Advertising isn’t black magic.

The phrase “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half” has been told and retold by advertisers so many times that its origin has become unclear. Some sources say it’s Lord Leverhulme who originally said it, while others give credit to John Wanamaker or Rance Crain for the phrase. Regardless of its origin, this phrase has been a quote that sticks to anyone who does any sort of advertising, whether you’re a business owner or a marketeer – mostly because advertising and money is at the forefront of the phrase.

Truth is, advertising is very difficult to measure but it’s easy to measure how much money you spend or gain. You can have as many statistics, survey methods, and analysis tools as you want, but who’s to say that they’re even completely accurate? You can pay specialists to analyse or even set up your ads for you but that means spending more money on advertising. Sometimes, companies aren’t willing to do this because they are not entirely sure what they’re paying for ­– especially when they’re asked to trust someone else to advertise for them. That’s when people start to think that there’s some black magic, voodoo-type thing involved in advertising and one of three things tend to happen:

1.  Advertisers willingly spend money on advertising because they want to see if it will work.

2. Advertisers question why they have to spend so much on advertising when they don’t even know if it will work.

3. Advertisers take the DIY route and do it themselves to “know” exactly where their money goes.

 The trouble here is not knowing exactly what you’re paying for. However, it’s not always the case. We willingly pay for a dentist to pull out a tooth for hundreds of dollars when in fact, anyone can do it. It just so happens that dentists are the only ones who can ask for money for it because it’s advertised that they are qualified to do so by all the certificates and degrees framed on their walls. They’ve studied for years, and invested in equipment and tools to make your visit more pleasant than if you’d just pull out your own tooth.

That analogy is rarely applied to those who make a career or a business out of advertising. Sometimes, people tend to overlook the years, experience, and practice it takes to make advertising effective simply because of the unwillingness to risk wasting money. Anyone can make/”DIY” a logo but it takes a good, well-seasoned designer and brand specialist to do it within an hour – but have you ever thought of how they’re able to do it in a short amount of time? To put it simply, you’re paying for the time and years they’ve spent honing their skills in design and branding. What you think you’re paying for (in this case, a logo), isn’t what you’re actually paying for. You’re paying for that expert’s time (both past and present) and skills. I think deep down, people know this up until they receive the invoice.

 It’s not black magic. Advertising experts and specialists don’t just rob you blind. There’s a lot of trust and faith involved especially when you willingly take a risk to see how your money will be good for advertising. There are unicorn-type products and businesses such as Apple and McDonald’s that no longer need to advertise but still do. So if it’s good enough for these brand giants, why can’t it be good enough for you?

Advertising and Decision-Making

You’re reading a blog from an advertising agency website but for a moment, can we set that aside and reflect a bit on how everything’s changed? By now, we can confirm that there is no singular path in life, there’s no method to the madness, and there’s no one way of doing things because sometimes – all it takes is one move, even by a stranger, and the world is changed forever. E.g. global pandemics or the discovery of electricity.

Now, may I ask you? What do you base your decisions on? Is it status? Is it fame? Money? Is it a goal? A dream? Is it because of your culture? Is it for survival?

Advertising has gained negative connotations for decades because of false promises and its old, unsolicited nature. However, wouldn’t you agree that advertising has evolved and continuously evolves especially when a person’s decision making processes are changed by the environment they’re in?

Our decisions are always influenced by something. During the lockdown, many companies resorted to communicating through online platforms which wouldn’t even be an option centuries back when the internet didn’t exist during a pandemic (e.g. The Black Death from 1346 to 1353).

Many launched DIY advertising campaigns – filming employees instead of actors, in their own backyards, using nothing but a smartphone. Advertising was primarily done online and digitally because the risk of holding advertising material such as a magazine was too risky. However, did you, the consumer, make this decision? Or was it made for you? Was it made to benefit you? Or was it made so you don’t forget that the companies advertising to you still exist?

There’s a very fine line that’s drawn here which revolves back to the question; what do you base your decisions out of?

