Flighting vs. Sustained Support Which Works Better

Flighting vs. Sustained Support: Which Works Better?

Last month, I had coffee with Sarah, a seasoned media planner at a leading automotive agency. She was wrestling with a dilemma that keeps many media professionals awake at night. Her client, a premium car manufacturer, was launching their new electric vehicle line with a substantial media budget. The question wasn't about creative execution or channel selection—it was about timing strategy. Should they concentrate their firepower in intense bursts around key moments, or spread their investment evenly throughout the year? Sarah's predicament perfectly encapsulates one of media planning's most enduring debates: the strategic choice between flighting and sustained support approaches.

This fundamental decision shapes not just campaign performance but entire brand trajectories. As digital channels proliferate and consumer attention becomes increasingly fragmented, understanding when to pulse and when to persist has become more critical than ever. The stakes are high—get it wrong, and even the most creative campaigns can disappear into the noise of modern media consumption.

1. Burst Helps Quick Salience, Sustained Aids Memory

The psychological foundations of flighting versus sustained support rest on fundamental principles of human cognition and memory formation. Flighting strategies capitalize on the principle of recency and the psychological concept of availability bias, where recent or intense exposures disproportionately influence consumer behavior and brand recall.

Burst campaigns create what cognitive scientists term "peak-end effects"—where consumers remember experiences based on their most intense moments rather than their duration. This phenomenon explains why a concentrated two-week campaign during a product launch can generate higher immediate awareness than months of lighter activity. The neurological basis lies in how our brains process and prioritize information. High-frequency exposure in short periods activates what researchers call "encoding specificity," where multiple sensory pathways simultaneously process brand information, creating stronger initial memory traces.

However, sustained support operates on different cognitive principles, primarily the spacing effect discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus. This effect demonstrates that information encountered at spaced intervals creates more durable long-term memories than information encountered in concentrated bursts. Sustained campaigns work because they repeatedly reactivate neural pathways associated with brand memories, strengthening synaptic connections through what neuroscientists call "long-term potentiation."

Modern neuroscience research using fMRI technology has shown that brands with sustained presence in consumer media environments create what researchers term "default network activation"—where brand associations become part of consumers' unconscious mental processing. This explains why brands with consistent year-round presence often achieve higher spontaneous brand recall even when their weekly advertising pressure is lower than burst campaigners.

The digital era has complicated this dynamic significantly. Online environments create what attention researchers call "context collapse," where multiple stimuli compete simultaneously for cognitive processing. In this environment, burst strategies can cut through digital noise more effectively, but sustained approaches build the brand familiarity necessary for recognition in crowded digital spaces.

2. Choose Based on Product Lifecycle

Strategic timing decisions must align with fundamental product lifecycle dynamics, where different stages demand different communication approaches. The product lifecycle framework, originally developed by Raymond Vernon and refined by countless strategists, provides essential guidance for media timing decisions.

During introduction phases, products require intensive awareness building that favors flighting approaches. New products face what marketing theorists call "cognitive inertia"—consumers' natural resistance to processing information about unfamiliar categories or brands. Overcoming this inertia requires concentrated exposure that exceeds normal attention thresholds. Research in consumer psychology indicates that breakthrough awareness levels typically require frequency rates 40-60% higher than maintenance levels, making burst strategies essential for market entry.

Growth phases present unique timing challenges where hybrid approaches often prove optimal. As products gain market traction, the communication focus shifts from pure awareness to preference building and competitive differentiation. This transition period benefits from what media planners call "pulsing strategies"—sustained baseline activity punctuated by tactical bursts around competitive launches, seasonal peaks, or promotional periods.

Maturity phases typically favor sustained support models, where established brands focus on maintaining market position and defending against competitive incursions. Mature products benefit from consistent presence that reinforces existing brand associations and prevents competitive brands from establishing mental market share. The pharmaceutical industry exemplifies this approach, where established medications maintain steady communication levels to preserve physician and patient familiarity.

