CHICAGO -- Can point-of-sale advertising take advantage of the decline of mass communications as an advertising vehicle? Maybe, said Bill Holbrook of Hinckley & Schmitt, a bottled water supplier based in Englewood, Colo. "Mass communications is a dying business. The real challenge is to get brand managers holding on to that traditional tool to reconsider how they reach their audience," said Holbrook, the firm's vice president of marketing. He spoke here at a conference sponsored by the Point of Purchase Advertising Institute. According to Holbrook, mass communications is fading as an advertising vehicle to reach consumers. His listed the high number of broadcast options for viewers, the overall "clutter" on television and the use of remote controls to "zap" commercials. "High-tech capabilities let the consumer avoid the advertising," he said.
"This puts some questions in the minds of the brand manager today," who has traditionally depended on mass communications to convey an advertising message, he said. Some people are beginning to re-evaluate their return on advertising investment.
According to Holbrook, there's been a swing in marketing dollars in the last 30 years. In 1960, about two-thirds of the budget was allocated to advertising and a third to promotion. Today, it's the opposite. In addition, Holbrook said, there's a strong shift by consumers on purchase decisions from in-home to in-store, where 70% of the decisions are made today. "A great number of people may not have seen ads on television. In many cases, the first time they see an ad is right there in the supermarket," he said. Therefore, "point-of-sale [material] is a form of advertising," he said. "In many cases, that's the only advertising a consumer sees. Most brand managers don't consider that," he said. Holbrook said the effect on promotion today is the need for greater impact, longer "legs," greater durability, more value-added features and more image.
The effect on the retailer is an increase in demands for more signage, feature ad support, pricing support, display space and POS placement in the supermarket, he said. But more POS activity can also lead to clutter, he added. There can be too many displays, too many options and possibly shorter promotion periods. So, a new goal of promotion today, he said, should be to "break through the clutter and run longer."
