University of Arizona. Book ... John Philip Jones also worked in the business for nearly 30 ... Small brands are often new and typically receive advertising invest-.
BERNARD J. JAWORSKI, Editor
University of Arizona
Book
Does It Pay to Advertise?: Cases IUustrating Successful Brand Advertising By John niffip Jt^es (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1989, 405 pp., $49.95) Currently a professor of »]vertising at Syracuse University, John Philip Jones also worked in the business for nearly 30 years, 25 of them at J. Walter Iliompson. His latest book, Does It Pay to Advertise?: Cases Illustrating Successful Brand Advertising, is fresh, timely, and very well written. It combines the practitioner's knowledge of the particular with the academician's desire to advance thinking about a subject. This book is much more than just a text for an advertising case cotirse. Jones sets two objectives for his book. First, he intends to write brief marketing histories of 19 brands, with an emphasis on how advertising contributed to their success. At the end of each case he draws several specific advertising lessons. Second, he uses these cases to demonstrate general brand marketing and advertising principles that have emerged from the experience of J. Walter Thompson. Jones contends that "these cases are strong enough individually to highlight and illustrate JWT's much wider, deeper, and more longitudinal professional experience" (p. 1). The introductory chapter enumerates 20 different principles, which include generalizations about markets, brands, advertising, budgets and media, and research. Subsequent chapters present the brand histories: Campari and Mumm in Germany, Kodak cameras and film, Kraft P'tit Quebec, Listerine antiseptic. Lux toilet soap, Nescafe in Spain, Oxo beef cubes, Quaker Kibbles 'n Bits, Slice, Smaities candy, Timotei shampoo, De Beers diamonds, the Discover Card, the Ford Escort, Goodyear, Orkin, the Trustee Savings Banks of Britain, and the U.S. Marine Corps. Various branch offices of J. Walter Thompson have been associated with each of these brands. In the three concluding chapters, Jones introduces new empirical data about market share and advertising levels, searches again for general pattems, and finally explains when and at what level it pays to advertise. This book raises many important issues, only a few of which can be considered here. One point Jones stresses is that the so-called "brand life cycle' becomes a self-fulfilling doctrine of inevitable decline when it leads managers to milk and eventually ruin their mature brands. In reality, many brands such as Kodak, Listerine, Lux, and Oxo have flourished for more than 60 years and still hold large market shares in their now
124 / Journal of Marketing, October 1990
rather stationary markets. Because brands as successful as these are rare, they should be protected. Jones also discusses what he calls the "point of maximum sensitivity" or that time in a brand's life when its advertising campaign must be changed. Advertising campaigns become obsolete when markets change or when creative ideas lose their impact. Ad agencies and clients sometimes find it difficult to diagnose these problems and evaluate alternative approaches. Ongoing contingency planning, like that described in the Oxo case, can help agencies steer through this "mine field" and preserve their relationship with the advertiser. The issue receiving the most attention is advertising scale economies. Jones believes that advertising share of voice for large brands tends to be less than their market share and supports this hypothesis with findings ft-om a recent study of 1096 advertised brands. He organizes the data into two categories: (1) "underspenders" or "profit-taking brands" whose share of voice is the same as or less than their market share and (2) "overspenders" or "investment brands" whose share of voice is more than their market share. As market share increases, a brand is more likely to be an underspender. Of small brands with 1 to 3% market share, 27% are underspenders and 73% are overspenders. Of large brands with 16% market share or more, 59% are underspenders and 4 1 % are overspenders. Jones offers three explanations for this tendency. Small brands are often new and typically receive advertising investments that exceed their market shares. Large brands, in contrast, are commonly the older ones that manufacturers tend to neglect. Finally, the advertising for large brands simply seems to work harder than that for small brands. Jones believes the reason is that large brands benefit from above-average frequency of purchase and repurchase, what has been called "penetration supercharge." However, underinvesting in large brands is dangerous and should only be carried so far. Jones argues that a large brand will decline when its share of voice falls four percentage points or more below its market share. Cutting into the muscle of large brands is especially foolish because they are relatively more profitable than smaller ones. Does It Pay to Advertise? has several commendable features. Its focus on brands is especially relevant given all the recent talk about "brand equity." According to Jones, "brjinds are substantially created by psychological values added to functional ones" (p. 322). Advertising, of course, is the best way to add such values. Sales promotions, whatever their merits in the short run, do not seem to build brands. This book also takes a global perspective. Though nine of
