AdAge Delivers No Value

When it comes to purchase decisions, many customers buy for value - they delicately weigh the differences costs and benefits.  [Well, this is how I understand value.]


While individual decisions may be a mystery to us, a recent study reported in Advertising Age revealed broader consumer perceptions of value vs. price paid for products/services. [Remember that - value vs. price paid... huh?]

OK.  So what?  The article warns us that these are not "the sexiest, fastest-growing, best known, most heavily advertised or even most universally used" - but really, there is nothing surprising on the list, other than perhaps some of the "non-American" brands (for ethnocentric Americans of course).

This is by far one of the WORST articles I have read from Ad Age.  The article relied almost exclusively on quotes from the research team at Millward Brown, which conducted the study.  For instance, 

Apple didn't make the top 10 list, Mr. Walshe said, because while it ranks among the highest of any brand in perceived desirability, it also ranks very high in perceived price.

"People rate Apple as being very expensive," he said. "Even though its desire ranking is very high, its price perception is even higher."

What?!  This is a totally oversimplified vision of value.  Value is not determined by price alone.  Rather, a more broad term such as "costs" should be used in the value equation (Costs-Benefits = Value).  Sure a MacBook might be more expensive, but consumers may still deem it as delivering higher value than a lower priced laptop because it may be more durable, need less service, or simply perform better.


Clearly, AdAge got a little lazy here.  This article is clearly a press release, released by Millward Brown.  This is not an unheard of practice.  News organizations regularly use press releases as the foundation upon which a story is built.  Repeat, a FOUNDATION. 

Like any other business, news organizations add value along the distribution channel by using methods of journalism - such as investigation, copywriting, and editing - to transform the press release into a news story.  By failing to do this, AdAge is shortchanging not only its readers, but also itself.


As readers and subscribers we pay to hear AdAge's "expert editorial voice."  When that goes silent, we are fed pure propaganda that is simply not worth reading and definitely not worth paying for.