This is something of a public service announcement. I can't tell you how many times I've heard clients/companies say "we'd like you to make a viral video for us." As Greg Verdino would say, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."
People, people. It just doesn't work that way. You can't will something to be viral, any more than you can tell an author to go write a bestseller, a director to direct a blockbuster, or an 8 year-old to be a major-league ballplayer.
Virality (if there is such a term) lies in results. It means that if you've created something worthy of passing along and comment, it will be more likely to reach epic heights on YouTube or whatever other way you're choosing to measure it.
For companies looking to create the next viral video sensation, David Meerman Scott recommends creating 10-20 videos in the hopes that maybe one of them will work. If you look at the how many videos actually reach viral status, he's probably right - if not even a little conservative.
I hate to tell you, but you're probably not going to have a viral sensation on your hands. The best you can do is to create content that matters to your customers and prospects and give them the ability to share that content around.
Oh, and the image above? It's taken from the January 1973 issue of National Lampoon magazine. The original caption was "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog."
Related posts:
"A Mind-Blowing New Advertising Model"
If You're Going to Do Viral, Do It Right
Research + Entertainment = Wildly Successful Campaign
Psst! Want the Secret to Viral Marketing?
Update (7/16 at 2:45 p.m.):
This video was released by the guys at JibJab just 6 hours ago, and currently has bout 2,200 views on YouTube. I think it has qualities that will make it go viral - it's universally funny, it's topical, and you can pass it along. Let's track the numbers and see how they do over the course of the next week.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Why I Won't Make A Viral Video for You
Monday, June 23, 2008
Think Banner Ads Are Effective?
While many marketing executives may tout banner ads because they're so easy to track, that doesn't necessarily take into account how annoying they can be.
Well, to be fair, banner ads that are targeted and relevant to the content you're reading may be a little more palatable. But in most cases, it's you vs. them. You take your life into your own hands when you click on some enticing offer.
Here's a little gem from Current.tv's "infomania" show:
Saturday, March 08, 2008
The Suxorz: Worst Social Media of 2007
I'm here at SXSWi - South by Southwest Interactive - in Austin, TX and I just sat in on a panel called "The Suxorz - the Worst of the Worst in Social Media Marketing for 2007."
The panelists included Charlotte Selles (brand perspective), Jeff Jarvis, Rebecca Lieb, Steve Hall, and the moderator was Henry Copeland. While this may not seem like a who's-who of the social media industry, they did come at it with a pretty broad perspective of advertisers & marketers using common sense. You'll see a number of selections that were based on poor opinions of creative execution, as well as those that don't follow good social media practice.
Here's how the session worked: each panelist nominated a campaign; after three rounds, the "winner" was selected.
Round 1
- Selles: Molson asked individuals to use Facebook to share pictures of themselves using the product; the winner would get a trip for 5 to Cancun.
- Lieb: Carlton Beer "big ad" video - it's just a bad ad. This is the type of ad where you remember the activity within the ad, but not the product. So much so that people didn't even get the name of the product right in some YouTube videos.
- Jarvis: HP PayPerPost - mom accepts $1000 to have her kids destroy a Fuji camera in favor of HP. Got moms to use their kids as shills to make a splog. Just. Plain. Evil.
- Hall: Wal-Marting Across America used a real journalist and real photographer, but set them up as simply Wal-Mart fans, traveling across America, parking their RV at Wal-Mart parking lots.
Round 2
- Selles: Rahodeb - Whole Foods CEO John Mackey uses an alias to ding detractors on forums
- Jarvis: Cisco's Human Network - wrote all Cisco-related Wikipedia entries; had vloggers try to write about the Human Network. Got themselves to #2 in Google organic search.
- Hall: Mentos/Diet Coke - the extension campaign that Coke undertook after the original video was not nearly as authentic and spontaneous as the first
- Lieb: Vespa's corporate advertising "blog"
Round 3
- Lieb: Agency.com going to work for Subway - "when we roll, we roll big". Made a laughingstock of.
- Hall: Target Rounders on Facebook - shhh! Don't tell anyone you're a Rounder, but be a Target fan.
- Selles: Sony PSP - all I want for Christmas is a PSP. 550+ negative posts on this blog that was created by their marketing agency, but professed to be a real fan blog.
- Jarvis: Giuliani campaign - he wasn't afraid of terrorists, but his MySpace page was closed to friend adds.
