Why do hurting companies cut advertising first?
A friend of mine, Michael Irvin, posted an article that poses the age-old question, “When business is bad, why is advertising the first thing to be cut?”
Michael says, “I don’t get it.” I don’t, either.
There’s a concept called “no more room in the box.” The box is the customer’s brain, and the things that fill it up are brands and products (at least for this discussion). The box can only hold so many brands or products at any one time. If s/he adds more beyond that limit, something’s gotta go.
For example, if Sunkist orange soda quits advertising and marketing, but Tropicana orange soda surges ahead in advertising, Sunkist probably will lose business to Tropicana, because people simply forget about the brand. When Tropicana muscled into the box, it pushed Sunkist right out like a homeless squatter.
Of course, I’m a loyal Sunkist fan, so I wouldn’t switch to Tropicana without a lot of ad impressions, or coupons, or perhaps a report that Sunkist caused warts. Once your brand gets into the box, it’s hard to dislodge. But if you simply stop advertising, you abandon any claim to that box space you worked so hard and spent so much to get. You give your competitor a free pass. Now, why would you do that?
