June 23rd, 2006
Advertising In the Post-Advertising Era
In Cannes, advertising and media executives have seen the death of paid media advertising:
All week at Cannes, advertising and media executives have grappled with the implications of virals which have reached millions of people via the internet, often by-passing traditional media. A few have involved no spend on media, offline or online.
With the success of viral video content, courtesy of YouTube — in some case with millions of views — it’s starting to dawn on advertising and media companies that brands no longer need them to reach and interact with consumers on a large scale:
One of the world’s biggest advertising agencies has urged marketers to learn from consumer-created content on websites such as YouTube.com, which now has greater reach among some US audiences than MTV, the music broadcaster.
But not only are ad agencies and media companies being cut out of the loop — the brand owners themselves can’t even get between consumers and their direct experience with the brand:
Consumers are hijacking top global brands using blogs and online communities but advertising companies are trying to find ways to embrace the revolution rather than fight against it.
The Internet has turned the traditional world of advertising on its head with a growing shift of spending to online from print and TV. The Web is giving millions of consumers an outlet for their views on products and brands, bypassing traditional media.
“Our audience has gone from watching commercials to making them,” said Mark Tutssel, the chief creative officer for Leo Burnett Worldwide, a division of Publicis.
“We’ve gone from monologue to dialogue in a nanosecond,” he added. “Marketers are no longer in control. The consumer is.”
So what does it mean to “embrace the revolution”?
“Citizen media and consumer generated content are here to stay, so marketers must learn to let go of the control they think they have over their brand in the open marketplace of ideas,” Tutssel said.
I think that companies need to forget about advertising as “persuasion” — in fact, they “let go” of marketing entirely.
In a post-advertising era, when the consumers are in complete control of brand perceptions, there’s only one effective way to “advertise” — create REALLY great products and services that people love and that offer an unrivaled experience, i.e. make stuff that people REALLY want to buy.
The product is marketing and marketing is the product.
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Even the greatest products require some sort of desire trigger mechanism, but you’re right — more and more the winning products over-deliver to the point that the desire is built right in. Then it simply becomes a matter of education, which is a very subtle form of persuasion that leaves the consumer still firmly feeling like they are in control.
Ever read the cluetrain manifesto? http://www.cluetrain.com/
I have some disagreements with portions of the book, but there is much there to chew on and it sounds like you are coming to some of its conclusions. And it was written way back in 1999.
Most advertisers can’t wait/pray for an advertisement to become viral because they have fixed costs and need to make sales. Just like you cannot hire a salesman who won’t make calls, you cannot just let the market determine if your newest ad has the viral mojo. By the time it becomes a hit, if it ever does, you could be out of business.
The dirty little secret of viral advertising is that hit-to-miss ratio is less than one percent.
Scott Karp
folks,
this type of brand ownership isn’t new, and it’s not just media that’s grappling with the challenge of customer co-option. for instance, ari, a sneaker customizer based out of NYC, has been doing this not with amusing youtube video, but with ACUTAL PHYSICAL GOODS.
“I really like how you managed to take a recognizable shoe and give it such a twist, making the final product, as a result of necessity and avoidance of dead ends to your effort (like Nike not doing collabs with cigarette companies), of higher quality and creativity than its original inspiration. I’m glad someone is still doing projects like this, projects done for passion and not for profit, making products from the heart. Both companies have lost that, but this seems to tie it all together, thanks to you for remembering their significance when even they themselves have forgotten.”
even the challenges of global sourcing and manufacture don’t stand in the way of co-option.
not that virally distributed video isn’t a thing as well. we have an interview with Ari that was picked up by all of the streetwear blogs here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoJpD1Sf-SQ
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[…] Finally this. […]
As someone who strongly believes that digital media is transforming marketing, I have to say that I find this post to be a tremendous overreach.
1) Paid media advertising is not dead. It is not on its deathbead. It’s not going to die. It is losing its importance, it is becoming less effective in its current form, but it still will exist.
2) The majority of brands will still need advertising agencies and marketing plaforms to get the message out. Yes, there have been a few successful grassroots campaigns - some contrived, some spontaneous - but this will not be the only methodology of marketing. Sure, it will get huge, but some products and services can still be effectively served by traditional means.
3) Brands will still play a central role in creating their message. It is changing and of all the players in the arena, the brand will hve the greatest control.
4) Yes, marketers are going to have to give up the control they think they have - and they have to embrace a new, riskier level of control - or managment or the portion of control they know have. It is no longer top down, but more of a dialogue with the marketing often beginning the conversation.
5) The customer is not in control. Because the customer, in the sense that it is used here does not exist. The customers are many, each with their own needs, wants, perceptions, and ability to spend.
Sorry, but my five cents.
[…] Is Cannes 2006, the ad industry love-in, the tipping-point when Europe’s brand gurus finally wake up to the speed of change in modern marketing? Thanks to Ed for referring us to this analysis of the big French beano: "Not only are ad agencies and media companies being cut out of the loop  the brand owners themselves can’t even get between consumers and their direct experience with the brand," which in turn points at this Reuters Cannes round-up. Of course if you have spent 50 years trying to drag consumers (aka people) over to admire your clients’ brands it can be painful to accept that people aren’t really interested anymore. And, as we all now know, this failure to innovate beyond command-and-control media is starting to show. But there is another way and it starts with the thought that if you are trying to ‘get between’ consumers and the brand…it might be time to change your view. […]
Marco Derksen | 28 juni 2006, 0:21 | Bekeken: 717 keer (58 keer doorgeklikt) Rubriek: Advertising | TrendsScott Karp heeft naar aanleiding van een aantal uitspraken die zijn gedaan in Cannes afgelopen week, een duidelijk statement over het adverteren in het post-advertentie tijdperk: (…) In a post-advertising era, when the consumers are in complete control of brand
Motorola Q: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory “For a product to feel harmonious the user, the system that surrounds it must be harmonious. No product is outside of a system, though not all products are systems.” Tags: design mobile uiAdvertising In the Post-Advertising Era “In a post-advertising era, when the consumers are in complete control of brand perceptions, there’s only one effective way to “advertise† create REALLY great products and services that people love and that offer an unrivaled experience.”
Marco Derksen | 28 juni 2006, 0:21 | Bekeken: 3923 keer (262 keer doorgeklikt) Rubriek: Advertising | TrendsScott Karp heeft naar aanleiding van een aantal uitspraken die zijn gedaan in Cannes afgelopen week, een duidelijk statement over het adverteren in het post-advertentie tijdperk: (…) In a post-advertising era, when the consumers are in complete control of brand