The 10-Second Test

One thing to watch out for on Super Bowl Sunday (besides the Steelers’ vaunted defense) is the anticipated one-second advertisement from Miller Brewing Company.

In fact, you don’t have to wait, as Miller has created an entire web site dedicated to the one-second ad campaign at www.1secondad.com, where you can watch a series of outtakes featuring the loud but charming High Life beer delivery guy.

Miller isn’t the first company to conduct Super Bowl micro-advertising, but it is the first to create a serious buzz around the concept. The brilliance of the one-second ad campaign isn’t the ad itself, but the fact that people are talking about it well in advance of the game.

By mocking the exorbitant costs of Super Bowl advertising, Miller has not only scored some timely points in light of the current economic downturn, but has also generated considerably more brand exposure than a traditional 30-second ad by virtue of the publicity surrounding the stunt.

The one-second ad is also timely from a marketing communications perspective. With the advent of Twitter and other rapid-fire communication tools, the pressure to say more, and to say it faster, is intensifying.

So what if you had to make a one-second ad? Scratch that…Make it a 10-second ad. Can you summarize the heart and soul of your business, including what makes your product different and better, in 10 seconds?

If not,  it’s time to get to work on refining your marketing message and, if necessary, your business plan. As attention spans get shorter, the marketing noise is getting louder. Brand clarity will be your Kryptonite in this changing communications landscape.

Flex Your Marketing Muscle

As the dawn of the new year brings hope of economic recovery, it’s never too early to begin positioning your business for the better times ahead—a process that should include bolstering your marketing efforts.

Naturally, as a marketing consultancy, we are biased in favor of marketing and media relations. So to make our point, we will defer to a recent article in Business Week titled “The Five Don’ts for Marketing in Tough Times,” which included the following observation:

 Marketing is muscle, not fat. Be careful about cutting it.

Just as the savviest investors view down markets as a time to buy when everybody else is selling, the savviest marketers know recessions are a great time to pick up market share. They understand that by maintaining their budgets (or even increasing them) they may not come out ahead during the down times, but they can pick up market share that will pay off in the long run. Marketing dollars in a recession are like oxygen on Mt. Everest—the less there is in the surrounding environment, the more valuable the amount you possess becomes. Cutting your marketing spending is a sure way to give ground to competitors who may be more aggressive during the downturn.

In other words, the time is now to flex your marketing muscle.