ad:tech For The People

Marketing and Technology. For the People.

In case you didn't notice, Advertising as we knew it is gone.

Okay, maybe it's not completely gone, but it's fledgling, struggling, whatever you want to call it.

I think Dana Todd's view says it best:

"The prevailing wisdoms of our past in terms of advertising, media, publishing, science, and computing are being tested constantly, and occasionally pushed aside to make way for entirely new things. Old isn't always bad, but new isn't always good either. There's an element of destruction in much of the technology in terms of disintermediation of business models (which is potentially threatening to thousands of jobs and millions of dollars) and destruction of our social fabric as we know it (teens who only communicate in text, the breakdown of family time around the TV, and the pervasive role of new media in our lives).

Fortunately, the public doesn't seem as scarred as we might have feared. We embrace the efficiencies that technology brings us, but we still continue to value our human relationships as highest priority. We just use different means of interacting and communicating now."

--Dana Todd, Co-founder and Principal, SiteLab International

For most, it won't take much more than a mirror to recognize how easily and thoughtlessly we, the masses, make advertising obsolete. And, just as Todd said, we use different means of interacting and communicating now. Only problem is, that doesn't leave much room for interruption, a skill that's been our bread and butter for decades.

So maybe it's time we just stop calling what we do advertising. What it is now is much too personal to be so shorted with that brand of commercial artistry. When before we were segmented and massified at the same time, today we are increasingly individualized, personalized, and magnified. 10 years ago I wasn't much more than a 25-34 year-old male with a paycheck, but today, I stand before you proudly as me and only me.

As Richard Frankel of Yahoo! said, "If consumers feel like their web experience is tailored to their actual interests, they are going to feel better about their experience overall. Old media technology tells consumers to be like the mass. Interactive media technology tells consumers to be themselves -- and consumers like that."

It's a brand new day for advertising, but more so, it's a brand new day for people.

I'm obviously more connected than I've ever been. I generally have two laptops buzzing around me. I write two different blogs, and for the Madison Avenue Journal. If you don't find me there, you can see me mini-blogging with twitter. I check my email constantly on my Treo. I've got profiles on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, among others. It doesn't take a master sleuth to find my cell phone number, and my email address is all over the web.

I'm more open than most, that's for sure. But, as you already know, it doesn't take much more than a Google search to get a pretty good level of knowledge about almost anybody. Web 2.0 is usually described as the growth of social media, but it can just as easily be called open media, because what it did is start to remove the anonymity of the internet. While there is still room for leading separate digital and actual lives, for many, the two are seamless. The identity is largely the same. And that's a good thing.

But with all this openness, advertisers are becoming mostly shut out, left unwelcome on the doorstep.

"For me personally technology is all about freedom," says Director of Buzz marketing at Microsoft Sean Carver.

My openness makes it easy to find exactly what I want, when I want, without the need for the one-way messaging that is the status quo for our business.

[Check out: Social Networks and Consumer Generated Media: Re-examining the Value Proposition, Thursday, April 26, 2:45pm-3:45pm]

Sure, I watch plenty of TV, but I haven't seen a television commercial in weeks. That is, besides on YouTube, but that's reserved only for the incredibly good and the hopelessly bad. I spend copious amounts of time on the web, but with robust ad blocking software, I hardly ever see a banner ad, pop-up or the like. I still listen to the radio, but the play button on the IPod is pressed at the mere hint of a break. I don't read magazines. I don't read newspapers.

[Check out: The On-Demand Universe, Wednesday, April 25, 10:45am-11:45am]

So, for all my openness, my consumption resembles this chart. I talk to people, who talk to other people, with brands and recommendations flying all around. But, there is no tolerance for the unwanted, the unrequested. I have no patience for interruption, and neither should you.

As Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy Public Relations said, "Consumers are generating everything from their own entertainment to their own advertising (and often they are one in the same). All these messages are highly personal, driven by the passion of individuals. More than ever, the personal side of Ad-Tech is about marketing for the people, by the people - and what role professional marketers have to play in this."

Well, maybe it's marketing for the people by the people, but I don't think you can call it advertising.

[Check out: The Next Big Thing: Is Advertising Really the Solution? Wednesday, April 25, 12:00pm-1:00pm]

So, the picture should be even clearer. Advertising is dead, but marketing isn't. We've started to adapt to this new environment by doing the only thing we could do, stop advertising, and just embrace the humanity of it all.

Now, we've become conversationalists, trying desperately to elicit some response where before we simply ignored it. And that's a good thing. The implication is that we no longer own it or control it. Now we earn it.