The winners of the three rounds were put against each other and the final winner was selected:
Hewlett Packard.
According the the panelists, some of the criteria they used in judging what qualified as a "bad" social media campaign:
- Advertisers acting like asses
- Out and out lying to customers
- Corrupting authentic voices
The bottom line, according to the panelists is: treat people as people, not as a mass. You'll be forgiven if you're honest with people.
What do you think? Do these campaigns represent the worst of the worst? Are there others that you might nominate? Do you think there are other criteria to consider or other lessons to be learned? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Drive Attention with Context & Relevance
A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to a new web app that I think is going to be a major force in the digital/social media/web video space this year. It leverages web video and consumer-generated content, but in a new and different way that doesn't require much in the way of new content development. They call it Overlay.tv. I call it fully interactive and annotated video that has the power to change the way advertisers think about online video.
You're probably familiar with Viddler, where you can make comments in the flow/context of a video. But that's only text and it only works if the original video appears on Viddler.
The beauty of Overlay is that you can comment, call out products, make video & iconographic comments, link to other sites, and more (these are called "overlays") that work directly on top of videos from pretty much any video sharing site. Because Overlay.tv allows viewers to rate overlays, the creator can see what works and what doesn't. Bottom line: using existing videos, overlayers can call out what matters to them. Overlay.tv puts the power of context & relevance into the hands of its users, which will drive attention to things they want to highlight.
But simply telling you about it isn't going to convince you of how cool this app is; take a look at a video that my friend Mitch Joel created (which at last count was closing in on 4,000 views on YouTube since Wednesday). Take I look at how I added to it:
(If the video isn't running, here's the direct link.)
While I was watching the demo of the product by Rob Lane, CEO of Overlay.tv, I jotted down a note:
Advertising that's contextually relevant AND part of the content.This may very well be the solution to the pre-roll spots that advertisers have been looking for when it comes to online video. We all know that it's a pain to sit through a 15-second spot (let alone a 30-second spot) before a 2-minute video. But what's an advertiser to do? Answer: go where the people want you to go.
I understand that there are opportunities for brands to work with Overlay.tv, to offer their products or custom-made fun items to be used in overlays, skin videos and more. And in addition, they may be privy to statistics around views, ratings, click-throughs, purchases and other interactions with overlays. I could even envision brands or agencies offering content that people can experiment with.
While Firebrand positions itself as a repository of great ads, Overlay is more of a portable play that lets people make the content their own. And when you consider the ability to bake in affiliate programs to the program, it could be a huge win for Overlay members as well.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Where My Money Is on the Super Bowl
It never fails. Every year, the Hail Mary of marketers is the Super Bowl. And this year is no exception, as we continue to see the price for a 30-second spot on national television eclipse Donald Trump's annual hairspray budget. (For the record it's $2.7 million for an ad).
In recent years, we've seen more interactivity built into the ad process, with Doritos' contest for a consumer-generated ad being the most notorious. This year, we're seeing some interesting angles as well.
Some of my favorite commercials during the Super Bowl have always been from Anheuser-Busch. Whether it was the once-funny "True" series (aka Wassup) or the very touching Clydesdales' tribute to September 11, 2001, Budweiser has rarely disappointed during the big game.
A-B actually has a channel on YouTube where they're previewing a number of their ads - you can see where some of them are going, but you'll have to tune into the game (or any Web site the day after) to see if you predicted the story line. You can check them out in the badge below.
But here's where it gets moderately interesting: there's a mobile promotion running simultaneously. Over the next two weeks, visitors to BudBowl.com, BudLight.com and Budweiser.com will be invited to participate in an interactive program during Super Bowl where they can rate the Super Bowl ads.
- Following each of the commercials, you'll receive a text message to your cell phone prompting you to reply with a rating
- Following the final ad, you'll receive a final text message with a code that allows you to unlock the secret 11th spot available via your video-enabled cell phone or on BudBowl.com
- Anyone who views the secret spot will be invited to send a customized message to their friends inviting them to view the secret spot
- All of the ads will be available for download to PDAs, phones and iPods on Budbowl.com
- For the first time, they include a widget that allows you to post your favorite ads on your own site - blog, MySpace page, Facebook profile, etc.
So it goes almost without saying that I'm impressed with what they've managed to put together for Super Bowl XLII. Let's hope that the Patriots manage to pull off a perfect season and make the game something to remember.
