blair003:

SaltyNZ:

freitasm: Many ads rely on branding and recall as metrics instead of clicks.

Which always seemed silly to me. I have no difficulty recalling the Ferrari brand, but I won't be buying one any time soon.

I think it's different for very high end global brands like Ferrari. People aspire to own a Ferrari because of the brand, even though most never will. It's a status symbol. The reason why you have no difficulty recalling Ferrari because their marketing spend is almost entirely brand recognition.

Say they spend $200m this year for their F1 team (which is just promoting their brand to the world). If they had to advertise in specific countries they sell cars in to the specific people who are likely to buy them, it would probably cost a lot more than $200m, and over time their brand would likely diminish meaning fewer people would grow up aspiring to own one of their cars.

In the case of national brands like the life insurer its a bit different. You are likely to get life insurance at some point, but you might not want it right now (or you might be committed to another insurer right now). Brand recognition is so when you are "shopping" for their product at a later date, you remember their brand and look into it.

blair003: Hans't the red associated with Ferrari superseded any sponsorship link that may have been the cause for them starting to use red in the first place?

So while Philip Morris may pay Ferrari for sponsorship, and that may require them to continue to use the colour red (I had no idea), it is pretty hard to imagine them changing to another colour if the sponsorship deal ended.

But I agree with your second paragraph - they are a status symbol, and they need to spend a lot of money on branding so they remain seen as a status symbol.

freitasm:<--- 45 years old guy that looks like a teenager

Skolink:

freitasm:<--- 45 years old guy that looks like a teenager

Must be related to Nigella. I was rather surprised this week to discover that she is 52 rather than the 30-35 I imagined.