Diagram above by David Armano.

[Check out:  The Art of Conversation: Establishing Brand Dialog in the Digital Era, Tuesday, April 24, 4:00pm-5:00pm]

And it's so important, because it's all about people now. Sure, it's always been about people on some level, but before we spoke about consumers with a more war-like attitude of targeting and capturing them. It is this 'us vs. them' mentality that stole our popular credibility in the first place. Luckily, we're all in this together.

While "targeting" the right consumers is more important than ever, our focus is expanding to trust, to improving the lives of our customers. It's evidenced when you hear ad:tech attendees like Carver say, "The first question that should be hardwired in our product skulls is how will this help someone do something better, or faster or with more enjoyment...my mom, myself, my friends, etc. If we didn't believe in our technology and the effort then there would be no enjoyment in bringing an app to market. In the end today's market and media should be about many levels of choice and the opportunity to participate at whatever level a person finds most rewarding."

[Check out: The Path to One-to-One Marketing: The Evolution of Behavioral Targeting, Tuesday, April 24, 10:45am-11:45am]

And, the same pierces through the fabric of Yahoo!, when senior product director Richard Frankel says, "Yahoo!'s mission is 'to connect people to their passions, their communities, and the world's knowledge.' If we succeed at this mission then everything we do improves the lives of consumers. We know we are getting it right when consumers come to Yahoo! and stay here in droves."

The same can be said of advertising agencies. We're still in the business of selling products and services. That never changed, but we just finally realized that making money isn't mutually exclusive with retaining a descent level of righteousness and connection.

As Harold Mann of Mann Consulting said, "But those that definitely work to improve people's lives tend to make money more easily. When the money is the byproduct of the work and not the reason for it, it is easier to sustain one's career."

My point is that while fear swirls throughout the traditional towers of advertising, we should be rejoicing together in the knowledge that when we go to work tomorrow, we can stop talking about interrupting, annoying, and pestering a passive target into a purchase, but focus on working with our customers towards a more mutually satisfying goal. And, when the consumers get what they want, when they want, and we make a little money facilitating the process, we can all sleep better at night.

[ad:tech check out:  The State of the Agency, Thursday, April 26, 4:00pm-5:00pm]

Breathe easy. Technology has made marketing all about the people. This time for real.

Repost of the latest Madison Avenue Journal article, part 1, part 2.

Ad:Tech San Francisco, April 24-26.

Comments

[Douglas Karr]

Fantastic post!

[Mario Vellandi]

Whoah, talk about a rich post.
Although not in advertising, I am happy to see technology enabling relevancy as our media world is slowly evolving while allowing smaller businesses to have a wider advertising reach on reasonable budgets.

[Tammy Allen]

Amen brother

[CK]

Proud of you...you are really adding so much to Mad Ave Journal. Thanks for telling us to breathe easy--I'm not worried a bit ;-).

[Katie Chatfield]

Hooray!

[Patrizia Broghammer]

We have finally come close to it: stopping the brainwashing.
But as we see this approaching we also see how the old world is struggling to die, it is a matter of too much money to just say: we are finished.
The new motto is: the old advertising is dead, let us find a new one.
Now they begin to talk about: Check out: The Path to One-to-One Marketing: The Evolution of Behavioral Targeting.
And the hypocrisy goes on: "Yahoo!'s mission is 'to connect people to their passions, their communities, and the world's knowledge.' If we succeed at this mission then everything we do improves the lives of consumers. We know we are getting it right when consumers come to Yahoo! and stay here in droves."
That is in poor words: let's forget the mass brainwashing, let's concentrate on the individuals.
Thanks to the Net we know everything of this guy, where he lives, what he likes, what he wants, how much he earns, how much he saves and how much he spends.
Let's brainwash him in the right and sophisticated way.
Let's create in him the need for what we sell, let him be one of our new clones.
"But those that definitely work to improve people's lives tend to make money more easily. When the money is the byproduct of the work and not the reason for it, it is easier to sustain one's career."
Let's explain him what the RIGHT life should be, what he should eat and what he should do.
Then we supply all the information’s to be WHAT he is aiming to.
In principle we work to improve his life, to answer his needs.
Too bad he really wouldn't need what they want to sell, but he is PUSHED to need it...
And then:
"Old isn't always bad, but new isn't always good either. There's an element of destruction in much of the technology in terms of disintermediation of business models (which is potentially threatening to thousands of jobs and millions of dollars) and destruction of our social fabric as we know it (teens who only communicate in text, the breakdown of family time around the TV, and the pervasive role of new media in our lives)."
That is the point.
If advertisement goes back to be what the word means: "telling the others about one product" the loss of the need of the "Middlemen", means the loss of thousands of well paid jobs.
One can easily advertise oneself and more than anything the customer can "choose".
Even if this is in a limited way.
If we consider the power of Search Engines like Google we realize that there is no real freedom of information.
But we are on the way...
People of the World the time has come: no man is born a slave, let's keep our brain as clean from shit as possible.

