When to Advertise like Blake Griffin Dunks

Los Angeles Clippers superstar Blake Griffin's dunk on Kendrick Perkins was absolutely  epic (if you haven't seen it, click here) and reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a client.

The client wanted to know ...

When should I have media and/or advertising in the market?

In essence, they wanted to know if they should be advertising like Blake Griffin dunks -- as in all the time -- or if there is a strategy commonly used to determine key messaging timeframes.

To help guide the conversation, I began the question with the following:

• Peak Season: When is the peak sales season of your company / industry? How much historical data do you have to support this fact?
• Off-Peak Season: Could you steal market share from competitors during your industries off-peak seasonal time frame? Again, do you have historical data to support your response?
• Product Announcements: Notice that Verizon advertises launch dates of new Android 4G smartphones nearly a month in advance? They use the Hollywood 'Coming to a Theatre Near You on ...." to build buzz around their launches.
• Company Announcements: Are you about to hire Steve Balmer away from Microsoft to run your company? A huge company announcement would be a great time to deliver your brand / product message.

Advertisers don't need to be advertising like Blake Griffin dunks year round. What they need to do is use the questions above to kickstart the conversation.