Is Campaign Wear-Out a Myth? Exploring the Evidence

This may be the least self-serving blog post you’ll read all year. You see, I’m a Creative Director at an Ad Agency who’s here to tell you that it may be in your best interest to stick with your current campaign a little longer!

Turns out, we marketers get tired of our own work long before consumers do. More often than not, brands move on from successful campaigns long before their effectiveness wanes. Sometimes, even before their customers begin to take notice and respond.

Wear-In Before Wear-Out

Most consumers are busy, distracted and don’t lock into your advertising message the first time they’re exposed to it. And they don’t see our advertising every time it runs. In fact, it’s only seen by a fraction of the intended audience at any time. So, it actually takes some time for our campaigns to “wear in.”

But what about the wear-out factor? Surely, if I’m tired of seeing it, my customers are, too. Except your customers aren’t seeing it through the same eyes as we do. They haven’t been focused on it for months before the launch. Most advertising requires multiple exposures and repetition for the message to resonate. Turns out, it takes time for consumers to associate the core idea and theme with your brand.

The Rule of 7

The number of times a consumer needs to see an ad to connect it with a brand can vary, but there are some long-held theories. One common principle that’s been around for decades is the “Rule of 7.” It suggests that a consumer needs to see an ad at least seven times before they make a purchase decision. But a lot of factors can impact that number, including the type of product, media placement and the memorability of the creative itself.

Others suggest a minimum of three exposures is required for an ad to begin having an impact. Whatever the number, the point remains that most advertising requires multiple exposures before it starts influence your intended audience.

Does Wear Out Even Exist?

That’s a bold question. But the answer may surprise you. It did me. Recent data from Kantar, System1 and Analytic Partners suggest that wear-out not only isn’t a major problem for advertisers, it may not even exist!

Analytic Partners reviewed more than 50,000 ads that were replaced in 2020 and found that only 14 of these campaigns were showing wear-out with their target customers. Fourteen! So, that means 99.9% of the campaigns were prematurely replaced. Virtually all of them!

Kantar’s tracking data shows that there is no evident impact of how long the ad has been running on ads’ performance. And System1 found that ads with similar ratings in the first month they aired held the same ratings more than two years later, confirming that consumers have a greater tolerance for advertising repetition.

All of this data supports the idea that wear-out is driven more by the marketer than the market.

That’s not to say, campaigns never wear out. They can. But it takes much longer than we expect. So, the reasons to create a new campaign should be driven by a change in strategy, product, target, or messaging that isn’t captured by the current campaign. Not by how long it has been in the market.

Be Patient – If your campaign was effective in the beginning, it will continue to deliver similar results much longer than most of us imagine.

Monitor Engagement – Engagement metrics and consumer responses can help brands make informed decisions about when to refresh campaigns.

Reinvest in Successful Campaigns – Take the money you would have invested in premature campaign development and reinvest it in media to get your successful messaging in front of more people in more places.

Repetition is a Good Thing -- Repeated ad exposure is necessary to create memories strongly linked with brands and helps build equity for them.

The myth of wear-out in creative advertising campaigns is being debunked by evidence showing that quality, consistency, and data-driven strategies can keep ads effective over time. Brands should focus on creating compelling, emotionally resonant ads and use data to guide their campaign strategies, rather than frequently changing creative for fear of phantom wear-out.

Brandience, a Cincinnati-based brand and marketing agency, specializes in retail, restaurants, franchise industries, and healthcare. Our hands-on leadership ensures that Brandience teams and client brands benefit from data-driven creativity and optimized ad investments. Contact us today to learn how we can elevate your brand with our innovative, data-driven approach.

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