[David Armano]

Paul,

I give this post a 10 out of 10. Excellent!

[Robert John Ed]

For the record, I agree with most everything in this post. The problem is that anyone that has watched marketing over the last 5 years should understand these things.

Also, it's easy for tech people to say that there is a changing of the guard, and there is, but not to the extent that we believe. Not yet. There are the unchanging boomers and then there are the unchanging X and Y's. There are the tech savvy and not. Just because you surf the cusp of a wave doesn't mean that everyone will catch the same current.

I think you have a very good grasp on what's wrong with traditional marketing...but not necessarily how to fix it (don't take that as an insult, truthfully no one does). That's the gauntlet before all marketers...not stating the obvious of what's not working and what is changing, but using that information to alter your strategy and tactics for a better impact.

What it comes down to is that marketers understand; you are preaching to the choir. Writing it in a new, profound way doesn't change it. Publishing a new tactic or idea for this end (or better yet a case study) is the only way to break through. Push the envelope, don't state where it sits.

[Raimo van der Klein]

Hi, Great post!

You might like this model:

http://marikaya.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/wect-model/

[Raimo van der Klein]

Here I am again.. My god. You hit some nerves with this post!!

Want to share with you my definition of Contribution Marketing:

http://contributionmarketing.wordpress.com/definition-contribution-marketing/

[Lewis Green]

I agree with Robert. In fact, I take it one step further. Many of us who work or worked in the corporate world of marketing began cutting back on advertising more than a decade ago. I wasn't scared then, nor am I scared now. Although I am concerned if there are Marketing folks just now getting the news.

OK. Confession time. I'm just a simple boy from New Hampshire. What the hell does "disintermediation of business models" mean? Geez. Anyone speak American?

Writing rule number one: keep it simple and don't try to impress us with big words. I know you're just quoting the guy, Paul, but if you understand what that means, I have a whole new respect for you.

[Bob Glaza]

I like that the conversation is open Paul - I also like that there is room for even the technology challenged among us. The conference looks to be dynamic and full of options - what isn't these days? Advertising as we know it isn't quite dead yet - ask my bride or any kid that gobbles up the video games :) - but it unquestionably continues its evolutionary journey. Just a hunch...

[Paul McEnany]

Douglas- Thanks!

Mario- You're not in advertising? Good for you! :)

Tammy- Yes, you do kick ass. I agree.

CK- You're the last person I'm worried about!

Katie- Ditto.

Patrizia- OK, I'm having trouble knowing where to even start. We may have found someone even more cynical than me! I do think on some level we are in the business of creating need and creating markets, but we also create a need by a creating a better product, and that's a good thing, right?

Ok, to explain...If we create a need for a teenage girl to be skinny by shaming her for being normal, that's a bad thing. But if, in 1905 we create a need for a car because the horse just isn't as good, it's still marketing, but just a more responsible way. Sure, create need where before it doesn't exist, but do so in a manner that moves us forward.

And, I guess I really just don't see it as brainwashing so much anymore. Most people are much too smart for that. That's what's so great about now. It's not easy to dupe the consumer these days...

So, the consumer is control. Should we high five now? :)

Thanks for coming by and sharing your reaction!

DA- I give your comment a 11 out of 10, but only because it was complementary.

Robert- Are you kidding? Marketers understand this? Maybe you do, but walk out in the world for real, man. Turn on your TV. Open the newspaper, whatever...all of our media screams the decisions of those who don't get it. I get what your saying, but it just isn't so simple, my friend.

I want to come and hang out in your fantasy land. I bet the advertising is much better.

Either way, point taken. I should be more action oriented...

Raimo- You rock, man! Love the blog!

Lewis- Oh, you know what he means...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation

And, I say the same to you, if you think all marketers get what we talk about every day, you're truly living in a better place than me. who are these masses of people that all get it, and why do they keep sending me direct mail?

And, don't smack me LG, I still think you're the best!

Bob- It's not dead, yet, but close. And if you think back to the old definition of advertising (paid placement), that's not so much of what we're doing now. An advertising agency engaging in some sort of word of mouth campaign is truly out of their traditional skill set.

