Back in the ‘good ole days’ when McDonalds® introduced their 15˘ hamburger, you could get it only one way. Their way. Burger King®, looking for a competitive differentiation, introduced the legendary ‘Have It Your Way’ campaign “Special orders don’t upset us…etc.” and the rest is history. ‘Have it your way’ is one of the most plagiarized expressions in modern marketing history......Actually, statisticians and researchers say we’ve been trending in this direction for several decades. Experts cite the rising cost of impressions, the reduction of broadcast shares, the declining penetration of cable, and the shift to paid content formats as evidence that today’sconsumer is increasingly gaining control over advertising exposure. I remember a speaker’s presentation to an automotive conference from the late 80’s (unfortunately I can’t remember the speaker or the event) where the theme dealt with the impact on marketing of the consumer shift from ‘outer-driven’ to ‘inner-driven’ motivation. The concept was that, in the 1940’s and 50’s, consumer actions were largely motivated by societal/peer pressure. ‘Be the first on your block’ was the ad rallying cry. You HAD to have one of those things if the Smith’s had one. Everyone’s dad was either a Ford or a Chevy man (sometimes a Dodge) and brand loyalty ran high. Even while broken down on the side of the road my dad could rattle off 15 reasons why Chevys were better than Fords. Most of us watched, read and listened to the same mediums. There wasn’t much of a choice. Usually the three network TV stations, two or three AM radio stations and one or two newspapers. It wasn’t uncommon for a network TV station to have a ‘36 share’ of the market. In the New England city I grew up in, the top AM radio station had a ‘42 share’ of the market for several years. Today that station has a 4.2 share.
Perhaps the single biggest axe-whack to the Madison Avenue tree was this thing called the ‘Internet’ which some guy running for President invented. Of course when he invented it, it really was meant to be a tool for education and scholarly information exchange. Today, the mega-growth of ‘online’ life dominates ad-chatter in marketing circles. Millions of dollars in traditional medium revenue are stampeding for position on the net, hoping for influence on consumer decisions. As marketeers (pronounced like mousekateers) charge the ions with attempts to sway, consumers are putting their collective feet down with new rules. Heed them or perish.
- Pop-Ups. Use at your peril. Universally despised. Especially full screen jobs with no ‘skip this ad’ button.
- Banner Ads. They actually work if you know what you’re doing. Compelling copy. Soft transitions. But you better have a good offer at your landing page and ‘navigation for novices’ or you’ll miss the opportunity.
- Video. Try true-streaming (vs progressive downloads where an app has to open). Smoother, faster loading, better quality. Most researchees say they don’t like auto-play unless it’s on a designated landing page where play is expected. Have a volume control and pause control in on-screen controls. Size matters. 320x240 video looks better than the tiny box and is still small enough to preserve load speed/quality. BIG CAVEAT: Sadly, re-purposed TV spots score poorly against creative specifically purposed for web folks. More of a one-on-one, no-nonsense, ‘I won’t waste your time’ delivery works best. Stay away from long-format unless you have something the viewer really, really wants. (ie instructions for fixing something or putting something together.) If you want to deliver longer messages, put them in module form, less than 30 seconds is best, and ‘tease’ viewers with reason to view other modules. Remember.. she/he is in control.
- E-mail. This deserves an entire article or two by itself. So many great opportunities for building relationships and making sales…yet so much abuse by so many that open/click-rates are falling like dominoes and spam reports have image sensitive ISPs blocking legitimate domains from entering E-mail cyberspace. Word to the wise. Use this tool wisely. Judiciously. With reasonable frequency. Always balanced in the consumer’s content favor...or you will be shut-down and shut-out and once you are..it’s extremely difficult to get back in the inbox.
Sure, the consumer has always been in control of advertising content. But not like today! Nifty tools like ‘mute’ and TIVO with auto-spot blow by are making it a lot easier to ‘just say no.’ Radio stations who still think the ball is in their court with 8-10 ad spot clusters are providing pre-programmed ‘potty breaks’…even as satellite continues to bite into their sandwich. Newspapers that are devoid of attractive content are increasingly devoid of readers. Even movie theatres ads are affected. Research shows some consumers are showing up for the movie 15 minutes after scheduled start times to avoid paying ten bucks to watch pre-roll commercials.
What’s an advertiser to do? Planning and research are good for starters. Creative strategies are more important than ever. Advertisers must negotiate with consumers for an acceptable content/ad value relationship. No longer can you simply prepare the ad you want, deliver it the way you want, when you want and how you want and expect full participation or reasonable return on your investment. Consumers will still listen to, watch and read your ads. But it will on their terms. Hold the pickles, hold the relish, special orders don’t upset us. We’re letting our customers have it their way.
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