Is Advertising Dead? Or is There a Huge Opportunity for Interesting, Innovative, and Entertaining Ads to Emerge?
By Steffen • Jan 12th, 2009 • Category: 26th StoryAs I watch with sadness as the media is dying because their advertising based business model no longer works, I've often thought to myself that while I can't imagine my morning commute without the New York Times, I also wouldn't spend money I'm responsible for on advertising — because ads don't work.
In the last few weeks, I've become hyper-tuned into the advertising all around me as we plan the campaigns for the first HarperStudio books: What works (and why), doesn't work, annoys me, makes me angry, etc. Would I be willing to pay more for the content without ads, and if so, how much?
Here are my unscientific yet completely honest observations about the advertising around me:
There was a story in the New York Times about the advertising campaign for HBO's The Big Love. They are doing a "secrets" campaign where you can walk past a kiosk and plug your headset in and hear a secret about the show. I WANT IN!!! Where's the closest kiosk? I came to work and asked everyone if they'd seen one. It passes the "tell a friend" test.
I actually like reading the New York Times with ads and can't imagine my morning commute without flipping to the page A2 Tiffany ad. There's something comforting about scanning the ads that has become part of the reading experience for me. 99% do not make me want their product though. Fashion magazine ads have the same effect — they add to the reading experience without driving me to purchase.
The ads in Time, Newsweek, People and The New Yorker do not enhance my reading experience and I'd be happy to pay a little more to read the magazines without them. Occasionally an advertorial will stand out.
Online video ads are a whole other story — especially the ones on msnbc.com. I am actually irritated by them. I feel like I've been taken hostage. Ads for Dove Bars, Tide detergent, etc. all feel like noise — and 30 seconds feels like an eternity. Even the movie trailer ads irk me. I end up feeling angry at the product and msnbc for making me sit through this annoyance. If you haven't had the pleasure, try clicking these Today Show videos and see how they make you feel.
Hulu.com ads are much less annoying because they are shorter and slightly more entertaining.
Listen Up Tide: Video Ads don't have to be irritating. This ad by 50 Cent for Body Spray is simple, entertaining, and seems like pretty low budget production.
(Full Disclosure: We’re publishing a book with Fiddy)
IPod ads make me want to buy a new iPod every time I see one — and then dance.
Tropicana is spending $35 million on a new ad campaign to promote "quality and value." Nothing I've seen of their double entendre "squeeze" campaign makes me want to buy Tropicana (though I am already a regular Tropicana consumer). In fact I feel galled by the amount they are spending on this ad campaign and wish they'd put those millions toward lowering their juice price instead.
The ads on my Facebook page are odd and troubling and I would be willing to pay about $10 per month to have a Facebook without them.
And so it seems to me that advertising as it exists now may be dead, because it doesn't work, but there is room, and in fact an opportunity, for advertising to become remarkable — to entertain or inform — or as Seth Godin would say, to be a Purple Cow.
–Debbie
Steffen
Email this author | All posts by Steffen
