What Do We Think We're Doing?

This column is basically a free associative brain dump as to the form and content of demand creation media in the Post Advertising Era, as we envision it. The truth of the matter is that although we may be able to conceive of different, more meaningful messaging devices and the delivery platforms that can be employed to expose these devices to our audiences, the real key is in the way these devices and platforms can be combined to achieve the desired result.

Traditional advertising has always had a two-pronged objective. First, to increase awareness of the existence of a product and the benefits the product (or service) had to offer. Second, to inspire or motivate the decision to purchase based upon a combination of perceived benefits that positioned the product or service as a superior choice/value in the mind of the potential customer.

The truth of the matter is that although we can accurately measure "awareness" after an ad has run, we have scant ability to accurately judge "persuasion." The great promise of on-line advertising was that the consumer could see the ad, evaluate the sales message and if so motivated, proceed to purchase. This was the so-called "Holy Grail" of marketing. Awareness/Response/ Purchase. The sacred "Marketing Funnel."

In many cases this has proven to be the fact. But as audiences become more and more fragmented and advertising immune, it has emerged into more of a "Marketing Tunnel."

What has always inserted itself in the line between "response" and "purchase" has been the customer's need to "shop around." And so it is that the process of information gathering has become the determining factor in whether a product or service is a "buy" or a "pass."

Given this fact, it would appear that if our goal in the Post-Advertising Era is to try our best to "own" the information gathering segment of the awareness- to-purchase timeline. If this is the case, then the "look and feel" of what we are creating should be closer to "information" than "advertising." Of course, this is just a first blush opinion, but in the broadest terms for a message to be meaningful it needs to strike an intellectual, emotional of aspirational "nerve" within the conscious (or sub-conscious) perceptions of its intended audience.

Above all else, our objective for what we create to serve the marketing needs of the Post-Advertising Era has to be MEANINGFUL to the person who is seeking the information they require to make a decision to purchase.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the work we have started to do has been the definition of the "Post-Advertising Era." By adapting this phrase we have alluded to a point in time where traditional advertising has lost both its relevance and its effectiveness.

Obviously, this publication has neither the size, stature, or authority to make such a pronouncement stick. The only thing that gives credibility to our claims has been the fact that the heads of the largest marketing organizations in the world have been saying the same thing for almost two years, with no substantial response from the advertising industry to refute them.

With this done, the second most important task facing us is to decide what to call the process or technique we are developing to address the problem. In its long form it is Post-Advertising Marketing Techniques and Practices.

That doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Within the organization it has been easiest to refer to it as "Post-Advertising" and be done with it. Obviously, the problem with that solution is stating that we are replacing a practice with something that sounds like the thing we claim is no longer working.

What we have to be careful of is not creating a name for what we do that could be thought of as just more marketing "jargon." Phrases like "Demand Creation," "Value Perception Management." "Direct Response," and 1-to-1 Marketing" have all entered the business lexicon and been more or less effective as descriptors of specific methods and practices within the marketing arena.

This phrase or descriptor for what we are proposing will be the first line of reasoning in motivating industry decision makers to take our "theory" seriously. There fore creating this terminology should be our first step in defining our specific point of view.

Whatever the ultimate form of Post Advertising (blah, blah, blah) is, one thing is for sure. For it to be practical it will have to be built of self-contained delivery mechanisms that are interdependent upon each other to get the job done. For example, if there is a "Broadcast" component, the pieces that make up the component will all have to have some form of "disclosed" or "undisclosed" linkage. A disclosed linkage might be a website url that appears in a 30 second TV message.

An undisclosed linkage might be a series of 12 second TV messages that appears in a 30 minute TV program that we produce to create the optimum environment for the message and distribute free of charge to an ad-hoc network of independent TV stations.

These delivery platform components need to be interchangeable across all forms of media so that they can be accurately targeted to the appropriate target audience. Ideally, we should be able to mix and match these components to intercept any target audience in any given activity.

For example, if we are trying to reach tweens after school we should have a component that includes pre-drive time radio to reach them on the way to the mall, Outdoor to reach them as they approach the mall parking lot. In-store video to reach them while they shop. Point-of-sale to steer them to our product. In-mall entertainment to reinforce our brand messaging, sponsored digital music to hear as they shop.

Going forward we will begin to explore these various form factors in their real-world applications. We will conceive them, build them, deploy them and evaluate them and report back on these pages how they seem to be working or not working. We will ask for your feedback to help in the process. In other words, it's time to get real.

Stay Strong.

Comments from Mad159: Engagement Ring,

"Once again you hit the nail on the head. Fear is everywhere in our business. We are too afraid to change and in denial that change is critical. This cannot end well for our industy." C.Z., Pittsburgh

Every time I bring my boss something new and exciting that I discover in the evaluation of media, she asks "Are you willing to stake your job on it?" Before reading your article I was never willing to say "Yes." Now I am." B.R. Toronto