Advertising, R.I.P.
How information overload, data glut, and media excess will lead
to consumer revolt and an end to marketing, advertising and
public relations as we know it.
A fateful day is coming when there will be no more advertising,
marketing, or public relations. Why? Simple: we're killing our
industry by being too successful at it.
The communications field keeps finding new ways to send sales
messages to target audiences, and by utilizing these new methods
to the maximum extent possible, we are strangling the
effectiveness of all media. Quite frankly, marketing
intrusiveness is out of control.
ADS BEYOND COUNTING. Some reports claim you'll view 10,000,000
ads in your lifetime, yet with new communication channels and
new techniques of marketing, that number is probably
under-estimated.
Sponsored data is built into your mail, e-mail, Web sites, video
games, online games, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and
media broadcasts. Ads are delivered by TV, radio, phones,
outdoor boards, private vehicles, and transit posters. Marketing
messages are sprayed on walls, chalked on sidewalks, printed on
condoms, acted out in the streets, waiting to ambush you in
restrooms, and beamed at you from electronic displays of every
shape, size, and description, including sound-emitting urinal
cakes.
Viral creations contain ad messages. Word of mouth advertising
(WOM) is expanding fast. Channel One delivers commercials to
kids in schools.
In stores, RFID (radio frequency identification) chips track
your purchases. Watch TV and your selections are tracked.
Online, every click is monitored. That information is available
for sale, so demographic and psychographic data can be
accumulated and you, the targeted consumer, can be more
accurately reached.
SPONSORMANIA. Phrases like this emerge from your radio and TV:
"Welcome to the Nextel Halftime Report, brought to you by
Toyota." They might reel off a whole string of sponsors for a
ten-minute programming segment that features interviews with
players and coaches wearing corporate logos while standing in
front of electronically shimmering backgrounds displaying other
corporate logos. The way we're going, we can soon expect to
hear: "Welcome to C-SPAN's coverage of the Halliburton Congress,
brought to you by Bechtel."
ADS BY THE POUND. Grab the Sunday morning newspaper. Weight: 3.4
lbs. Remove the advertising booklets, inserts, leaflets, flyers,
announcements, mini-magazines, and the classified section.
Remaining weight of news sections: 1.2 lbs. But each of these
sections also contains ads. And some entire sections could be
viewed as ad-oriented, such as Entertainment, Style, Food, Real
Estate and Automotive.
Most of us don't begrudge the puffery in the movie or TV
sections, but we're blurring the line between information and
marketing in all other areas of the paper.
In an "article" on a new car were the following phrases:
"...unique charm... head-turning good looks along with
outstanding usefulness... exceptional headroom... feeling of
spaciousness... Definitely a good buy." Mileage was reported to
be 22/city and 30/highway. Hardly impressive, yet the article
concluded with "attractive gas mileage" as one of the vehicle's
features.
I think money changed hands to get that favorable review. Or
there was pressure on the writer to state everything in a
positive manner so the auto maker as well as their dealers will
take out more ads.
We've gotten used to these things in the auto, movie, TV,
cooking, lifestyle and home sections. But now they're happening
in every section. Indeed, they happen in every aspect of today's
communications.
THE PAY-TO-SAY SOCIETY. In advertising, marketing, and public
relations, editorial and news coverage are now available for a
price. We are in the "pay-to-say" society.
CONSIDER: * Authors interviewed on TV: the time has been bought
and paid for. * That lighthearted TV show roundup of the best
kitchen appliances: the products have been "placed" in the
program (just as the clothing, cars, restaurants, cameras, TV
sets, furniture, dishware and other products have been placed in
movies and TV programming). * That
model/actress/hunk/entrepreneur on a magazine cover: the space
has been sold according to a rate card, just like an ad. * That
"news report" on government support of education: the entire
mock documentary was written, produced and distributed by the
people who want to shape your opinion.
You may be reading this on a Web site that places ads all around
the text and/or links to ads embedded in the editorial content,
just awaiting your unsuspecting cursor to roll over them.
If you're reading this in a magazine, an RFID may be inside.
(For that matter, there may be RFIDs in the lining of your
jacket, in your shoes, in your jeans, or in that pack of gum in
your pocket.)
THE TRUTH: ON SALE. I once ghostwrote an article for a coalition
of companies that made polystyrene products. Their industry was
facing problems over the waste issue and they needed to have an
upbeat but corporate magazine story about how dedicated they
were to recycling. So I was paid three thousand dollars to state
their case.
