On this level of brand awareness advertising, the core message is basically "yes, the lights are still on, we still exist". People get used to the ambient level

On this level of brand awareness advertising, the core message is basically "yes, the lights are still on, we still exist". People get used to the ambient level of ads supporting a brand and if it suddenly drops it will negatively affect the product. "They used to be everywhere, have they become sick or what?". A decline in brand awareness advertising will be worse than having never started. The nominal content of the ads is almost irrelevant, to do this job it can be anything from simple "our product is good!" to something benettonesquely edgy.