As a consumer, do you decide based on a budget? Making ends meet while the uncertainties of the pandemic still loom over your shoulders?

As a business, do you decide based on your passion for what you do? Or has that changed because like everyone else in this economy, we’re forced to make decisions based on survival?

Advertising and marketing will always be there to influence our decisions. It’s there to inform and empower – it’s a powerful tool if you let it serve its purpose.

Advertising is complex. It is an artform. It’s persuasion. It evolves. It’s convenience. It’s permission.

Advertising is a lot of things.

What advertising is not: irrelevant.

Advertising is the ever-present concept of ‘drawing attention’, and on a base-level – we, human beings, can find advertising within us all the time. We want to be liked and we want to matter. And whether you’re a consumer or a business, there’s not a single doubt in my mind that you need advertising.

You need advertising to inform and be informed. We can mask it in different words but whatever your defining motivations are in making decisions, advertising has and always will be present in it.

This industry sustains the world whether we realise it or not. Besides, can you imagine a world without advertising? No branded anything – just generic stuff. No options, no colour, no consistency, no art? Advertising has made the world a colourful place. A place of choice and a place with options. If you pay enough attention – if you care enough, you’ll realise this.

Why McDonald’s doesn’t advertise during COVID-19.

Have you seen McDonald’s advertisements since the COVID-19 Alert Level’s been lowered to Level 3? Other fast food restaurants probably advertise their contactless pick up procedures but other than that, have you seen any ads from big fast food brands like Maccas, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Carl’s Junior?

It’s been over a week since Alert Level 3 was implemented in New Zealand. It’s basically Alert Level 4, but with drive-thrus and takeaways. That’s an oversimplification but plays an important role in relaunching the country’s economy as mentioned by the government. Retail and restaurant businesses are encouraged to conduct “business as usual” but not as they used to. Now, new safety measures are in place ie. contactless pick-ups and drive thru options – which is the key advertising message these companies communicate with their audiences. While everyone’s done a good job in keeping to themselves and staying in their bubbles in Alert Level 4, issues started to rise because of the minor liberty we’ve been given in Alert Level 3.

Time and again, the government reiterates the message about staying at home as much as possible and to only go out when it’s absolutely necessary. It just so happens that in Alert Level 3, people find it necessary to queue for hours in a McDonald’s drive thru or flock right outside a Burger Fuel branch. I’ve spoken about how the new normal is upon us – about how handshakes are going to be a thing of the past, about how people are more likely to see essential workers more sympathetically, and how advertisers should really speak to their audience with more empathy.

To my surprise, it seems like most people will just revert back to how it was. Unconsciously take up people’s personal space, breathe the same air, and being 2 metres away from others will only last until the alert levels are lowered, even though Level 2 has a 1 metre social distance rule. Perhaps convenience is the reason for all of this. In terms of advertising, McDonald’s is a brand that’s so big that they don’t even need to advertise to get people queuing in their drive thru for over 2 hours just to get junk food.

Remember during the start of the pandemic when toilet paper flew off the shelves? Is this like that? Is this panic buying part 2? What is it about the likes of McDonald’s and Burger Fuel that even the Prime Minister had to tell us off for not keeping our social distance with each other just to get a burger? Surely it wasn’t because of advertising – or at least not the advertising they do now. It’s the brand they’ve developed and established over the years that people resonate with, and this is something their products and services often can’t uphold. I can’t tell you how many times McDonald’s has given me the wrong order or how many times I felt sick after eating their food but I still come back for more. Sadly, I can’t say the same for sit-down restaurants because I’m the type of person who doesn’t come back to a restaurant, no matter how good the food was, if I’ve gotten food poisoning from them or if the host was rude.

