Being of the Millennial generation persuasion, when I tune in to watch my favorite TV shows, I usually do so by means of my PC’s DVR capabilities. The primary benefit of this technology is the ability to skip commercials. Maybe I shouldn’t admit to this given the field I’m working in, but how many times can a guy my age sit through a Viva Viagra ad before it becomes unbearable? Answer: once.

Anyway, sometimes I find myself multitasking during a prerecorded episode of Mythbusters or 30 Rock and because my focus is elsewhere, the commercials just don’t get skipped. Ironically, this is where I am most susceptible to television advertising, because it’s the simple messages that I notice peripherally that snap me out of the zone.

Such was the case when a commercial for Big Red came on. You know Big Red, right? Of course you do. It’s the Cinnamon Gum that promises long-lasting fresh breath. You probably know that because if you were alive in the 1980′s, you also remember this:

What’s amusing to me is that the new commercial I saw last week featured a sexy woman dancing with a pack of said gum while warm explosions of color blossomed around the spiffy new packaging – and that’s NOT what got my attention.

What got my attention was the soundtrack, which featured R&B artist Ne-Yo’s modernized arrangement of the classic jingle. I suddenly thought about Big Red for the first time in years. I know it’s been advertised to me in magazines and on countertops in the intervening decades, but I didn’t recall the taste, or give a passing thought to the core benefit (long-lasting fresh breath!) until the theme song tugged those nostalgia strings. Suddenly I really, really wanted a pack. Some senior executive in the Wrigley’s boardroom probably insisted for years that they should bring that tune back, and when his young protégé suggested his favorite musician for the update, magic happened!

I’m kidding about that last part, but only partially. Some Challenger Brands can’t rely on nostalgia, or even the exposure that would allow a catchy jingle or snappy tagline to stick with an audience in the first place. But there’s something more concrete there: A message. Big Red is fresh and makes your breath fresh. For a long time. It might seem trivial compared to your brand’s message, but to people fighting in the trenches of the gum wars it’s serious business.

Moving forward in trying to brand, market and advertise your product or service, consider first your unique benefit, and why your audience should care. The rest will be dependent on a number of other factors – medium and context to name two. Those things change with time, as do visual styles, parlance and the nature of hipness. If you get too bogged down worrying about those details without considering your purpose, your message will soon seem as stale as week-old gum stuck to a downtown bus shelter, or the haircuts in that video from the ’80s.

If you first define your purpose in easy, concrete terms, you can mold your message for changing times and audiences, and it will seem as refreshing to them as a breath of cinnamon-scented air.