Branding Secret – Less is More
For better or for worse, our attention spam for advertising has decreased dramatically, and we have less time to spend reading, watching or listening. So the good marketers have learned, “Less is More”. Check out this Coke commercial and then let’s review:
How many times did you hear the commercial say, “Now only $1.25!”, “Now on Sale”, “At your local retailer!”, “Now with less sugar!”, etc? In fact, the only words that appear in the entire video are, “Hug Me” and “Open Happiness”.
A novice brand marketer will tell you, “Let’s highlight how the product will improve your life” or “What is the story of the product?” But often times our brands or emotional connection with consumers gets drowned out in nonsense.
Let’s list out a few fun examples:
- 1-800-Hurt911 (I really hope this site is a joke, try scrolling down)
- Ad Banned for being ‘too quick’ (Listen to the terms and conditions)
Jakob Nielson has said in his article, “How little do users read?“, Nielson explains that when you add more verbiage to a site/page people will only read 18% of it.
A few fun facts that he explains are:
- On pages with 111 words or less, users read only half of the information.
- An equal amount of time is spent understanding the page layout and navigation features and images on the page.
- On average, users will read about 20% of text on a page.
In conclusion, the next time you’re tempted to create a brand campaign that overwhelms a user with multiple features, pricing and stories, remember that often, “Less is More”.
I agree with the sound advice of less being more and keeping things simple. However, I don’t think that’s entirely what is happening within the Coke commercial. Coke has a luxury that not every brand has, it’s been around for a century. It has reached a “maturity” in its product life cycle, so its advertising strategies would be much different than if I were just entering the soda market. (http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~renglish/370/notes/chapt18/chap_18_03.gif). They’re simply reminding us that Coke exists. However, even when introducing a new product you can still use the “less is more” advice like you stated. But you still need to inform/differentiate your product.