Can we then formulate a theory that says that there is an inverse relationship betwen how often a business advertises on TV vs. how high the quality is of whatever they’re selling? And that this rule holds very true when most other businesses which ostensibly sell the same product/service aren’t advertising on TV? And less so when just about every type of, say, beer have TV ads for them? [Even then maybe those small %'s of beers which don’t advertise are perhaps the best too?] In the end that would mean that a sizable number of such businesses are shady at best, totally crooked at worst, their products or services total shams or ripoffs and/or of very low quality.
I remember asking my dad, a physician, years ago why 99% of all lawyers in town don’t seem compelled to put ads on TV-but a few do. What exactly made the latter feel compelled to do so when the vast majority of their peers did not? His answer was vague and unsatisfying (followed by some grumbling about “fink attorneys” as he, often having to deal with malpractice claims, often called them).
It depends on the industry - I’d say it’s only “not true” for the extreme upper end of the scale - BMW advertises, Lotus not so much. Nice furniture stores advertise, crazy-nice furniture stores where your decorator shops may not.
Obviously, certain industries like attorneys have a different culture - only attorneys you’d never want to go to advertise.
But like, there are some down scale or medium scale clothing stores that don’t advertise. I’ve never seen H&M advertise, though on occasion I’ve seen the Gap advertise on TV. I think. Old Navy–all the time. Express, never. Forever 21–never, and it’s the most downscale of the chain clothing stores.
No offense to your father, but asking a physician an advertising questions is about as useful as asking an advertising executive a medical question.
Seriously, though, it really comes down to whether or not advertising on TV makes the business more money than it costs. There are several dimensions to this. For example:
[ul]
[li]Does it help sell more products (or services)?[/li][li]Does it increase the selling price?[/li][li]Does it decrease the cost (typically a side benefit of selling more)?[/li][/ul]
These effects can be either long-term or short-term. For example, often more reputable law firms will advertise in business publications (which are likely to be read by executives), but the advertisements are of a general “brand building” nature designed to build awareness and cultivate long-term business relationships. The late-night-call-us-if-you-have-asbestos law firms are thinking a little more short-term and targeting individual consumers (who are likely to be watching TV). They probably don’t have many corporate clients, so cheapening their image is not really an issue.
This analysis actually fits well with the extreme upper end products mentioned. Running a commercial for Bentleys during a Married With Children rerun will probably do more to dilute and harm the brand than to increase sales.
The problem with the hypothesis is that TV is designed to deliver a mass audience and not all businesses want to reach a mass audience.
Teenagers, especially teenage boys, for example, are notoriously hard to reach with TV, so a business targeting teenage boys would basically be firing blindly by advertising, even on MTV.
The furniture store where your decorator shops may not even want the average walk-in customer who spends an hour trying out different chairs and ends up going to a different store and buying a knockoff that costs $500 less.
Other businesses draw their customers from a limited geographic area, and advertising on a TV station that reaches 50 counties simply isn’t cost-effective.
A lot of upscale products and brands don’t do much advertising (and, particularly, not mass-media advertising like TV) for this very reason. Even with a fairly narrowly-targeted TV program or channel, you’d still be wasting 90% of your media spend, by reaching people you don’t want to reach.
This is especially true for local businesses of an upscale nature, like the upscale furniture stores in the original post.