Decline phases require careful evaluation of communication investment priorities. Brands in decline often benefit from concentrated farewell campaigns that maximize residual equity extraction, while products undergoing repositioning may require burst strategies to signal significant changes to existing consumer perceptions.

The digital transformation has accelerated product lifecycles significantly. Traditional lifecycle stages that once spanned years now compress into months or weeks, particularly in technology categories. This acceleration requires more agile timing strategies that can quickly shift between flighting and sustained approaches based on real-time market dynamics.

3. Use Mixed Models for Optimal Results

The most sophisticated media strategies combine flighting and sustained approaches in integrated models that capitalize on the strengths of both timing strategies. These hybrid approaches, often called "pulsing strategies," maintain baseline presence while concentrating additional pressure during strategic moments.

Effective mixed models require understanding what media planners term "threshold maintenance"—the minimum advertising pressure necessary to maintain brand salience between burst periods. Research indicates this threshold varies significantly by category, with fast-moving consumer goods requiring higher maintenance levels than durable goods due to purchase frequency differences.

The optimal balance between baseline and burst activity depends on several factors including competitive intensity, purchase cycles, and seasonal patterns. Categories with high competitive spending typically require higher baseline levels to prevent share-of-voice erosion during non-burst periods. Conversely, categories with distinct seasonal patterns can optimize mixed models by aligning burst periods with natural purchase consideration cycles.

Advanced mixed models incorporate predictive analytics to optimize timing decisions dynamically. Machine learning algorithms analyze historical performance data, competitive activities, and market conditions to recommend optimal allocation between sustained and burst spending. These systems can identify when baseline maintenance becomes insufficient and trigger burst periods automatically.

The integration of digital and traditional media has created new opportunities for sophisticated mixed modeling. Digital channels excel at maintaining baseline presence cost-effectively, while traditional media provides the reach and impact necessary for effective burst strategies. This complementary relationship allows brands to maintain year-round presence while reserving high-impact moments for concentrated traditional media investment.

Attribution modeling has revolutionized mixed model optimization by enabling precise measurement of how sustained and burst activities contribute to overall campaign performance. Multi-touch attribution systems can isolate the contribution of baseline maintenance versus burst amplification, allowing for data-driven optimization of timing strategies.

Case Study: Unilever's Dove Campaign Strategy

Unilever's management of the Dove brand exemplifies sophisticated mixed model implementation across multiple product categories and markets. The company's approach demonstrates how integrated timing strategies can optimize both immediate sales performance and long-term brand building objectives.

Dove's core strategy maintains consistent baseline communication focused on brand values and emotional positioning through sustained digital content, social media engagement, and selective traditional media placement. This baseline approach reinforces Dove's distinctive "real beauty" positioning and maintains consistent consumer mindshare across all touchpoints.

The brand overlays strategic burst periods around key moments including new product launches, seasonal campaigns, and competitive response situations. These burst periods typically increase media weight by 150-200% above baseline levels, concentrating on high-reach traditional media supplemented by amplified digital activation.

The results demonstrate mixed model effectiveness across multiple metrics. Dove maintains consistent top-of-mind awareness levels throughout non-burst periods while achieving significant sales spikes during intensive campaign periods. Brand tracking studies show sustained emotional connection scores alongside periodic peaks in purchase intention, indicating successful integration of long-term brand building with short-term activation.

Most significantly, Dove's mixed approach has proven resilient across diverse market conditions and competitive scenarios. During periods of increased competitive pressure, the sustained baseline provides defensive stability while burst capacity enables rapid response. During market downturns, the baseline can be maintained cost-effectively while burst investments are concentrated on highest-opportunity moments.

Call to Action

Media professionals seeking to optimize timing strategies should begin by conducting comprehensive baseline threshold research within their specific categories. Develop sophisticated attribution models that can isolate the contributions of sustained versus burst activities to overall campaign performance. Invest in predictive analytics capabilities that can optimize timing decisions dynamically based on competitive intelligence and market conditions. Most importantly, resist the temptation to choose exclusively between flighting and sustained approaches—the future belongs to sophisticated mixed models that capitalize on the cognitive and business advantages of both strategies.