Making an Impression?
Posted by Jaci Russo
Make an Impression
‘Impressions’ have a double meaning in advertising.
There is the impression that people have about your product or service. How they think of you and feel about you is all based on the impression you have made on them. The impression is formed through all of the touchpoints that you have in the world. Everything from the design of your logo to the way customer service handles a complaint from your customer.
But there is another interpretation for the word ‘impression’.
For our media management philosophy, we focus on the number of impressions that we make on a potential consumer. Some media buyers have a philosophy that is focused on reach and GRPs (gross rating points). Their philosophy is that you make the most impressions when you reach the most people.
At Russo, however, we believe that rather than reach 100% of the people and only convince them 25% of the way, we would rather reach 25% and convince them 100% of the way. So we focus on a very important but delicate blend of quantity and quality. We have to buy enough spots that the consumer sees them enough times that our client breaks through the clutter leaves an impression. Additionally, the message of the spot has to be benefit not feature based so that the message will resonate.
I think Bill Bernbach had it right when he said,
Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make. -Bill Bernbach
It’s not about how many ads you run, or where you run them, it’s just about the feeling the consumer has when you are done.
What kind of an impression are you making?