And, no question, that journey of evolution will be a fun one. Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

You guys kick ass for coming by and keeping me on my toes!

[captain flummox]

While the death of interruptive advertising is no great loss to my personal pursuit of happiness, it removes one giant toolbox from the arsenal of advertising, conditioning, brainwashing (whatever you care to call it) and that's repetition. In the evolving model repetition comes from some degree of mob behavior or the viral. Opt-in puts the mob at the wheel, and trying to read the mind of a mob is definitely something for which most crystal balls don't have the right feature set. So every day is just fascinating in marketing and advertising now, as well as a scary. What bothers me about the struggle of old forms -- tv networks and the general media model is that the pursuit and celebration of individuality might be at the expense of common experience, the cultural glue. Honestly, it worries me a little. Beyond that, the blurring of distinctions between virtual and real plays in the space previously occupied by classical mental illness. Danged, this thinking stuff hurts.

[Lewis Green]

Paul,

Even the definition gives me a headache. I love being simple and not getting it. That way, when I delete spammers and smart folks, I feel no guilt. Keep on keepin' on my May. You're one of the good guys!

[Neil Perkin]

Excellent post Paul. Right on!

[Paul McEnany]

Thanks, Neil!

Lewis, you are, too!

[Bridget Hughes]

As a marketing consultant, I agree that marketing through social networking is a great deal more powerful than advertising. It's scary, since it cuts my usefulness in half. Thank god for the internet.

[Paul McEnany]

Bridget- Ehh, they can't make us obsolete. We're like cockroaches. ;)

[Adam Kayce : Monk At Work]

I dig it. I think you're hitting the nail on the head.

It's a cycle, y'know? From small and individualized and unique, to big and megalithic, and now back to small and individualized and unique again.

And people join in (and transcend) the cycle wherever and whenever they do. Anyhoo. (No need to preach to the choir, I remind myself.)

Great summation and references, too. Thanks!

[Paul McEnany]

Adam- I appreciate you coming by and commenting! But, you're right. It's a little tough to rant when so many of us around here are the good guys! :)

[Jason]

Advertising Is Finished?

According to the Yankee Group, online advertising will surpass $50 billion in spending by 2011. The change is more about the new place (online) where consumers get their advertising messages and less about the actual messaging. Marketers need to have an expanded line of tactics to reach their desired results. No longer can a few media buys cover the audience.

The shift in marketing dollars away from traditional venues such as newspapers and toward online is clear. The Star Tribune reported recently that revenues were down $75 million during the past two years. According to the marketing journal B to B, of the advertisers who are reducing their marketing budget due to concerns of the economic slowdown, 45.3 percent are reducing their print budget. For those who are increasing their marketing budget in this economic downturn, 48.5 percent are increasing online spending. This trend has been happening for awhile. For most business leaders examining their marketing budgets, this shift is presents a challenge of new spending patterns less understood than prior choices.

For ad agencies there is less surprise but more strategy development and integration effort required. Most agencies are used to “non-traditional” methods. Each client presents unique situations to the agency which leads to more complex dependencies in campaign implementation.

What Succeeds?
Success in any marketing campaign continues to be well-aligned brand messages that arrive at the right time to the right audience. In the past, an ad placed in a highly read trade journal or publication would create the lead that other tactics (trade shows, direct mail, sales efforts, etc.) would support. Now it is less clear where your message will be seen first: will it be the banner ad on the industry portal? The billboard on the way into town? Your own Web site? Through an article (PR)? Any of these could be the first point of communication in a campaign.

What’s Changed?
In a short phrase: improved contextual messaging. Now you can place your message more often into the key moments when your prospect is considering purchasing your product or service. Before marketers would bring out a new product in a magazine that delivered to the key audience. Now marketers are placing advertisements online so when your prospect is researching a purchase your product or service becomes a consideration.

The easiest method to explain is Google Ads. Marketers can purchase key terms like “Jamaican Resort” so prospective travelers looking online will find the marketer’s resort presented immediately when the search is made. Another method is to post a video on YouTube with “tags” such as “best resort” and “Jamaician” will reach another prospective client. Additionally, adding content under a profile in a social network site such as Facebook about a recent trip to the resort will open the door to other prospects.

Games and interactive gadgets have also led to significant impact for marketers. A recent example is a got-elf’d gadget that allowed people to place their own face onto a dancing elf. This was emailed out by the user to friends (over 27 million times) with the brand that created the gadget (OfficeMax) being presented all-throughout the piece that played for a couple of minutes.

