Attention Dinosaurs: it’s time to rethink your coveted online ads
My kids love to watch the movie, “Chicken Little
As I was reading the Advertising Age article, “Social networks sink online-ad pricing”, I couldn’t help but recall the story of Chicken Little. The article talks about how social networking sites, Facebook in particular, are dominating page views and ad impressions. But a recent ComScore study shows that social networking sites are drawing an average CPM of $.56 vs. the Internet at large which is at $2.43.
This is my favorite part. “Some industry executives are concerned that Facebook and its ilk may in fact be reducing the overall pricing of CPMs”.
Well Boo F’ing Hoo.
If ads on social networking sites aren’t drawing high CPMs because they aren’t working, then maybe finally the online ad industry will realize its time to innovate and rethink the entire model. Putting commercials in front of people during TV shows back when there were like 5 channels was a successful strategy. Then people got VCRs. Then they upgraded to DVRs. And now commercials on TV are becoming less and less relevant.
So what are we seeing? More creative content that might start with a TV commercial but then extends to the web in social channels. Old Spice and Toyota’s Swagger Wagon are great examples of this. We’re also seeing product placement in shows such as the iPad in Modern Family and Cisco’s Teleconference in 30 Rock. That’s called progress.
Newspapers and magazines are going through this process right now as they realize printed content is becoming less and less relevant. Online digital magazines and iPad/tablet apps are the early attempts being sought to save this industry. I’m not sure it will work, but at least there’s an effort going on to innovate.
So let’s stop belly-aching about how online ads are being hurt by social networking and start realizing that flashing up an online ad in front of someone, interrupting what they’re doing on the web, is a flawed model and hanging onto it for dear life is a sure way to find yourself hanging out with the dinosaurs of the past.
If you want to reach people on the web and specifically in social networking, you have to be relevant. You have to be engaging. You have to be honest and sincere. You have to listen. And you can’t interrupt what they’re doing with your own agenda.
I'm going to nitpick my way into generally agreeing with you. ;-)
VCRs, DVRs & online viewing (Roku, Netflix Instant, Boxee) have changed TV but it hasn't totally gone away (yet). In fact, people are watching more TV now than they did a decade ago, but they're habits/style are changing. More time-shifting, co-viewing & social viewing.
I think you're right that folks need to think about interruptive media (ads) differently. Old Spice is a great example of something that started as a TV commercial, but is embodied by a Twitter account and a YouTube channel that, for a few days last week at least, was engaging as content first, as an advertisement second.
TV (or at least live video [Sports] and filmed entertainment) will always be around, though the delivery and consumption mechanisms will probably be radically different. Folks might still feel the pull to buy their way into “relevancy” by interrupting, but creativity has and always will be key.
See Target's “Smoke Monster” ad in the Lost finale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWOdhB-_ATc
What is still being hashed out is how previously established media interacts with newer, more social media. What people want, what they say they want and what the entrenched players are providing are all in play.
Generally, though, I couldn't agree more with the tenets of your last paragraph. While sponsorships, product placement and outright advertising might never go away entirely, the smart marketers will be those that can figure out how to play their media mix correctly and correlate their paid, earned & owned campaigns in exciting, impactful ways.
[…] I’ve been spending time lately thinking about the next frontier in digital innovation. What shift will happen to change the way people receive, interact with and produce content? Will there be a new way that people connect with each other and share? Will there be a new way for old school marketers to put ads in front of millions of new people?…just kidding on that one, you know I hate that crap. […]