'Every day a little better' was at one time Coolblue's motto. Zilveren Kruis believes fairly recently that "exercising more should remain a little bit fun," and Maggie in 2012 promised an exquisite dinner with "A little bit of yourself, and a little bit of Maggie. All three brands have done their best over time to make a similar imprint in consumers' memories. So that they would be remembered in a purchasing situation. But now a new b'tje is shining on the horizon, that of health insurer Besured. 'Every day a b'tje better' is the slogan with which they appear in the cityscape, along the highway and in bus shelters. Only without a brand or sender. At Validators, we are following the course of the campaign with great interest.
Talk of the town
The very fact that there is no branding present ensures that the ads do get talked about at our coffee machine. Indeed, from our field, we often see marketers unconsciously thinking that consumers are as full of their brand as they are. We call this the Media Industry Bias. It stems from a misinterpretation about how consumers think. In fact, consumers are very busy, with work, hobbies, family, friends and housework. Consumers are especially not concerned with advertising or brands. Even if we don't do it on purpose, it happens to all of us (media and marketing people).
It seems Besured is out to become "talk of the town. And then the question is whether people with other professions are also talking about it at the coffee machine. Besured is now missing an opportunity to do a clear brand and message transfer. We know from past experience that omitting a logo in a campaign is not always a strong choice. Consider McDonald's whose no-logo expression cost the fast food chain 38% in brand impact.
64% Dutch people do not know which brand the expression is from
We were curious so we investigated. The campaign is linked to Besured by only 1% of the respondents. Belastingdienst is mentioned most often as a possible sender (14%), followed by the government (5%). 64% of the Dutch have no idea who the sender is. In total, therefore, 99% of the Dutch do not know the right sender.
Validators' recognition survey results:
| No idea/don't know | 64% |
| Tax Office | 14% |
| Government | 5% |
| JCDecaux | 3% |
| ABN Amro | 3% |
| Besured | 1% |
| Other | 12% |
Jelmer Wit, client consultant at Validators: "The production of a creation usually only costs 10% of the campaign budget, but determines 65% of the effect of your campaign. It is essential to grab attention with a strong creation. Deviating from the norm - as here by omitting the logo - can sometimes work out very well, but it is just as important to get your message and brand across. Although some 20% say they have seen the ad before, only 1% are able to link it to Besured. Of that 1%, it remains to be seen how many actively take action to find out more about the sender.
B'tje strategy
But it could well be that Besured is quite deliberately deploying a two-stage rocket. That the brand is now getting us all excited for a new round of (brand) communication. In that case, Validators is on standby again to test its effect. To B continued...
Want to know more about brand and communications research? Then contact Jelmer Wit at Jelmer.Wit@validators.nl