Friday, November 09, 2007
How to Teach Marketers to Be Authentic
Did you ever take the time to step back and wonder about the various personas you meet online? They could be long-lost friends, bloggers that you admire, or people in your Facebook network whom you may have never met before. But what do you really know about them?
How many of these folks are truly themselves when they're online? I mean, how many are perhaps bolder in their assertions or less cautious with the language they use because of the less personal nature of the medium?
We spend a lot of time talking about authenticity as one of the tenets of social media - how businesses, brands and the people behind them need to be seen as real. There's no doubt that the masses will sniff out a fraud. But how do we guarantee them authenticity?
While you ponder that, take a look at Brad Paisley's take on it:
As recently as this week, someone in my LinkedIn network posed the following question: What disciplines should marketers be training within to ensure authenticity? My first thought, was, "You've got to be kidding, right? You want to teach authenticity?"
It reminded me of the old George Burns quote:
"Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made."That one-liner often sums up all that is seen as wrong with and disliked about advertising, marketing and public relations - mouthing the words without actually believing what you're saying. Can you blame the public for distrusting advertisers or for thinking of public relations professionals as "spin doctors"?
Many of the other respondents to the LinkedIn question also noted that authenticity is more of a state of being rather than a skill - it's something that has to be imbued throughout one's life rather than taught as a course. Authenticity represents who we are, not what we do. And when we use marketing speak to address our audience, are we being truly authentic, or simply following a corporate protocol out of some antiquated tradition?
I say it's time to step out of those corporate roles and leave behind those traditional templates and speak to our customers as if we're real people talking to other real people. As David Ogilvy once famously said,
"The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife."How do you learn how to be authentic with your wife? You don't learn it; you simply be yourself - that's why she picked you, right?
Ultimately, it's worth asking how do your customers or your community view you? I hope you're prepared for the answer, because we live in an age where they'll tell you and expect to be heard.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Life After Life After the 30-Second Spot
A couple of weeks ago, I was in New York to participate in a press conference for Firebrand, one of our clients at crayon.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the features of Firebrand, as they've been covered by Joe and Greg, among others. Before I tell you about the event, here's a thumbnail sketch of Firebrand. Essentially, Firebrand offers Web, TV and mobile viewing of top-notch television commercials, but with a twist that sets it apart from other online video properties: they're all-commercials, all the time; and the site allows you to actually participate in contests, giveaways and offers from the very brands that you're watching.
While it may seem counterintuitive that crayon, the company whose founder bemoans the tired old 30-second spot, was involved, there was a method to our madness. You see, in this case, the ads are not interruptions of the feature program: they are the feature program. Commercials as content. And we can support entertainment and engagement.
Now let me tell you a little bit about the event itself.
Firebrand planned a press conference for September 25, during Advertising Week - perfect timing, as lots of industry people would be in town and journalists would be in the mood to talk about marketing & advertising. Held at the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), it was the perfect spot for debuting a brand that is multimedia in nature.
In addition to a nod to the past and present, Firebrand also looked to the future, by virtue of the invitation list. There were probably about 75 people in attendance in the hall - mostly traditional journalists - and I was impressed with the turnout. But here's the interesting part: I was one of a handful of bloggers who were there as well (many more were invited, but unable to attend). When you consider that Firebrand's target audience is Millennials, having the news break on blogs is a natural move.
The bloggers - who were treated the same as the traditional press - were given press kits, including glossies and a traditional press release, as well as links to the social media news release for the event. The SMNR had links to pages on YouTube, Flickr and del.icio.us and even a Facebook group. Based on what I've seen from some prominent bloggers, the SMNR was widely used, as video links and quotes continue to pop up everywhere. And the Facebook group has already garnered over 500 members.
All this, and the site doesn't even go live until October 22! Not bad. Stay tuned for the beta release...
Monday, September 17, 2007
Truly, Madly, Deeply
When I first heard about AMC's series Mad Men, I was going to pass. I thought, "Uh oh. Here's a chance for a network to unleash all that's unholy on the industry that it already forces to bend over and take it in the upfronts every year."
I've seen Hollywood try to recreate the Madison Avenue scene before - from Darrin Stevens on Bewitched to Bruce Willis' role in Perfect Stranger, the ad man goes from bumbling to evil. And somehow, the TV and movie industry doesn't understand the divide between creatives and account executives.
