After attending the last CATFOA of the season, “Living in a Post-Advertising World.” The talk was solid and the discussion interesting. I had some time to inner-think on the bus. Was advertising ever “alive”?
Advertising is, by nature, unwelcome and its success (if you can call it that) is based on forced captive audiences. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. An industry’s success shouldn’t be based on some twisted Stockholm’s syndrome.
There are now infinite ways to reach a consumer. Ads appear everywhere. They move into new mediums, consistently fail and then declare that medium (no matter how vibrant or thriving) dead, all while expanding.
So how do you increase revenues, make the industry relevant? Use a medium how consumers are already using it. Don’t force billboards into Second Life. Don’t butt into conversations on Twitter or Facebook.
For too long, advertising as been obtrusive. Consumers try their hardest to avoid it at all costs (DVR, VCR, making a sandwich). Become the facilitator between a brand and its consumers, in places they already are, and they may start paying attention.
An (imaginary and unlikely) example…
- Kleenex creates a television spot that promotes their move to old-growth, sustainable foresting sources for their tissues with a FB link.
- On that page, they have a discussion topic that asks users to @— with links to their own blogs about deforestation.
- Their Twitter feed is full of links to lumber practices that increase production and sustainability simultaneously.
- Kleenex’ (‘s?) PR team fields questions from media and drives them back to their FB page.
Sure, Kleenex won’t be focusing on how soft their tissues are on your crying six-year-old’s nose but they implant themselves into something larger. Create awareness on the largest viewer network and drive it to the larger user network.
Below is the presentation (starts about 8min in) from last night. It’s somewhat related to what I just mentioned here. Thanks, MIMA, for the great series.
Tags: advertising, corporations, online, social tools