By Lisa Hickey (@lisahickey)
© Arturo de Albornoz
There’s been lots of talk about the “death of advertising” and the increasing ineffectiveness of the media. There’s a tremendously well-researched, insightful and informative Bob Garfield post in Ad Age, with lots and lots of numbers supporting his version of “Apocalypse Now” for the ad industry. There’s no doubt that there’s agency layoffs, and client cutbacks and fear and uncertainty. So who am I to be the bearer of even an ounce of good news for the ad industry?
Okay, I won’t tell you this is good news. But I will tell you what I think is fascinating.
Throughout history, for every version of media, there has been an ad unit that is a miniature version of that very media. Advertising usually- in some form- mirrors the content of the media that surrounds it.
Ads in newspapers, for example, are rectangular shaped boxes that includes a “headline” and “copy”. Even the terminology is straight out of newspaper jargon. Pretty obvious, right? Television? The medium is 30 minute stories involving actors on a set. What are most TV commercials? 30 second stories involving actors on a set. With a little music thrown in, just like in the big boy shows. Radio? Started with dramas. The term ’soap opera’ was coined because soap manufacturers sponsored radio dramas in return for product plugs. Radio commercials thus become mini-dramas”; still at their best when they are theater of the mind for a brand story.
And then along came the Internet. Ahh, the Internet. I actually remember the day I first heard the term used. My friend Martha called me into her office. Told me I’d better sit down. Shut the door. My palms grew sweaty. She said, “Lisa, have you seen this thing called the Internet?” She called up a paragraph of html text on a screen. It was filled with hyperlinks and Martha showed me how to “click through” to layers of information. It was years later before the term “click-through” became ubiquitous for banner advertising ROI. But at the time I was in her office, there wasn’t a banner ad in sight.
So now we have a brave new medium – Social Media. And we’re all scratching our head, wondering what the ad unit is.
Do we stick little banner ads on social sites? Oh, please. Have you ever seen a TV “commercial” that is nothing more than a static photo and a logo? Trust me, it doesn’t work. Stick banner ads on social sites and you ruin both the media and the ROI. Best case scenario, the ads become invisible. Worst case, people run screaming from the media.
But then, what does an ad look like in social media? Is it merely conversations? Does all advertising become word of mouth among friends as Jeff Jarvis and others suggest?
Or…is the “ad” really a social ecosystem itself that a company sets up? The conversations with consumers that are now public combined with a fan page on Facebook and the photos on Flckr and the idea-sharing on Twitter and the YouTube videos. And is a new ad, perhaps, the way that the target audience shares content about a brand or company across complex and interrelated networks? A “display” ad is now a conversation that gets displayed in a public forum. Remember, just because you’re not screaming “buy this” with a sledgehammer doesn’t mean you’re not selling something. You’re selling the brand by engaging consumers across multiple touchpoints, just like the social web itself. It’s the online experience that engages the consumer and captures their imagination much the same way that television captured our collective imaginations back in its glory days.
Is the newest ad unit staring us in the face but we just don’t see it? Is it just a miniature version of the social web, the same way that past ad units were miniature versions of their own mediums?
Are we just afraid to call Social Media itself “Advertising” because we hold it so precious?
And for those who would argue that advertising is paid messaging, remember this. Social Media, or this new order of Social Advertising, or however we describe it, may appear to be free, but there is a cost to it all. There’s the time spent to do it right, to have individuals who actually hold conversations with the consumers. There’s the challenge of understanding how the brand story should be told across all the hundreds of touchpoints scattered across the web. There’s learning the new rules of etiquette – heck, there’s helping to *create* the new rules of etiquette. There’s building the network, or leveraging existing ones, and getting the people engaged in a way that’s genuine and authentic, and that comes from the very core of a brands values or a products benefits. And there’s a cost to understanding the potential of this medium, the cost to experiment, to make mistakes.
But on the flip side, the ROI could very well be survival for those who do it well and do it now. Get it right, and I truly believe you can re-invent a dying industry.
The best advertising has always been that which has captured the imagination of the public and becomes a part of the collective consciousness. What better time than now, what better media to do it with. Maybe advertising isn’t really dead at all. Maybe we simply don’t know what to call it.
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I liken it to product placement within TV and movies. It’s there, but it’s not an ad.
One of my favorite radio talk show hosts is masterful in how he spins a product into a seemingly unrelated conversation. You won’t flip the station, because the product is intertwined into the show itself.
Like all grassroots marketing, you have to find your key influencers and get them to spread your message.
The question I wrestle with, is how do we show our clients the value in a meaningful enough to charge our exorbitant rates?
Finally. A social networking evangelist with a foot planted firmly in reality. Lisa, you’re one of the few people who can talk about this stuff without sounding like a cult member. I really enjoyed your article and didn’t roll my eyes once. Well done!
I would like to suggest that it all can, does and will peacefully co-exist. Current thinking (daily posts) doesn’t like this idea but, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It’s all good when applied and orchestrated for the desired outcome. It will all take different forms and it’s up to us to keep current and keep utilizing and stay on our feet.