So it was with great trepidation that I programmed the DVR for Mad Men. But I was pleasantly surprised, for a number of reasons.
First off, it's fair to say that the production value is top-notch. The wardrobe, props, setting, etc. are all genuine, so that it really feels like you're looking through a window to 1960. Even the title sequence is vintage 1950s-60s, echoing a homier yet hipper time. While the smoking may be overdone, the habit of drinking in the office leaves me feeling a little nostalgic...
And the writing - from a former Sopranos executive producer - is stellar. There's lots going on underneath the shiny surface of this period piece, and you can tell it's going to get pretty dark.
So much for the nuts and bolts of the production. Let's move on to advertising and social media and how those come in to play.
As I began to fast-forward through my recorded episode 30 seconds at a time, I noticed an interesting feature. Done in the same font and style of the title sequence, there are little 10-second facts and trivia about many of the advertisers for the show. Things like:
And then they throw in some industry wisdom such as:
Let me tell you, as someone who typically tries to avoid the 30-second spot in my TV viewing, this innovative approach is really getting me to stop. I may or may not watch the ads after the trivia, but I'm more likely to, just to see how they're following it up.
I'm also impressed with the interactive / social media components on the show's web site. Clearly, they're looking to make themselves part of their viewers' everyday lives, with the likes of typical downloads such as wallpapers and screensavers. But they go one farther with offering instant messaging icons.
And while many shows feature a discussion board or community forum, Man Men has decided to build its community via...a blog. There's typically a summary of each show, as well as announcements or interviews, and the commenting started out slowly. But the last two posts about the episodes garnered 300-400 comments each, as of this posting.
I'm looking forward to the story arc and to seeing more of a glimpse into the past of the storied Madison Avenue game. Just call me a mad man.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Ad Age Hates Innovation
You have to wonder about the ability of the marketing profession to move forward when a mainstream medium such as Advertising Age seems dead-set against it.
Here are just three examples:
- Even though they're embracing new media by offering RSS feeds, you can't read the entire posts in your feedreader. Ad Age makes you visit their site for the full content. Yes, they probably want the traffic so they can support the site with (ahem) ads, but you know what? You can run ads in feeds too, guys.
- Today Jonah Bloom decided that he'd call out a small company and rant against it. In this case, he was talking about my company's recent announcement. I couldn't find any instance of him berating any other small companies, but then again, I got tired of scrolling through the archives since the Adages blog doesn't have tags.
- Finally (and this one's a doozy), Mark Simon gives us his take on trends by recommending that CMOs Ditch the Lunatic Web Content Crazes in the CMO Strategy column. He particularly calls out Twitter as nothing more than a personal update application; it's clear he hasn't spent any time on it or developed a network. As the very astute Karl Long puts it:
Even more ironic this is under “CMO Strategy”, yep this is exactly the kind of advice you need if you’re a CMO, ignore new things, don’t experiment, don’t participate and your world will be simpler, safer and easier to understand.Maybe the folks over at Ad Age don't think this whole Internet thing is going to catch on.
Monday, August 06, 2007
We Have Entered the Advertising Age
Welcome to readers who have reached this site via the AdAge Power 150 List. I'm proud to be part of the top 150 marketing blogs in the English-speaking world and will do my best to continue to give you the valued posts that have gotten ranked as high as I have.
For those of you who are new to all of this, I'm Scott Monty and I write about where marketing is headed (or in some cases should be headed) in this digital age, including blogs, podcasts, customer service, public relations, virutal worlds, consumer-generated content and other cutting edge developments that are constantly changing the face of marketing.
By day, I work for crayon, a conversational marketing company, where I hold the title of Consiglieri. It sounds daunting, but really, I'm just like you. Only I order hits on my enemies. Oh, and in case you haven't caught on yet, I also have a dry sense of humor.
Take a look around, try not to break anything, and enjoy yourself. And if you run into any trouble, let me know.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Ad Placement: Unfortunate, Lucky, or Savvy?
