The life or a marketer has never been easy. These days, it’s almost impossible.
Yesterday, in a meeting with my publisher, we spoke about book titles. I suggested something with ‘Mad Men’, my favourite TV series of all times. “Nah,” he replied. “Most people are too young to remember.”
Sad, but true. Gone are not only the days of Mad Men, including the 5.00pm drink tray, packs of Luckies and fabulous shots on fabulous islands – “because we need the early morning light in Mauritius”. Gone are also the days when as a marketer – or agency creative – I could choose between a 45 second television commercial, three magazine ads, a newspaper ad and a billboard. Add a direct mailer, if I am feeling adventurous. These would allow me to reach the vast majority of my audience, and if done right, would win me an award in Cannes.
Yes, but we have digital now – I hear you say. True, but so far it has only existed as an afterthought, an appendix to the campaign created by placing the TVC on Facebook, hopefully re-edited, and sending a social media photographer to the print shoot to take some additional, “unconventional” shots for Instagram.
The fact that our strict rules for how to show the product somehow don’t apply to social speaks volumes to how we – collectively, marketers and advertising agencies – still think and where our priorities lie.
And while video did not kill the radio star, and digital will not replace traditional media (look at an online brand like Mr Porter publishing a good old-fashioned newspaper, the Mr Porter Post), it will kill traditional advertising.
So clients and agencies face a dilemma: pretend that traditional media still rules and continue to produce expensive TV commercials and print ads that nobody will see or care about.
Or create digital ads that are overlooked, swiped away or – more and more on platforms like Instagram – perceived as annoying, creating a potential backlash for the brand. And you can work with influencers, if you can find the right one and you trust not just their numbers but also that they will show your product in a way that is neither cringe-worthy nor damaging the brand.
Article as appeared on Mumbrella Asia on April 1, 2019.