the cases describe U.S. experience, seven brand histories are European or French Canadian and three are fully international in scope. Many of these cases add a richness to the text by introducing thereaderto cultural differences, most notably varied preferences for foods and drinks, and by pointing out the many similarities »;n>ss cultures. They also add validity to the generalizations, though little is said about Asia, Africa, and Latin America, regions that may have had advertising and mariceting experiences contrary to tiiose of the North Atlantic community. Most case studies involve history to some degree and the field of advertising has a vigorous tradition of historical research. This text is much more concerned with historical perspective than the average. The role of advertising in building brands can be appreciated best when one takes a long view because imparting added V£dues takes time and the process is cumulative. Historical study advances marketing thought by suggesting themes and hypotheses diat can be investigated with other historical data. Despite its many strengths, this book does have a few shortcomings. The author's tone of voice often becomes so effusive that readers might question his commitment to critical thinking. Because the cases discuss successful brands, Jones tells us "it would be both mislt^ing and unfair to deny an agency the accolade for its excellence" (p. 19), but in places he begins to gush. As just one example, in the chapter on the Ford Escort he states that "from the first there was glamour stemming from the Escort's international origins" (p. 226). Whatever positive attributes the best-selling Escort may have, "glamour" does not appear to be one of them. Moreover, several of the cases contain relatively little detailed analysis of the advertising for the brands they examine. For instance, after first discussing the history of the diamond trade, the De Beers case presents and elaborates several tables of data about world sales and per capita consumption since 1980. Of the 20 pages in the case, only two examine the campaigns for diamonds. If the author had said more about the history of diamond advertising, we would have more confidence in the lessons he draws. Most troubling, however, is the methodology of the analysis. Jones says he uses inductive reasoning "to tease general patterns out of a multiplicity of specifics" (p. xiv). This approach is reasonable, even fashionable in some marketing circles, but its validity depends on how carefully one assembles and weighs the historical evidence. The smali sample of only 19 brands, most of which are packaged goods, is a limiting factor. More problematic is the fact that Jones writes only about successful brands, intentionally excluding the histories of brands that struggled and failed and the lessons they may hold. Further, he does not include case histories of brands advertised primarily by agencies other than JWT. The conclusions drawn by, say, Ogilvy and Mather may be much different from those of JWT. In the final analysis, this book should be included in the personal library of die serious jjractitioner and the marketing academician with an interest in advertising. Whatever its shortcomings, it still has a great number of intelligent things to say about brands and their debt to advertising. It also might be a good text for an advanced advertising case or campaigns course. Unfortunately, its usefulness as a teaching tool might be limited because real case histories soon become outdated. TERRENCE H. WTTKOWSKI California State University, Long Beach
Pursuing Customers: An Ethnography of Marketing Activities By Robert C. Prus (Newbury Park, CA: Sage PubUcations, Inc., Volume 171, 1989, 336 pp., $17.95) Making Sales: Influence as Interpersonal Accomplishment By Robert C. Prus (Newbury Park, CA: Sage PubHcations, Inc., Volume 172, 1989, 336 pp., $17.95) In these two publications, a qualitative sociologist makes an energetic and productive foray into the activities of the marketplace. Prus' conveyance into the world of business is ethnography on a grand scale, a methodology in which he previously has demonstrated skill and effectiveness. He grounds his descriptions and findings solidly in the literature of the social sciences and his perspective is in the interpretive paradigm. The conceptualization of the marketplace draws upon the dramaturgical metaphor of Goffman (1939), and the emerging theater of marketplace exchange activity is viewed as a component of human activity. These are not "how to" books, but attempts to describe, organize, and learn from what is and what the participants of the business world deem their world to be. In his previous works, Prus has clearly set and bounded his studies within a particular marketplace context. In contrast, these books define business at a more aggregate and abstract level. Prus does not treat business as a context-free, generic activity, but he appears unaware of any context that may constrain his presentation. On the surface this perspective seems inconsistent with the method he employs, for ethnography as a form of postmodern inquiry embraces contextuality, texture, native perspectives, and oufliers (Sherry 1989). Both implicitly and traditionally the method requires defined boundaries. Yet Prus' treatment enables the paradigm coupled with the method to work. The model of flie maricetplace and of exchange that emerges incorporates the ambiguity, the uncertainty, and the dynamism of social life as seen through the eyes of its participants. Prus illustrates viewpoints and prevailing practices as well as feelings of fear, frustration, relief, confidence, and surprise through a liberal peppering of verbatim remarks from persons whom he has interviewed. These informants are identified not by the use of conventional demographic variables, but ratiier by theirrespectivemarketplace affiliations (men's clothing, discount department store, real estate, auto). Discussion of the study methodology should not obscure the contribution of these books to both academicians and practitioners. These two books are a gift to those who study the theoretical constructs of marketing and to those who perform the tasks. Both groups will find the books easy to read. Many of the findings appear self-evident and natural. A hazard is that the level of conifort with and understanding of the insights may cause them to seem unworthy of enlightened self-reflection. For the academic researcher, the native-view perspective, which captures how participants construct their world, yields a wellspring of propositions for further research. All of the topics covered in these books are commonly found in conventional marketing and sales texts (setting up a business, managing, purehasing products, branding, pricing, using media, presenting products, meeting resistance, etc.). The (Ufference
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