For those of you who appreciate humor in marketing, here's something that's bound to cheer you up, no matter how your day is going:
When marketing humor is unintentional, it's even funnier. But humor is one of the most difficult types of writing and speaking styles to pull off. It takes a sense of humor, an understanding of what your audience finds humorous, the ability to set up the concept and a good sense of timing - or in the case of print ads and banners, proper placement.And that's not easy. When it fails, it's a huge flop. But when it's successful, you've captured the entertainment value that seems to be at the core of so many great campaigns. I've previously extolled entertainment value as a key component in viral campaigns, and we've seen a few notables that have been comment-worthy, including Shave Everywhere, Subservient Chicken and Tea Partay.
What have you seen that's got entertainment value and causes you to "send to a friend"?
Coda: the output from the iPhone/Will It Blend experiment is for sale on eBay. Bidding closes on July 20 at 16:06:59 PDT. Current bid: $1,126.00. I guess their video series does sell blenders.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Ad Spending Shifts from Traditional to Emerging Channels
In a post on MediaDailyNews, it was noted, according to industry forecaster Bob Coen, that U.S. ad spending is growing at only 3.1%, a slower pace than the U.S. economy is growing. This is a downgrade from the 4.7% predicted by Universal McCann analysts.
The fastest growing segment of the media is the Web, naturally, with a 15% growth rate predicted for 2007, according to Coen. But he doesn't include online video, social networks or search in his numbers.
But here's where it gets interesting. Magna Global's Brian Wieser predicts that those emerging channels as well as mobile marketing, advanced gaming and digital out-of-home networks will grow nearly 32% in 2007. That's quite a wake up call for the traditional advertising industry. In fact, Wieser claims it's a change of the mind-set:"...advertisers are shifting their money out of media that we define as ad-supported media into marketing."
And it what seems like a real shot in the arm for the new media industry, he predicts that social media ad spending would be more than $1 billion next year, an increase of nearly 50% over 2007's numbers.
That's not to say that traditional advertising is dead. TV, newspapers, outdoor, radio, print - collectively they represent the lion's share of the ad spend. But the fact that additional channels are finally being recognized for their relevancy and permanence is encouraging.
So these are the opinions of just two analysts. What about your opinion? Do you think one is closer to the truth than the other?
Friday, June 22, 2007
Help! I'm Being Held Hostage by Marketing
I've made something of a tradition out of my Friday posts on this blog - my Friday Fun Video series. Long weeks, hard work and frayed nerves by the end of the week usually give rise to a little pawky humor that lends itself to Friday posts. But seeing as I've kept you awash in video posts this past week, I'm going to keep away from it today.
But I can promise you that I've got a real winner of a video to share with you next week.
For this week, I'll give you a thought about push marketing as inspired by the famous National Lampoon cover from January 1973 (full disclosure: I used to work just down the street from the Harvard Lampoon. The twisted humor probably rubbed off on me). How often have you felt like you've been held hostage by advertising or marketing?
More recently, this concept was illustrated by a Dilbert strip. Too many marketers, when they've exhausted the traditional lead generation, direct mail and sales-intensive efforts, seem to espouse this mentality:
And I've seen it happen with marketers who, after they've exhausted their lead generation, direct mail and trade show efforts (and budgets!), want to start a social media campaign in order to pick up the slack. Common phrases include:
- "Which social networks should I join / which blogs should I comment on to help sell more product?"
- "I'm going to measure ROI on my [blog/podcast/other social media effort] by measuring sales."
With a social media strategy, your goal should be to become part of the conversation, to allow a community to form as a result of the conversation and the tools that you make available. If you really want to become indispensable in your customers' eyes, you need to understand them, you need to listen to them, you need to let them tell you what they need.
Maybe they'll tell you that you'll have to reconfigure your packaging or develop an improvement to your product or face a major overhaul of your website. Is this a pain? Sure. Is it expensive? Sometimes, but not necessarily, and let me tell you why.
The money you spend on these short term fixes, on listening - yes, actually listening to your customers - and taking action will be one of the smartest investments you could ever make. Think I'm overstating it? If your customers perceive your product to be inferior or the information on your website too confusing, they'll leave you for a competitor who can give them a better product and a more enjoyable Web experience.
The money you spend on making improvements - the very improvements that your customers ask for - will be goodwill that you can't buy any other way. They'll know that their opinion mattered and that a company actually listened to them, rather than forcing them to buy more crap. With a conversation that you've fostered or a community that you've nurtured, you'll have a committed and long-term focus group that will be able to tell you what you need to know.
