Friday, May 22, 2015

An Ode to the Brand Marketer

I have been overly obsessed with reading articles about brand marketing - I think my next step in life ought to be picking up a marketing degree. From my current experience, I am learning quickly that advertising is much more than coming up with a catchy slogan and creative imagery to match. There's much more thought to it. 
Sometimes I see an ad and find myself saying, "WHY IS THAT DOG BREAK DANCING?" or, "Why are these Steve Madden ads human Bratz Dolls?!" I find it hard to believe people are buying these products. I mean, who comes up with this stuff? 
The brand marketer does. And chances are, if I'm confused by these ads, I'm probably not the audience they were going after.
Trust me - there is a lot that goes behind market research. Identifying an audience is hard! Sometimes we find that a brand's audience is not at all who they had expected them to be. I've seen brands come into my agency with a "from the gut assessment" target audience of women between the ages of 35-55 years old. But what we have found is that a slightly younger audience is spending the most money on their product, and engaging the most with their brand.
After the research is done, it's someone's job to take this information and turn it into the successful campaigns that bring the audience in through the door, and the products out of it. 
Someone has been creating the ads to captivate a target audience since the late 1600s. Whether they had the same tools as we do today or not, the idea has remained the same - sell your product.
Mercure Galant fashion plate from the 1780s.
The role of a brand marketer revolves around exercising their creative, and I have never believed that creative was something that could be taught, or a degree that could be obtained. Creative people can learn new techniques and what may please an audience, but a successful campaign relies on natural talent, skill and even empathy.
So, here's an ode to brand marketers from the 1600s to today! Take a look at these amazing images and check out this article on Ceros about the Evolution of Print Content.
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ad from the 1910s.
Baby Ruth Ad, 1940s.
Coca-Cola ad from the 1940s.
Nabisco Premium Saltines billboard from the 1950s.
Chef Boyardee Ravioli ad, 1971
Newport Ad 1980s
Austin Powers, among other celebrities posing for Got Milk, 1990s
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Adele Stewart is the Director of Social Media at Epic Web Studios, a web development & strategic planning agency in Erie, PA, and Public Relations blogger. If you have questions about running a successful digital advertising campaign, contact Epic Web’s Social Media team today!

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