Commercial campaigns getting shortlived

In the past two years, there has been a continuous downslide in the life span of an ad campaign.

Till even two years ago, running the same commercial for an 18-month period was commonplace. This has now been shortened to six months in most cases.

Nirvik Singh, chairman & president, Grey Global group, South East Asia, said over the past few years while there have been fewer long campaigns, the other big difference was in their execution.

"Among campaigns that still do have a fairly extended life span, the execution and treatment changes much faster. The attempt and caution to keep the idea alive and fresh is manifested in constant execution changes, or running a multi-execution campaign concurrently," said Singh.

While consumer tiredness and keeping the campaign fresh is one reason why campaigns are being updated more often, the emergence of multiple media avenues is another reason. Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT, pointed out that the audience today was far more fragmented and was being addressed at various locations beyond just print and television.

Hence, the possibility of getting tired of a campaign faster was far higher. Other reason, according to Harris, is also the expansion in product portfolio of most of the companies.

In addition to new brands being brought in, even existing brands are fast changing. "The pace of evolution of a product's lifecycle is changing much faster than it ever did. Consumer experiences and tastes are evolving, and with it a need to evolve the product and its place in a consumer's life," he said.

At times, if a campaign is brought in for damage control such as the post-cola controversy ads, their life span could be as short as six weeks. For how long a company decides to run a particular campaign would also depend upon its spending power and density of communication.

But Harris cautions against changing campaigns and commercials simply to maintain freshn ess of the communication.

"We change our work too soon. If the campaign is changed because of a strategic shift in the positioning of a product or a new insight which needs to be focussed on, then it's a good reason to change," said Harris.

Or if the change is linked to the changing competitive market scenario.