Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Back from Agency Land


You will notice that this is the first post to the blog in quite a while. It is no excuse but I have spent a short time working on Subaru Australia Retail Advertising.

Retail advertising has a certain challenge to it. It requires high levels of diplomatic balance between a sales message that persuades viewers/customers to act, and the brand values that usually command clean, strong presentation of ideas.

Subaru engage with two agencies. One for brand, and one for the retail activities. This by virtue of there being two entities working on the brand throws open the door for significant damage to the brand.

While the brand agency spend time developing a refined image, the retail agency are instructed to SELL, SELL, SELL. And retail advertising at it's best can be so/so when compared to brand advertising. If coupled with the client themselves giving two separate sets of instructions for the brand, that verge on contradiction, a notable disconnect can exist in the consumers mind.

Clients need to be mindful that with two or three agencies operating for them, there can be gaps in the outgoing image. This will be magnified when the marketing managers don't co-ordinate internally.