12 BANDT.COM.AU DECEMBER 11 2009

I have a dream, my friends. And that dream is not,as you might expect, darkly sexual andquintessentially Freudian, but a simple one: tobuild brands for the long term. However, as theshitfight that was 2009 stutters to a welcomeclose, I notice that my fragile little ambition hashad sand kicked in its face by an altogether morepowerful creature: short-termism.

Many of you will say t’was ever thus. Despiteall the empirical evidence proving brands thatinvest during a downturn emerge stronger on theother side, the marketing and advertisingcommunity has always cut and run as soon asrecessions hit. You only have to look at mediaspend over the past 40 years to see that we’reparty people in this industry – living it up andmaking lots of noise when the going’s good andthen going as quiet as the victim of a Sambucca-based hangover when things get tough.

I’d be less paranoid if I thought that, as theeconomy comes back, we’d instantly revert toplaying the long game and investing in our mostimportant, if intangible asset, but I fear it’ll take awhile before we can kick the habit of constantsales promotions, retail activity and instantpayback.

That’s partly because even before we saw theglobal economy head south for the winter, spring,autumn and summer, brand stewardship wasalready an endangered art. There’s so much churnin the marketing and advertising communitythese days that most of us run brands more likepoliticians than statesmen – looking for short-term gain that wins us favour, rather than buildinga solid platform for the future. Who cares if thewhole thing goes to custard if you’re not aroundwhen it all collapses?

It’s also because I suspect there has beena conclusive shift in the balance of power inmost organisations, so that the money men hold even greater sway than ever before. Many see marketing activity as a cost, ratherthan an investment, and they want instantsavings or returns.

Whatever your best intentions, it’s a littledifficult to engage in investment and longer-termthinking when your CFO is screaming “Show methe money” down the phone, no doubt jiggingaround in his office, naked from the waist up.

I love the term “psychographics”. For me it conjuresup images of deranged madmen fretting overRorschach inkblot tests.

The Association for Qualitative Research definespsychographics as: “A way of describing groups ofpeople who have in common their response oroutlook towards something, which may or may notrelate to demographic similarities”.

Attitude statements are a key component ofthese descriptions. So I’d like to turn to RoyMorgan’s single source data for the 200-plusattitudes listed. Some of these statements borderon the ridiculous and I have to wonder whether theyare of any use to anyone, ever. For example, “I like tobe with a crowd of people”. How on earth do youanswer that? I would strongly agree if the contextwas a football match, but strongly disagree if thecontext was hiking though a picturesque nationalpark. And what insight does this give a researcher?Does it measure the incidence of demophobia (fearof crowds)? Is it used to compile a “Loner Index”?

Here’s another stupid attitude statement: “SomeTV advertising is devious”. I’m not making this shit up,that is a real question asked to thousands of Aussieseach year on the Roy Morgan single-source survey.Then there’s the statement “My pet is a fussy eater”.Er, no I think you’ll find that there are only fussy petowners. My cat used to be a fussy eater but he soonwarmed to his biscuits when he realised Option Bwas starvation. Another gem: “I don’t buy luxuriesany more”. Eh? Are we talking monthly pedicureshere or fresh fish to feed the kids?

I think some of the 200-plus attitude statementson the Roy Morgan survey are nothing more than awaste of respondents’ time and effort. And anyway,one of the biggest questions with psychographics iswhether a person’s attitudes significantly affecttheir ultimate behaviour. Many psychologists wouldargue that this is rarely the case. It’s quite possibleto agree with one thing in principle yet do anotherthing entirely in practice. I believe psychologistsrefer to this as “cognitive dissonance” ... while normalpeople call it hypocrisy.

Attitudes only go so far in helping us to betterunderstand people, and other components ofpsychographics, such as interests, can be moreinsightful. Maybe Roy Morgan should add theattitude statement “I’m interested in a wide range ofdifferent things”. Imagine how illuminating thatstatement would be. I think I’ll have to leave my rantthere for now – I’ve got to attend my fussy pet andwatch some devious TV advertising.

comm

ent

THE LONG-TERM GAMEIS BEING SOLD SHORT

IT’S EASY TO DEVELOPTHE WRONG ATTITUDE

TO MAKE A COMMENT EMAIL EDITORIAL@BANDT.COM.AU

Al CrawfordExecutive planningdirector,Clemenger BBDO

Adam JosephInsights manager,Herald Sun

BT.DEC11.PG012.pdf Page 12 3/12/09, 5:00 PM