Taking McDonald’s as a prime example – we all know how iconic this brand is. The Golden Arches is one of the most recognisable symbols in the world. It doesn’t matter that a documentary such as “Super Size Me” or multiple research about how their food never spoils, is out there. People all over the world still want it. Want it so bad that queuing for hours with other people and risking their health isn’t even an issue – yet we complain about queues in the groceries when we were in Level 4. They’re willing to wait for so long only to be able to post their Maccas selfies on social media for everyone else to see. As if they’re passive aggressively saying, “Look at me! I waited for a long time. I have Maccas again! Screw the Coronavirus!”

The question now is, do fast food brands like Maccas have immunity to the effects of COVID-19? The food and beverage industry is one of the biggest industries that took a great hit from the virus. Yet McDonald’s still stands tall after the lockdown, operating more smoothly than other restaurants (or those operating at all for that matter), as if nothing happened. Moreover, they also keep getting free, customer-generated content! Advertising through word of mouth is more powerful than ever especially when conversations are just a few clicks away and right in the palm of your hand.

Think about your local café or your favourite fine dining restaurant for a second. Perhaps you’re excited to visit them again or maybe you’re anxious to be surrounded by people again and have become entirely sceptical about being out of your bubble when it’s unnecessary. But think about catch ups over coffee, yarns over drinks, and meals with loved ones that didn’t only fill your stomach – they filled your heart, too. Cheesy as it sounds, these restaurants are more than just places to get food from. Restaurants are a source of community. It’s where bonds are made, people are celebrated, and a place to take the edge off even – or at least that’s what they used to be, pre-pandemic. These places continue to struggle because of the pandemic while big fast food companies are thriving just after the alert level was lowered to 3. Smaller restaurants can double down (if possible) on advertising once they’re advised that they can operate normally again, but the damage has been done.

They can’t compete with big fast food brands. Most of these restaurants have a very tight niche and rely on word of mouth and social media as their main form of marketing. The quality and overall experience is what differentiates them from fast food restaurants, especially expensive fine dining restaurants where you get quality food and top-notch service. The kind of food and service that we don’t expect any fast food restaurant to deliver – so you’re happy to pay for that premium! You most likely didn’t find your favourite restaurant through bus stop advertising. Perhaps you heard about them through your mate or through social media when someone you follow dined there and took photos that look nice and posh. Placement plays a huge role in advertising i.e. don’t expect fine dining restaurants to advertise in bus stops because people who can afford their food are more likely not on the bus.

I didn’t see a single ad for McDonald’s during the lockdown period and even when the lockdown was about to end. Nor have I seen any ads from them now because let’s face it, they don’t need to. Their consumers and the media do it for them. They’ve been ahead of their industry for years and perhaps they were even ahead of this pandemic. The big bosses at Maccas probably didn’t break a sweat when they found out their branches can’t operate because they always knew they’d be back. On the other hand, smaller, local restaurants are still trying to figure out how to, or if they can even, bounce back from the wreckage COVID-19 has done to their business.

All that said, perhaps the reason for what seems to be the sequel to panic buying is that people are simply giving into a sign of normality. People want things to go back to normal and since getting McDonald’s used to be such a normal thing to do, they took comfort in it, hoping that normality is just around the corner. Perhaps they don’t take those takeaway photos to brag, but to simply remind their friends that, “Hey! We’ll be out of all of these uncertainties soon enough.”

Big fast food brands have taken nudges here and there because of this pandemic but small local restaurants have taken a much larger blow. Branding is powerful but it’s also built over time, grown through gaining your customers’ trust, and made strong through the constant communication between the business and its audience. McDonald’s just happened to be a brand that listens well to its customers in terms of what products they should sell them. Maccas in different countries tailor their meals to suit what the locals eat while also incorporating their signature dishes such as the Big Mac. But we have to remember that this didn’t happen overnight. Saying they have immunity from the pandemic is not entirely correct since their stock price is down by 1.46% today.

So let’s just say it’s unfair to compare apples with broccolis. They might be in the same industry but they’re playing in different markets. But riddle me this; if your favourite restaurant were to become a big brand and franchise like McDonald’s, (lowered prices, quick service, and all that) would you still want to eat there? Or would you choose McDonald’s? Or are you more inclined to finding a new favourite restaurant when things go back to “normal”?

