Makes you famous

Fame is important in advertising. Research by Binet and Field for the IPA has repeatedly showed that advertising campaigns with fame at the core of their strategy are by far the most effective at creating large business effects like sales and profit. In fact they are 50% more likely to create these effects.

Nothing creates fame like TV. Just as it’s shows turn people into stars, TV advertising turns brands into household names. There are a number of reasons for this…

TV’s scale and reach are unbeatable, and you can’t become famous if no one has heard of you.

Its scale and reach means that brands on TV are making a very public promise, which, as Rory Sutherland has pointed out, is powerful: “Public promises carry more weight,” he says, “hence why the words ‘as seen on TV’ are more convincing than ‘as seen on Facebook’”.

TV also creates fame because of its signalling power. In advertising it’s not just what you say, it’s where you say it that counts, and TV is proven to be the medium that drives the strongest fitness, social, popularity, and success signals, and to outperform other media at suggesting brand quality, self-confidence, and strength.

And the fact that TV is a shared experience also contributes to its fame-making power. Watching TV and its adverts in company creates opportunities for personal recommendations, generates conversation, increases memory, and intensifies emotions.