Expert: Peter Gabany - 12/19/2008

Question
I've heard that in order to get mindshare or be recognized you need to do at least 3 print advertisements with the same or very similar theme and imaging. What is your opinion on the subject?

Answer
Frequency is a great thing. It grows impressions exponentially over time but I caution - it does reach a saturation point. At that time people turn a blind eye to the ad to the point that it can start to upset the viewer.

This can be seen in transit advertising. Typical campaigns will run for 8 weeks. If the creative remains on the side of buses, people turn a blind eye to the creative. Maintaining the message through new creative refreshes the campaign and the message lives on. But creative it must be to endure.

The trouble is that client's won't always support multiple creative campaigns. But if the agency does their job the campaign will run through a variety of media and support the overall messaging increasing (again exponentially) impressions.

In the long run it isn't impressions that the client needs it is conversion. I still marvel at fashion advertising. It is almost as if they have given up. Model, clothing, logo. No call to action.

I hope this helps. Please let me know.

Pete