It is remarkable that, even after more than 35 years, many marketers still cling to the flawed funnel model of how advertising works. This is a key reason why genuine, evidence-based brand management must be part of business school curricula. For decades, we’ve understood that relying on the funnel to drive advertising and build brand loyalty amounts to large-scale mismarketing. Unfortunately, as recent reporting in The Wall Street Journal showed, 1-800-Flowers found that its funnel-driven marketing strategy was both inefficient and ineffective. This article appears in Branding Strategy Insider’s FREE newsletter. Join the world’s most insightful marketers and subscribe here for practical, actionable ideas delivered straight to your inbox.
The funnel framework – AIDA – has been around for ages. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Under AIDA, the purpose of advertising is to create brand Attention, which should evolve into brand Interest, then into brand Desire, ultimately triggering Action – the purchase of the brand. The problem with the funnel is that it ignores retaining customers, deepening brand relationships, and cultivating brand loyalty. The funnel is almost entirely about doing whatever it takes to acquire customers. It is acquisition-centric. Of course, brands do need a steady flow of new buyers. But those new buyers should be converted into repeat, long-term customers.
What concerns me is that the sales funnel idea remains deeply embedded in brand strategy, particularly when people talk about multi-touch attribution models. No brand framework can thrive if it is built on a sales funnel that is…