy Mullman | Source: Advertising Age

What happens when you ditch a legendary, iconic and recognized ad strategy synonymous with your brand for decades?

Absolut resurgence.

After trading in its print-based campaign tied to the shape of its bottle for a global multimedia approach last year themed, “It’s an Absolut world,” the Swedish vodka brand saw its sales spike.

According to the company, global case shipments jumped 9%, and Absolut gained market share in the crowded and increasingly competitive U.S. market — no easy feat for a mature brand trying to fend off an ever-expanding pool of upstarts.

Absolut, the No. 2 U.S. vodka brand, trailing only Smirnoff, also broke the 5 million case mark last year for the first time — a status shared with only Bacardi, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and Jack Daniels in the spirits space.

“We took a really different approach and it paid tremendous dividends,” said Ian Crystal, Absolut’s brand director. “A lot of our key numbers had been flat or declining, and they’re all going up now.”

Absolut’s sluggishness was partially a result of an ad campaign that had fallen out of step with its product’s place in the market, executives said after they made the campaign switch last spring.

Even so, the marketer was reluctant to end one of the most celebrated campaigns in the history of alcohol marketing, no matter how irrelevant it had become. “We almost looked at [change] as heretical,” said Rob Smiley, creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, Absolut’s longtime creative agency. “But consumers really needed to see something fresh.”

TBWA Managing Director Jamie Gallo said the campaign attempted to steer Absolut clear of what he called the “rational benefits” being claimed by so many upstarts in the category, many of whom boast the best taste or the smoothest feel. Many of these claims contradict each other, and a few have even wound up in lawsuits. “We know people don’t purchase as much on rational benefits as on emotional benefits,” he said.

Read the full story at Advertising Age >>