Since I was supplied with reams of input and interviews, the
article was full of facts and figures about the miracles of
their recycling process, the enticingly high percentage of
re-used product that the industry could accommodate in its
manufacturing processes, and on and on.
What wasn't in the article was one teeny tiny little fact: there
was no means of collecting the used products in order for any of
this recycling to take place. That minor detail negated the
underlying point of the propaganda. Oops, I mean informative
editorial piece.
With the improprieties of Jayson Blair and Judith Miller came
doubts about the print media. These doubts grew after learning
that a male prostitute was allowed to penetrate the White House
press corps so he could lob softball questions to the
president's Press Secretary.
The main problem with all of the "advertorial" placements,
made-up stories, and outright lying is obvious. What is left for
anyone to believe? With everything becoming an ad, people will
start to turn away from ad messages in greater numbers.
NASCARIZING EVERYTHING. We've all seen and made fun of the maze
of logos on NASCAR vehicles but now other sports are mulling the
idea of ads on uniforms and equipment. Horseracing, the NBA, all
sports are considering it.
The digital age has already enabled ads to be placed where ads
don't actually exist. For example, there are
continually-changing billboards behind the batter in televised
baseball games. That would be distracting to the pitcher, so
they don't appear in real life, only on your TV screen.
There's a new magazine called "Other Advertising" dedicated to
the new forms of advertising intrusiveness. That's where I read
about digital outdoor billboards that sense the FM station
playing in your vehicle and change the display to match
demographic choices that align with your choice of programming.
American Technology Corporation's HyperSonic Sound system and
Holosonics' Audio Spotlight are perfecting the ability to direct
audio messages to individuals passing nearby. So, for example,
based on the RFID chip in your purchases, each person in a
checkout line would hear a different ad. (Full disclosure: there
is a message about ATC's HSS system in the song "Paranormal
Radio" on my ELECTRO BOP album.)
AdverINFOeduTAINMENT. When I first wrote about the ways
advertising messages were being placed inside almost every
activity in the universe, I ended the article with some
predictions that many people found outlandish, including:
* Debit card scanners in TV sets, so you can order during a
commercial with the flick of your remote. * Barcodes in songs,
so you can download from iTunes or Real Rhapsody by swiping your
XM or Sirius player with your Visa or MasterCard. * Credit cards
built into wristwatches. * Interactive ads, where you get to
star in a five-minute escape from reality. * Holographic
projections of commercials from postage stamps, car and house
keys, magazine covers, etc. * Microchips embedded under your
skin, so YOU will be the receiver for TV, radio, satellite,
telephone, and global positioning system signals
I was interviewed on many morning radio programs about how Big
Brother might take over all forms of communication. This made
for humorous drive-time banter, but what some people overlooked
in my list of prognostications was the fact that every one of
them had already come true by the time the article was
published. They're not all being used in the marketplace due to
high costs, but the announcements of their existence have been
made.
AD INDUSTRY USEFULNESS. Without advertising, marketing, or PR,
vital communication is thwarted and sales suffer. Company
payrolls are cut and jobs are lost. Industries like
manufacturing, packaging, transportation, and retailing are all
hurt. Without us, parts of the economy evaporate like a puddle
of water on sun-baked concrete.
So, what do we need to do? First, let's own up to what's going
on. We justify things by developing highfalutin' names like
"branded entertainment," "product integration," "street
teaming," "buzz marketing," "positioned journalism," "secured
placement," and the like. But when faced with intrusive
technology for your marketing messages, ask yourself if you'd
like to be assaulted by it. Let's treat consumers like someone
we know. Let's treat them with respect instead of like a mark, a
patsy, a rube, or a flock of sheep.
Second, can we attempt to insist on wit, taste and genuine humor
in the ads and PR we create?
We advertisers are, at best, invited guests into people's homes
or the public space. At worst, we are party crashers or unwanted
intruders. And we're overloading everything with annoying
messages.
Imagine if we behaved in this manner in our daily lives:
"Hi, Shirley! My good morning message is brought to you by
Henderson's Hardware, for all your home improvement needs."
"Thanks, Jim! My Have-a-Nice-Day reply is courtesy Magnum
Magnificence, your best choice for a complete line of lighting
fixtures. Come to Magnum Magnificence and see the light."
Before it's too late, I hope we all see the light.