Great article, Lisa.
Advertising will evolve and evolve and evolve, but branding will never die.
Amy Flanagan’s last blog post..Subway’s "Five! Five Dollar Foot Long!" bit would not work for restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory.
When all collapses, everything old is new again.
But, wait, there’s more…
Caples.
good post from lisa. clay shirky has wonderful article on changes to journalism http://bit.ly/1jt6mC with this great line, “We just got here. Even the revolutionaries can’t predict what will happen.” Same is true here. Advertising is no longer an execution: it’s not a spot or a print ad. It is, however, the need to get attention, be remembered and find a way to inspire action, i.e. getting someone to buy a product. But unlike the old days, it’s not our party anymore. We’re not hosting it. We’re the guest. So we have to be clever, generous, interesting, and earn attention rather than pay for it. It will take on a new form. Lisa is right, it won’t be a banner ad slapped on the side of a social network page. It will be something far more creative. Hey, creative. Isn’t that what makes for great advertising?
Yes! Edward, creativity does seem to be the missing piece in the rational well-scripted pov’s these days. That’s a reassuringly smart and beautiful thought.
My one take on where advertising is going- synergies.
People are too tuned in nowadays to be shilled to. They’re too socially savvy with word of mouth and social networking. When you find/create value in a partnership it rings more true than just plopping an ad down.
How can your company go further than just buying placement? Can you sponsor initiatives? Can you tie-in their service with yours? In the days to come you will be seeing many nuanced interwoven partnerships. When you speak to people in a way that is relevant to their lives they don’t feel broadcasted at.
TV, radio & print are all well and good- and should still be in your arsenal- but what social media has done is to empower us and allow us to interact more naturally/organically. The businesses that will thrive will be the ones who understand that prosperity comes from relevant and timely synergistic partnerships.
“Maybe advertising isn’t really dead at all. Maybe we simply don’t know what to call it.”
Absolutely, positively 110% correct! As is the rest of your article, but I especially love that part :)
This is a fantastic article. So many marketers are simply trying to take traditional forms of Internet advertising (banners, network marketing company “pitch pages,” etc.) and slapping them in their profiles on My Space (for example).
It’s already being done with some integrity with things like Adjix (a url shortening service that offers the option to place a small text ad above the destination web page) without too much uproar.
Social media is, and should remain, the ability to connect with people and share content. Yes, it’s all about the content. It seems that there are ways to maintain the content and make it even more valuable with contextual advertising. Small, unobtrusive, soft recommendations that are relevant to the content that the user is interested in anyway.
No, I don’t think advertising is dead, but trying to “sell” where people are participating to share and connect might be a good way to commit social media suicide.
@web20empire
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Hey Lisa, thanks for your interesting observations on social media. The key practice of advertising—differentiating brands and dramatizing their value—is still a requisite for business success. Whatever form it takes, the message is still the important thing, more than the medium.
Although the nuances of communicating those messages are ever-evolving, our basic human needs aren’t changing any time soon. And that’s something solid we can hold onto in this ever-shifting media landscape.
Jon P’s last blog post..Avoiding Bizarro World
Traditional agencies haven’t served the industry well in that they’ve commoditized their services. To clients the thinking goes “if they discount the price of their ideas their thinking must not be very good.” Enter the shiniest, newest thing (social media in this case) and the front edge caries a premium. The future of advertising is sound. It rests in macrotargeting. Aggregating content (mass media) and distributing it to segmented niches. TV has always been the best consumer medium in the world.
TvMissionary’s last blog post..Macrotargeting: The future of advertising
Very well put Lisa.
Miniaturization seems to be the trend in an age where attention span is diminishing amidst plentiful choice. Advertising is now being reduced to easy to consume bite size messages that engage your consumer in a relevant manner at all touchpoints. TV is no longer cost efficient and TV cannot deliver the brand experience that consumers want. Social media is therefore more holistic and hence is taking, evolving advertising to a higher level.
Advertising is dead. Long live advertising!
Peter Gan’s last blog post..The 8 common client characters
Thank you all for the wealth of comments. Anyone who has been in a meeting with me recently knows that I can barely stay in my own skin when I talk about these things. (SO glad I didn’t sound like a cult member Paula!). But yes, advertising won’t disappear (because, at the end of the day, every business has to try to inspire a purchase decision), but the evolution is fascinating to imagine. Selling things in a way that has value and reflects one’s values, is relevant and engaging and yes, very, very creative…I can hardly wait. And in the meantime, I fully intend to be part of the group of us that figures out *how*. Thanks all.
Lisa Hickey’s last blog post..Media We
“Is the newest ad unit staring us in the face but we just don’t see it? Is it just a miniature version of the social web, the same way that past ad units were miniature versions of their own mediums?”
Lisa, I really like the questions you’re asking here. I think that what we now think of as display ads will start to move toward the conversation, and the conversation will start to incorporate the display ads, without losing its authenticity.
In other words, display can be conversational and the conversation can be a new kind of better, friend-driven advertising.
Brooks Jordan’s last blog post..Five Star Display Ad
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