Good morning, LinkedIn! Today, July 25th, marks the end of an era in the airline industry. The low-cost business model pioneered by Southwest Airlines since 1971, is coming to an end.

⁍ Reflecting on our report from a year ago, we observed Southwest’s resilience as preference grew, even after a major system failure that stranded 2 million passengers in December ’22.

⁍ Surprisingly, Southwest’s preference actually grew following the incident, highlighting the power of publicity.

⁍ Our data at MSW Research reveals that Southwest’s preference has risen again to 23% in the first half of this year, aligning with their passenger traffic share.

As the top four US airlines continue to dominate, accounting for 75% of passengers, it’s fascinating to see these dynamics unfold.

One of the most persistent requests we get from clients concerns our point of view on whether advertising wears out. The short answer is yes.

∙ Our comprehensive research over many years confirms that ads, regardless of the media, lose their selling power predictably over time.

∙ Advertisers might wish their ads could run indefinitely with the same effectiveness, but this is not the case.

∙ As more money is spent behind an ad, its selling power decreases even if it remains enjoyable for viewers.

✔ The good news is that wear-out is predictable and manageable with the right strategies. There are ways to manage this effect and maintain advertising returns.

Join us at MSW Research for the first video in our three-part series on advertising wear-out, and contact us for insights on optimizing your ad strategies.

Last year, an MSW Research report had readers intrigued. We spotted an anomaly in the shampoo category:

In 2023, 50% of consumers didn’t buy their preferred brand.

This is unusual, you would normally expect 25-30% not buying their preferred brand.

In 2024, instead of a return to normalcy, the figure rose even further.

⌖ The biggest factors? Pricing and availability. Last year, 44% cited cost as the reason for switching brands, while 22% could not find their brand or a variant of their brand. That availability issue has increased.

⌖ This year, pricing concerns dropped slightly, but availability issues surged to 30%.

There is something going on in shampoo as a result of pricing, availability, and other factors.

Stay tuned as we dive deeper into these trends over the next two days, and don’t miss our upcoming blog for a detailed analysis!