Recession Ads Tout ‘Value’ Messages. Boring? Yes. Effective? Probably.
"Is there a more appropriate symbol for how the holiday shopping season
is shaping up than an advertisement for the Tse clothing store, which
appears in The New York Observer, that is composed of the name of the shop, its address and telephone number and the words “on sale” repeated 128 times?" muses Stuart Elliott in The New York Times.
There are 19 other questions, if you're interested. But I like this one. It gets to the heart of the matter of advertising during a recession. Is "On Sale" all you really need to say? Can you imagine: A bunch of Creatives sitting around a table, spouting their brilliant ideas. Enter Account Exec. "Scrap everything, just tell 'em its cheap and let's call it a day."
Value-driven messages. Everyone's doing it – and not just for Black Friday. Food manufacturers, grocery stores. Pay-as-you-go telecom services. Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's – heck, every department store has to if they don't want to join Mervyn's in bankruptcy court. But have you seen any really clever ones? Chime in.