Now, that's not to say that you should take every last recommendation or spend a huge budget on changes. But you should be open to hearing about your customers' points of view. After all, they're the ones that have to live with your products.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Your Next Creative Genius May Be Closer Than You Think
As you know, user-generated / consumer-generated content has been all the rage over the last year. Many pundits have gone so far as to claim that traditional advertising agencies' days are numbered. But the agencies themselves have lumbered forward, continuing to support hundreds and hundreds of creative staff (not to mention a sizable chip on their shoulders), with the confidence that no one can produce high quality creative the way they can.
Earlier this year, the Doritos Super Bowl ad proved otherwise - at least with regard to concepting. The agencies and production houses still have the expertise in execution of the 30-second spot. I think in the end, the creative juice will be found somewhere in the middle - the agencies and their ability to navigate the supply chain, along with active input from consumers, will together create some pretty powerful stuff.
But in the meantime, the takeaway message is the old cliche - don't judge a book by its cover. Agency execs pooh-pooh ideas because they come from "the people," and that is a huge mistake. Good ideas can come from anyone - on your team, from a client, from an agency - hell, stop and ask a few people on the street while you're at it.
Case in point: Paul Potts, a dubious-looking mobile phone salesman goes on ITV's Britain's Got Talent to attempt to sing opera
You have to see this video. I think it's one of the best moments in the history of reality TV (okay, okay - not a huge honor, but you get the point) and a great example of how we humans like to judge based on superficialities.
The judges rolled their eyes when they saw the contestant, clearly expecting another feeble performance on this grown-up talent show. In the end, Potts had the audience on their feet, people were crying, and Simon Cowell - yes, the Simon Cowell - was clapping, exclaiming "you are absolutely fantastic."
Using a feedreader that doesn't embed video? Click here.
Take a moment and think about the many assumptions you make on a daily basis - about vendors, clients, colleagues, people you pass on the street or sit next to on the train, the guy you get your coffee from or your newspaper man. The next Pavarotti might be closer than you expect. Have you given him the chance to sing for you?
Here's some context on the aria, "Nessun Dorma," as well as Pavarotti singing it for comparison.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Getting Smaller All the Time
Greg Verdino just posted a great blog entry about the consolidation that have been taking place in the online advertising space. Of recent interest:
- Microsoft buys aQuantive for $6 billion on 5/18
- WPP Group buys 24/7 RealMedia for $649 million on 5/17
- Yahoo buys Right Media for $680 million on 4/30
- Google buys DoubleClick for $3.1 billion
- If this results in lower ad buys or agency services (unlikely), that might be a positive to shareholders; customers might not benefit, as the realist in me thinks that marketers would simply pad their P&L with wider margins rather than pass along the savings.
- If we see a more intelligent approach to online marketing and a more comprehensive and unified method of ad creation, behavioral targeting and measurement of results we could expect a much more tightly controlled and better understood ROI, not to mention an audience that receives marketing it truly cares about.
To hammer the point home, you might want to check out a video that I posted on this blog last September that predicts the future of online media. While it doesn't call into account the activity of the ad agencies, it's very eerie, as it predicts the same sort of impact on the world as the latest activities.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Nothing Lasts Forever
This has to be one of the funniest videos I've placed on this blog. Usually I keep this kind of fun reserved for Friday, but by then it'll be everywhere, as it totally skewers the advertising world. Let's start the weekend a little early!
The video, called The Break Up, is about the end of a relationship - in this case the relationship between an advertiser and a consumer. Things have changed, but Advertising is still the same unidirectional self-absorbed jerk. Consumer isn't pleased, as she wants genuine love, affection and conversation.
Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions initiated this project and has a blog running called Bring the Love Back to promote the process and ideas, and both the marketing manager and the agency are contributing to it. It's genius.
And one of the coolest parts? It was inspired/supported by David Armano's BusinessWeek article It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid.
Via David Armano at Logic + Emotion.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Common Sense Isn't Universal
Further evidence that NBC is embracing new media: at yesterday's IAB conference, NBC Universal announced that they are standardizing the length of advertising in short form video to 15-second spots.
According to the MediaPost article, currently there is no set standard for pre-roll advertising, but one-third of the pre-roll ads for 2- to 5-minute videos are 30-second spots
In the brave new world of digital marketing and new media you don't simply take an ad format from another channel and slap it on short video. It's akin to the rise of television some 60 years ago, when the network bigwigs were simply calling television "radio with pictures." But was more than an incremental change; television completely changed the way the world consumed entertainment.
