If you can wrap it, chances are someone will be willing to sell you ad space there. Case in point, escalator handrails. Everybody knows escalator stairs and the floors around escalators are soooo last year.
Is the argument that this is new and therefore it will work a valid one? By putting ads in every nook and cranny of someone’s life the best way to build rapport with a potential customer? Maybe, maybe not.
But it sure adds some spice to your pitch to the client doesn’t it!
Much needed break from work this weekend.
Welcome to Halifax Andrew. You most likely won’t remember it…
TomTom wins the award for wasting the most amount of my time today. I waited for 5 minutes and I only got as far as you see in the picture.
If anyone actually gets the thing to load, tell me about it would ya? For more information on the purpose of this stupid website, click here.
“The 30-second spot is dead. So is the 60-second. People just don’t have the attention span anymore.” MarketingMag.ca
Pretty bold statement for a publication when 72% of its readership is affiliated with the advertising industry. Granted Mr. Gerlsbeck was just trying to put some attitude into a PR piece about Fuel Industries, it’s still a pretty strong assumption.
I wonder if anyone knows the number of times this topic has been debated by puffy middle-aged ad execs at overpriced conferences in front of those trying to stumble upon the next big insight. While briefly inspired by what they hear, many of the attendees wake up Monday morning doing things exactly the same way they did on Friday. The :30 TV ad is the default leading lady for more than a few advertising campaigns, much to the chagrin of interactive directors the world over. When the client says I want to (enter wishful thinking here), the agency’s first thought is “how can we get a TV spot out of this?”
With the increasing use of Tivo and PVRs, it is becoming harder to ensure your thirty seconds are getting through to your target market. The youth market is even harder to reach, on the TV side of things, with the increasing use of BitTorrent file sharing services that allow you to get entire seasons of your favourite TV shows for free with the commercials already cut out. As an example, I have never watched Entourage at 10pm on Sunday or whenever it airs on HBO but I have seen every episode because I have all 4 seasons on my hard drive. I have missed all of those lovely ads and I’m better for it frankly.
TV spots are having a harder time breaking through and an even tougher time actually being seen by their target markets and yet they are still the lead of many campaigns. And with the writers on strike right now, viewer ship is going down because of all the crappy re-runs and many people are turning to the internet for their entertainment needs cutting TV spots out all together. Everybody knows the internet is the future but few are taking that knowledge to heart.
Some more inspired agencies sit down with all of the heads of each of the department to discuss a new project. Not out of the ordinary in agency world, but at some places the attendees all plot the best course to achieve the goals for the client using any of the tools available to them. If internet is the best place to put the majority of the money, they are open to it. It doesn’t always have to be big splashy cliched expensive TV spot. More companies should act this way.
Some agencies do this better than others however. As I was reading the article quoted above, I was excited to hear that Fuel Industries was taking internet marketing to a whole new level. It mentions in the article that,
“…for Johnson & Johnson’s oral care line, a narrative game that lets players solve a romantic mystery with the help of implements like a toothbrush and dental floss. Average time spent on the site after its launch last fall: 17 minutes.”
That’s 17 minutes interacting with J&J’s brand and experiencing what that really means. That’s 17 minutes thinking about Oral Care and how J&J can help you with it. Incredible. And that’s just the beginning. (See the game here)
“…we’re even hitting upwards of 45 minutes on some of our pieces.”
Any client would jump at the chance to have a consumer voluntarily interact with their company for 45 minutes. So why aren’t more agencies offering them the chance? I doubt we will see any innovation in the near future from big wig agencies whose only recent creative endeavor was adding random symbols in and around their abbreviated and non-nonsensical names. (TBWA//, CP+B, W+K etc)
In closing, rumour has it that Guiness paid nearly $21 000 000 for it’s attempt at the Honda Cog ad. How will their agency, AMV/BBDO, explain to them that to get the same kind of experience that Fuel Industries’ clients get, they would have to pay $630 000 000?
Source: Marketingmag