For each of the “non-traditional” methods above the marketer needed to focus on both the context and message dramatically, while letting the spread of the message to happen more organically. Despite this lack of obvious control (formerly: the ad ran in the March issue on page 27) the marketer gets deeper information about the reach of the message (through clicks, downloads, links, forwards, etc.). Marketers need to be open to seeing results return flexibly and not date and place specific. The upside of this is that interest builds in a way that allows for prompt and excellent response from the marketer’s organization. The downside is that a warehouse of products may trickle out while the message finds its market. Clearly, the planning and integration with the core business is a greater requirement now more than ever.

What Should a Marketer Do?
Marketers need to be very clear about who their prospect is in all the segmentation and analytical ways possible. Not just knowing who your target client is, but when they shop, what sites they visit, the process they go through during investigating a purchase and more is required. There are fewer boundaries. Pricing out services such as accounting, architecture and insurance are more transparent because of the internet. Choices are also broader because of the removal of geographic boundaries. Anything with a sku can be searched online to find the best possible price and package. Marketers need to be more relevant and more important than great delivery service from FedEx or UPS from a distant vendor’s warehouse to win business.

People still like to buy from trusted sources. Local providers should always have an advantage over those from other geographic places. Accessible providers have an advantage more so than difficult to reach vendors. If you are marketing to a region such as the Twin Cities, does your Web site allow people to contact you by phone or email directly or are you still using a form online that makes for a less rewarding experience?

Put advertising messages on your own Web site to connect what you are doing online and off-line so prospects see your organization as a smart, connected and caring group. Put specific Web-based information into off-line ads. Don’t just link people to your home page if you know that they want to see something deep within your Web site. Too often marketers are engaging with prospects in new places and then make the prospect “start-over” when they visit your Web site or call your order line. You need to be more intelligent about connecting your featured product or service with the prospect’s interest.

Tips

Be less concerned with a launch date and more concerned with multiple launch points for marketing campaigns
Be more available to prospects through more venues, methods and times than ever before
Be open to packaging services and products in unique ways to overcome commodity pricing
Have goals well-established and measure success in multiple ways (requests for quotes, information, as well as purchase increase)
Database prospects in ways that will allow you to continue a marketing conversation with them over a longer-term than one purchase cycle – form relationships with prospects, not just customers
Define value in reach based on the depth of qualification. A person that clicks on a google ad is more valuable than someone that visits your Web site – do you have the available methods in place to know the difference?
Ask media partners (newspapers, magazines, etc.) to offer expanded reach opportunities (such as inclusion in their email marketing newsletters) beyond the ad you may still place with them. Online advertising is still a great value versus traditional advertising. Many publications will deal with you if you are willing to buy across a number of their properties (online, in-print and in person).
Ask your customers and prospects what competitors they considered before choosing you, the answers may surprise you and lead you to new insights about your consumer’s behavior.
The Bottom Line
Advertising isn’t dead. It is new and improved! Total advertising spending continues to expand despite downturns in the economy. Prices for specific placements are changing (broadcast and off-line are going down; online is going up) so reprice your plans at least annually. The amount of places you need to consider is growing to near infinity, so expand your media buys appropriately based on information you gather from customers and prospects. Focus on strong branding and creative messages to ensure when you have the moment you make the greatest impact. Be nimble. Google wasn’t an ad opportunity five years ago. YouTube wasn’t an option three years ago. Facebook wasn’t something to consider two years ago. There will be new opportunities arriving this year (Check out www.Joost.com www.slide.com and www.Stumbleupon.com) and next (perhaps you’ll be creating interstitials for streamed content, or authoring a lifestyle ‘zine soon – see www.dailycandy.com, www.thrilllist.com).

Adsoka’s clients are finding great success by applying the comments above in their specific businesses. Contact us to learn more, mention this article and we will do an initial analysis at no charge.

Search “Adsoka Success” at Google and see what happens.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ken Auletta, “The Search Party: Google Squares off with Its Capitol Hill Critics,” The New Yorker, January 14, 2008.

Kate Maddox, “Dealing with the Downturn,” B to B, February 11, 2008.

Yankee Group, http://www.yankeegroup.com/home.do (accessed January 14, 2008).

6x is the marketing newsletter published by Adsoka. 6x has six editorial sections—SMART, CREATIVE, CRAFT, TRENDS, PRAISE and RESULTS. Each section covers a different sphere of marketing, design and communications. The name “6x” references how often it is published and it mimics the sound of “success.” To sign up visit http://www.adsoka.com/login.aspx.

[Anonyme]

Please, do not delete the given message. Money obtained from spam will go to the help hungry to children ugand