When Does An Ad Campaign Grow Stale?

Too much of a good thing can be bad.  It doesn't matter whether it's good for you or not.  Too much sun can lead to skin damage.  Too much water can wash nutrients through your body.  Once in a while, we just need something different to offset the monotony of the over-done.  People need a change of pace.  If we're presented with too much of the same, we get bored.

The case can be made for advertisements, particularly television commercials.  We can skip over print ads in magazines and newspapers.  We've learned to tune out ads on websites unless it gets splashed on our screens before we can reach the content we want.  But we generally have to sit through TV ads (unless we can fast forward on DVR).  We're force fed 30-60 seconds of filler so that the actors/news anchors/reality "stars" can get paid.  

Once in a while, a campaign will stick with the public.  Two campaigns that people are talking about are Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man In the World" by Euro RSCG and Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" by Wieden + Kennedy.  These two campaigns are focusing on one thing that makes a man: experience.  With experience comes the know-how when put into certain situations that men may not normally be comfortable in.  Before we go any further, let's look at what the point of advertising is.

Are companies trying to increase sales or increase brand awareness?  Just because a consumer is aware of your brand doesn't mean that consumer will purchase it.  I'm aware of Tampax Tampons but as a single male, I have no reason to purchase that product (until I get married).  The reason why I'm aware of Tampax Tampons is because of advertising.  My mom watched a lot of Oprah as I was growing up.  Anyway, since the campaign, Dos Equis has seen an increase in sales this year.  Old Spice has seen sales increase by 27% over 6 months.

So when does a campaign grow stale?  When copycats try to mimic the campaign? When consumers start dressing up as your spokesperson at Comic-Con?  When sales finally start to flatten out or (gasp!) DECREASE?  Wieden + Kennedy has done a great job by switching up the spokesperson for Old Spice over the years getting B-movie cult icon Bruce Campbell, Neil Patrick Harris fresh off of reprising his role as Neil Patrick Harris on Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, NFL linebacker Ray Lewis, former NFL player-turned-actor Terry Crews, and most recently, Fabio (?).  Dos Equis has been backed into a corner.  Where do you go from The Most Interesting Man in the World?  How can you effectively plan a campaign without knowing when consumers will grow tired of it and switch to competitors?

These are just two examples of campaigns that have increased sales for their products, yet are getting tiresome.  Old Spice was able to keep it fresh, but adding Fabio to the stable was confusing to me.  The man is 52 years old and was the cover boy to trashy romance novels read by bored housewives sitting in the stands of their 11 year old's baseball game.  Wieden + Kennedy has done an excellent job in re-positioning Old Spice so far to target not just men ages 18-25 (incredibly difficult to reach due to media usage habits), but also women.  That's not to say Euro RSCG hasn't been effective with Dos Equis.  I'm just ready to see if they can outdo themselves.  What's interesting to me right now is how Kenny Powers will fare as the MFCEO of K-Swiss, and how long it'll be before I get bored with that.