Be less thirsty

Only beverage industry marketers should be thirsty. But lately, it feels like marketing and ad pros across categories act pretty thirsty.

Thirsty marketers are bombarding people with three emails a day, endless app notifications, too many social posts, overly aggressive retargeting ads, coercive growth hacks and increasingly user-hostile formats like mobile screen takeovers. The logic is straightforward, but not very thought out: if some exposure is good, more must be better.

But it doesn't always work that way. Your marketing and ad efforts can work against you if they're seen as desperate (too thirsty). It's a fine line that tenured pros know how to walk (which is, ultimately, why you hire them).

At a certain point, too much (annoying) repetition starts to create a kind of negative social proof. If a brand is constantly interrupting you and begging for your attention, it can easily make the brand seem less desirable. This is especially true in B2B, where you generally want your company to look established, confident, and successful, not like it desperately needs another click.

This is one of the things I think is an especially cool strength about OOH. It’s one of the few channels where you can accomplish your frequency goals without annoying the audience you’re trying to reach. Note how people voluntarily share OOH ads with their social networks every day. It's because they think they're cool, and not annoying. That's the precise opposite of thirsty.

A rule we believe is true: the smaller the screen, the more annoying the ad tends to be. An ad taking over your phone is competing with whatever you actually wanted to do. A billboard or digital screen feels different. It’s bigger, more ambitious, more cinematic. It feels like a brand making a statement rather than interrupting you for attention.

We're not saying don't run branding online. You should. We're saying be thoughtful about it, and always consider what your media mix looks like. For many marketers, even the allocation makes them feel thirsty (and they don't even realize it). Our team can help you fix this, and are confident the performance gains are worth it long term.

Be present. Be memorable. Just don’t be desperate.