Why the laws of marketing might be working against you

You could be forgiven for thinking that the industry has cracked effective advertising. It's become a problem that's been solved. A process to be followed.

Read the theory; reach the whole category as often as you can; lean on some sophisticated tech to hoover up the demand you generate. Bish bash bosh.

At Craft we call this approach Ultra-Processed Planning, and in a tumultuous, penny-wise world, having a 'proven' way to plan is a salve. It can be quick, cost-effective – and, we believe, detrimental to the long-term health of brands.

Why applying conventional thinking conventionally is dangerous for small brands

If the job is driving growth, the above recipe – anchoring your planning entirely in the accepted 'laws of growth' – is one for stasis, especially when all your competitors are doing the same thing. The laws keep big brands big, because they're already chosen more often and have the deepest pockets.

In many cases, stasis might be overselling it. Often, for smaller brands, Ultra-Processed planning is a recipe for failure because:

• The law of double jeopardy, which empirically demonstrates that small brands have fewer customers who buy less often from them, means larger competitors claim a greater share of category entrants, so their advertising works harder than yours.
• Media inflation is rampant, and the levers advertisers once had to control it have been removed, as platforms such as Meta have adopted algorithm-driven systems which have reduced brands' ability to control the audience reached or the prices paid to reach it.
• Everything has to work 20% harder each year just to match previous performance.
• Barriers to new entrants have never been lower; disruption is rife.
• Margins are being squeezed as consumers can't absorb price rises.
• Retail space is rationalising, with brands under pressure to demonstrate a sufficient rate of sale or risk losing shelf space to private-label alternatives. 

In this context, survival is hard work; growth is a monstrous achievement.

Smaller brands can only grow through the Ultra-Processed planning approach if they have impossibly deep pockets or very tolerant investors, and my bet is you don't have those.

Thinking differently can mean shrinking the fight by committing to one opportunity or target audience rather than hedging across all of them. It might mean spotting value everyone else in the category has missed – media choice, usage occasion, cultural association – and going after it. Whatever it is, it's about concentrating on something, rather than doing a bit of everything.

Don't drift in the middle lane

At Craft we talk about 'Getting Out Of The Middle Lane'. Do something huge, do something small, it doesn't matter, just don't get caught drifting in the middle doing the same thing as everyone else.

Ultra-Processed planning defaults to breadth: broaden appeal, broaden targeting, reach all potential buyers. However, Huel just sold itself for a billion euros despite most people thinking Huel drinkers are weirdos. It never tried to be for everyone, never tried to be Slimfast or a protein shake. It's a meal replacement for hustlers too busy to stop and eat (weirdos). And it's the best in the world at it.

Putting a different planning approach into action

Ultra-Processed planning hedges bets. We worked with the electric car motorsport championship Formula E when it was struggling to find a cultural position independent of Formula 1. Rather than reaching motorsport fans worldwide, we spotted a value opportunity in India, where F1 doesn't race but FE does, and built a plan to become the biggest motorsport there, a far stronger place to grow from. By giving ourselves time to do one job brilliantly, comms worked far harder. One set of free WhatsApp stickers we produced was used 25 million times.

Ultra-Processed planning prioritises recency and market seasonality. We helped Moss break from the menswear convention and plan its advertising in Spring-Summer rather than Autumn/Winter, tapping wedding and racing occasions while nobody else in the category was live. Moss had to rota additional staff to keep up with the footfall.

Ultra-Processed planning leans on distinctive assets and low-attention processing. We made the toilet paper brand, Who Gives A Crap?, headline sponsor of the World Naked Bike Ride. For less than the price of a peak TV spot, it became a central part of an event that combines cheekiness, environmental concern and bums like nothing else on earth. In doing so we helped an insurgent gain genuine attention, redefine the toilet roll category and secure widespread retail distribution.

Recipes for better thinking

This sort of planning works, and it's a lot more fun too. The laws of growth are undeniable, but they work best in service of great thinking, not as an alternative to it.

We've written a book to help you do it. A cookbook. Eight recipes for creating comms that work. Not rules to follow, but prompts for better thinking, designed to be personalised to your unique taste.

Ultimately, while the industry pivots en-masse to conversations about execution, it's only great thinking and commitment in advance of that which delivers massive returns.

Copies of the book are available to buy. Profits from the sale will fund a bursary to send young planners to the Media Planning Group's Planning Fundamentals course.

The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.