The Death of Advertising

For brands, getting their name out is no longer a simple task. Companies used to have it pretty easy– create an ad, pay some money to have it placed in a desirable TV spot for their target demographics, and know that those people watching that channel at that time would be bound to see it. Easy peasy. But that is not the case nowadays. Us consumers have become experts in avoiding advertising. We know how to escape becoming victims to the grip of ads on the TV, on the Internet and on the radio. Want to watch a show without the nuisance of ads? No problem! PVR it and simply fast-forward through the stuff you don’t want to watch. Or better yet, download it online and all the ads are taken out for you. Don’t want to have deal with those pesky pop-up ads? Simple! Get a pop-up blocker! Don’t want to listen to annoying radio ads? Sure! Download your favourite tunes and plug in your iPod. We have devised several sneaky ways to make sure that companies are not shoving their products in our faces and down our throats. So how should companies handle this? They have to get their name out there some how! It is, after all, about the bottom line people. They need for us to know about their product, why it is so great, why we absolutely can’t live without so that we want to spend our money with their company.

            In today’s Internet crazed era companies must become experts in utilizing these social media tools in order to create a successful business. Creating Twitter accounts and tweeting out cool videos is one way to approach it, or having a Facebook page where consumers can interact is another way. It is all about getting their name out there. An interesting way that I have stumbled upon recently is through the use of type-in verification tools. We all have experienced those sites where we are trying to get to some final destination webpage, or to a video we want to watch, and the site asks us to verify that we are indeed humans. The way that they want us to so is to type in some jumble of letters that are given in a font that is horribly impossible to read. It takes an insane amount of effort, and often a few tries to get it right. But the point is, it takes effort. We spend a bit of time to type in these letters in order to get us to the right page. So, what one company has discovered is that if you place a brand’s name, an aspect of that brand, a saying, etc. in place of the garble, perhaps the effort that consumers put into typing out those letters will mean that they retain or remember what they have just typed. This is what Solve Media is proposing. Go to a website, have the user be required to type in, lets say “Ice Cold Coke” into a type-box under an ad for Coca-Cola in order to continue on to their destination. Chances are, the user is going to remember having to type in “Ice Cold Coke” and perhaps that will resonate with them, and perhaps it will make them in the mood to go get an ice-cold bottle of coke. It is a very sneaky approach, but also a very clever approach. Force the consumers to have to pay a bit of attention to your brand, and it can seriously pay off! Many major companies have already signed on to this creative advertising, such as: General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, FedEx, UPS, YP, Campbell, Colgate, Dr. Pepper/Seven Up, General Mills, A&E, CBS, Relativity Media, Sony, Capital One, LifeLock, Aetna, American Cancer Society, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and many, many more.

You'll have Toyota on your mind all day.

Here’s the website for Solve Media. Check it out for yourselves and see just what their whole idea is about. Or better yet, go to Perez Hilton and try and watch a video. See how Solve Media forces you to think about their own company. 

Post One: Thoughts on the 95 Theses

What I took away from reading all “95 Theses” is that in today’s day and age in which our lives are saturated with technology, social media, and new ways to get information out into the world faster, businesses must try to keep up. The consumer holds so much more power now than they have in the past, especially with their ability to rate products on websites, start threads online, tweet about things, or post links on Facebook. That means that we as consumers have the power to either give a brand a great name, or trash it. That is what I think the “95 Theses” is trying to get across: it is up to businesses to start listening to the consumer about what they want, what their issues are with their products, what they like about the products etc. It is not enough anymore to have a great marketing team; a brand needs consumer feedback in order to be successful. My favourite of the 95 theses would therefore have to be:

76. We've got some ideas for you too: some new tools we need, some better service. Stuff we'd be willing to pay for. Got a minute?

We as consumers have all these ideas, thoughts, opinions etc. We know what we want way better than those people working in the company. If we are buying a product, we want it to satisfy our needs. If companies took the time to sit and converse with their audience, chances are they could create a better product and market it in a way that appeals to their audience. 

In class we have talked a lot about different companies that are following the advice of these 95 Theses. For example, McDonalds has done a wonderful job in incorporating the voice of their audience. The McDonalds website features an entire section called “Our Food. Your Questions” in which consumers can ask any questions they may have about their food. Some of the questions up on the website include: “Does your Egg McMuffin use real eggs? They look too perfect”, “why does your food look different in the advertising than what it is in the store?”, and “Do you put sugar in your happy meals?” Instead of straying away from such questions, McDonalds has embraced the fact that in a social media world, regardless of whether or not they choose to answer these questions, people will be posing them and getting their opinions out there for the world to hear. McDonalds has taken what could be something very detrimental to the reputation of their brand and has used it to show that they care about their customer’s opinions and needs and that instead of sending them back some anonymous automated response they are conversing with each consumer who asks a question individually.

Here’s the link to the page on the McDonald’s site. If you take a look at the answers you’ll see how McDonald’s has taken the time to really personalize their answers, and even have added some humour to them.

http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/