“Dilly, dilly!” It was the marketing catchphrase of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal. And it’s definitely catchy. I love the commercials and the catchphrase and smile every time I hear it. I’m not alone.
Unfortunately, despite the popularity of the company’s new ad campaign, sales are slumping.
Advertisers often work hard to gain attention by creating clever and entertaining commercials. The annual Super Bowl is a great example of this. And, in fact, getting attention is the first step in leading consumers down a pathway to purchase. It’s not enough, though.
Budweiser is certainly not alone in spending millions of dollars to generate attention and buzz and failing to see the investment pay off in terms of the bottom line. But, advertising isn’t about entertaining, unless the advertising also drives sales.
Lots of people may be laughing at these ads and lots of people may be saying “dilly, dilly,” but lots of people aren’t buying Budweiser.
- Does a clever catchphrase create demand for a product? No. Awareness, perhaps, but even that is not guaranteed. How many people know the phrase “dilly, dilly,” but don’t know what product the commercials are selling?
- Does a clever catchphrase convey product benefits? No. Neither do these commercials, really, aside from the fact that the king character obviously loves the beer.
- Does a clever catchphrase differentiate a product from the competition? Maybe, if that catchphrase becomes directly associated with the product.
Clever alone doesn’t cut it. Your potential market needs to be aware of the product (that’s where advertising, even clever advertising, comes into play). But, you also have to have a product that is better than other available options. And, you need to convince potential customers that the product is indeed better, creating demand for it and, ultimately, leading to a purchase decision.
“Dilly, dilly,” isn’t enough to drive sales. At least not for Budweiser.
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Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We are adept at evaluating and analyzing communication efforts and working with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content, through both on- and offline media to achieve desired results. Our background in business journalism, marketing, PR/media relations and online communications makes us well-positioned to serve the needs of 21st-century marketers.
We serve clients who are looking for help creating content for a wide array of channels—from social media posts to full-length manuscripts, and everything in between. We focus primarily on service-related B2B topics and work with a number of independent consultants interested in building their thought leadership through online channels. For ongoing content management, our first step is to fully understand your goals, objectives and competitive landscape.
Then we’ll conduct a thorough analysis and assessment of your digital presence, compared to competitors, and recommend a communication strategy to achieve your goals. But, we also regularly take on individual projects – white papers, blog posts, contributed articles, etc. If you’re interested in learning more, let us know!
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Tags: Advertising, advertising during the Super Bowl, advertising effectiveness, creative advertising, Dilly dilly, ineffective advertising, Marketing