Who wants to hear from your business?

Social Media has been our go-to pastime for a while now but more so during this pandemic. Hours upon hours of mindless scrolling, sharing our life in quarantine, and interacting with people – even the ones we haven’t spoken to in a while, has been what life has become for the mass majority.

Before the pandemic, people said that social media was turning us into anti-social individuals who only ever interact on-screen but the circumstance we’re all in has changed that. More than ever, social media has become a great tool for keeping tabs with our friends and family and what used to be mindless scrolling, has turned into a more genuine, interactive experience simply because we’re aware that most people have nothing else to do – meaning we’re sure that real people are on the other side of a post.

Since people started to self-isolate, our social interactions become limited to those whom we can reach through a phone call, a text message, social media posts, and other platforms like Zoom. People have started to post more updates on their life in quarantine and engaging with these has become so easy since most of us are doing the same thing. Why is that? Why now?

The answer lies in one word: CONNECTION.

Now more than ever, people crave connection. We’re all stuck in our bubbles, with nothing else to do but stay safe and survive through this – and a huge part of survival is creating connections that keep us accountable for various things like sanity, health, and even productivity at times.

What does this mean for businesses? It means that now is not the time to give ridiculous discounts on offers to build a website for only $300 when it normally costs $3,000. Now is not the time to sell “how-to” guides on how your business can defeat Covid-19. And now is not the time to capitalise on fear because no amount of money in the world can ever get back the lives that are lost because of this virus.

This is a plea for businesses to start interacting with people – not consumers. People who are filled with anxiety about what the future holds or if there will even be a future to see, people who have to self-isolate far from their loved ones because they’re front liners, and people who are taking it one day at a time, craving for a deeper connection in a time where social media platforms are the only place they can “go” to.

Social media platforms are an avenue of advertising, yes. That’s how they remain free for the public. It’s funded by the advertising space businesses buy – but this doesn’t mean that your business is only there to interact with customers, consumers, and an audience. They are, first and foremost, people. People who need to be connected to, people who need interaction, people who need to bond with others, and people who are doing their best to keep it together.

Social media has been the main thing that brings people together these days. And after all of this blows over, social media might even be all we have. People are more likely to interact less physically from now on because of scepticism, fear, and trauma caused by the pandemic, so the best thing that your business can do right now is treat people as people.

You can do this by putting a face on your brand. People need to see someone they can relate with and these days, all you’ll get are clicks on the “Close Ad” button if the ads you have don’t have people in them. We can say this for certain because in a recent Facebook ad that we’ve done, we chose an image with a person in it. Not only is it the only Facebook post from that client’s account that didn’t receive any negative reactions, but it also created a space where people willingly chose to positively engage and interact with the company. By putting a person in the visual, we humanised the brand, making the tone friendlier and more approachable. Moreover, people got to empathise with the person, who’s an essential worker, and we believe that the world is kinder to these used-to-be unseen heroes.

When you become more human when you advertise, you’ll find that more people will start to engage with you because of the need for a sense of connection. Moreover, social media is one of the few platforms where your audience can respond to your ads directly. For example, it can be a space for people to express their gratitude to the hard-working individuals who keep our country going during these unprecedented times. This goes to show that people will, and are willing to, connect to brands when you have a person that serves as a vessel for connection.

You’re allowed to change your brand personality – especially right now. Be human and speak to humans because at the end of the day, behind any and all advertising are humans who think, feel, conceptualise, write, design, and create. This pandemic is presenting a perfect opportunity to motivate, inspire, and connect with others beyond the surface. People will remember how you make them feel – not the products and services you sell them. Perhaps even speak to your team about being the face and voice of your brand under these circumstances. They might even already be doing this on their social media – trying to uplift people in their close circles, bringing hope into people’s lives, and reassuring their loved ones that we can all get through this together. Use the very capable people in your team to speak to fellow human beings and see how the engagement in your ads changes.