In the past the ASA has always monitored ad sound levels, but earlier this month it changed the measurement approach to account for 'subjective loudness.' Rather than measure the overall loudness of the ads, the ASA will restrict ads that create an imbalance between programme and ad.
Brands will need to watch carefully for the levels of volume during the shows their ads appear within, because the relative imbalance between the two soundtracks could be too large. For example, an ad inserted into the half-time coverage of a raucous Champions League final would be acceptable, whereas the same ad inserted into coverage from a Lord's Test Match could breach the subjective loudness rule.
In the hypothetical world of the consumer, as imagined by most marketing directors and ad agencies, advertising is a fun, interactive medium that provides helpful information about products and services.
However, if you talk to consumers - not in agency focus groups, but where advertising actually does its business, in the living room - a very different picture emerges. Advertising is a repetitive and annoying medium. It provides unacceptable and unhealthy images to their kids. It injects three unpleasant periods into a pleasant Sunday night's viewing. It crashes into their living rooms with a loud and unwelcome sound.
The question for marketers is, why we aren't more sensitive to these issues in the first place. Why do we need the ASA to make this rule for us when we are the ones that understand the consumer experience and give them what they want? The answer is that we are very selective in what we ask consumers and what we choose to give them.
While millions are spent each year assessing purchase attitudes, almost nothing is spent to find out how consumers actually feel about the business of advertising and marketing. While we work to give consumers the products they want, we ignore the chance to promote and deliver these products in a way that they appreciate.
Look at marketing from the consumer's point of view, and you begin to see why most people rank marketers at the very top of the professional bastards league table, beside estate agents and traffic wardens.
Consumers don't read Marketing each week or hang out with agencies. They are telephoned at 2pm on a Saturday by someone trying to sell them something they don't need. They find their route down the high street blocked by eager fundraisers for the third time that week. They get too-loud TV ads infiltrating their Sunday night.
Now, I know what you are thinking: my brand does none of the above. My point is that from the perspective of the consumer, we are all tarred with the same brush. Consumers don't distinguish one marketer from the next, just as we see real estate agents as part of the same mob. We are in this together, and are only as good as our worst tactic.
It is fantastic that the ASA has further refined the volume restrictions on ads. As usual, it is doing great things for our industry; but it is a shame that we need it to do this for us. With all our consumer-centricity, insight and orientation, could we not have done this for ourselves?
- Mark Ritson is an associate professor of marketing and consultant to some of the world's leading brands
30 SECONDS ON ... ASA RULING 6.9
- Advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident.
- The maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material.
- Subjective loudness is based on peak level of sounds in the programme, the length of time that sound levels are maintained, and the different frequencies, or 'pitches', in the soundtrack.
- Broadcasters must endeavour to minimise the annoyance that perceived imbalances could cause, with the aim that the audience need not adjust the volume of their television sets during programme breaks.
- For editorial reasons, however, commercial breaks sometimes occur during particularly quiet parts of a programme. This has the result that ads at what would normally be acceptable levels seem loud by comparison.