And until now, NBC has exhibited parallel thinking to the radio/TV revolution: short-form video is nothing more than television on the Web and subsequently, it deserves the same kind of advertising. Just slap an existing 30-second spot - which in itself ignores the fact that it's failing miserably in its native television environment - onto a video that can be as short as 2 minutes in length.
You've got to give credit to NBC for changing the game, albeit incrementally. But let's just say there's a lack of common sense in the industry - not only regarding the 30-second spot, but with respect to most of social media. According to Peter Naylor, SVP for Digital Media Sales at NBCU, "We did some research with our users," he says. "Short-form clips deserve short-form ads."
Genius. I wonder how much money you spent to figure that one out, Einstein.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
What Can You Do About the Reputation of the Ad Industry?
Stanley Bing has a pretty comprehensive list of 50 Bulls**t Jobs. These are a subset of his larger work - a book (what every aspiring A-list blogger needs) called 100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them
I knew I should have been ready for the worst when #1 started off with Advertising Executive:
$$: Ground-level workers with writing ability move quickly to the top, immediately snagging low to mid-six figures; those who can spin mythological concepts surrounding quotidian household objects can command up to seven figures.I already knew the profession doesn't command a lot of respect; Bing's assessment crisply underscored it. But then we got to #25: Executive Vice President, New Media and I knew the jig was up. As Bing puts it:
The upside: Great expense account living, see your handiwork everywhere, the wonderful feeling of being creative and corporate at the same time.
The downside: Must take meetings with the AFLAC duck.
The dark side: You're considered a dinosaur at forty.
The upside: As long as the bubble is full, you're golden. And there's never any need to prove yourself with real results, because people don't want that, they want simply to feel that there's somebody thinking about all of it, and that's you.
The downside: Hard to see if there is one. Whatever it might be, if you're a really good bullshitter, and I know you are, it will take ten years to discover it.
The dark side: Your entrepreneurial friends in this area, who have the courage to push the envelope on the outside of corporate life, are now multitrillionaires. You are slogging along on less than a million a year.
Uh-oh. These two categories represent my current job and the job I'm looking for. To be in the company of Crumber, Feng Shui Consultant and Boulevardier is a little scary.
All kidding aside, Friday's Wall Street Journal ran a column by Daniel Akst titled False Advertising, with the honest admission of a subtitle, "Pop culture has rarely been kind to the heroic ad man." Akst took up the subject matter after reading Joshua Ferris' novel Then We Came to the End
, an account of a fictional Chicago advertising agency in the post dot-com boom.But the Ferris novel is only the most recent example of the lumps that the advertising profession takes; this grand tradition dates back 60 years to the book The Hucksters and countless movies and television shows that inarticulately, inaccurately and inanely portray advertising executives. And it wouldn't be a commentary about fictional admen if the Executive Doofus himself, Darrin Stevens, didn't get a mention. What was he exactly, a creative or an account guy?
"Message for you, sir."It's so easy to use the advertising executive as a scapegoat. Advertising appeals to our emotions. "Damn those manipulative admen! They made us feel the emotions that would make us buy more stuff!" Forget about free will or self-control. It's easier to blame someone else.
Case in point: the Boston Globe ran a story last Wednesday that claimed advertising is taking the blame for pediatric obesity. I had two major problems with this article:
- Even if kids are being barraged with commercials, who makes the purchase decisions for a 10 year-old? In any responsible household, it's the parents. And if there are parents shirking their responsibilities, I'd wager that they'd rather blame an industry for their own lack of parenting skills.
- The Globe's sources are clearly outdated. The psychologist they interviewed was quoted as saying that she sings an advertising jingle. "And then I see if they can complete it. If I say, 'You deserve a break today,' they will say, '
McDonald's .' That's as familiar to them as anything else in their lives."
The problem with that? McDonald's currently uses "I'm lovin' it" and has since 2003; "You deserve a break today" debuted in 1971 and hasn't been used since 1980. Furthermore, McDonald's has been one of the leaders in trying to give kids - and adults - healthy alternatives on its menu.
- Responding to customer feedback
- Talking with customers and not at them
- Incorporating suggestions into product design
- Making lives easier through widgets, networks and communities
But in the meantime, let's hope the public doesn't shoot the messenger.