Advertising After The Real Digital Revolution

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	December 21, 2009

Advertising After The Real Digital Revolution
By: Alan Wolk

I’ve written quite a bit about the effects of The Real Digital Revolution, that transition of the consumer decision cycle from Ad -> Purchase into Ad -> Google -> Purchase and how it permanently altered the role of advertising in our society. But that doesn’t mean advertising is going away. Just that it promises to look and feel very different.

What Advertising Cannot Do

Advertising can no longer clever language and use flashy imagery to mask a poorly designed product or service. That’s because at its core, Web 2.0/Social Media/Conversational Media (your choice) are word-of-mouth recommendations that have been transcribed and made searchable. The result is that all of a products faults are instantly visible to anyone with an internet connection and the ability to use Google.

This hasn’t always been the case, and so in the past, many conversations between ad agencies and their clients, when stripped down to their true meaning, went something like this: “Use your magic advertising words to make people forget that our product stinks. That’s what we pay you for.”

But that paradigm, still in play at far too many clients and ad agencies, ignores the fact that success at any word-of-mouth/web 2.0 type endeavor is defined by one single factor: make something people genuinely like. “Magic advertising words” no longer have any power in a world where everything can and will be fact-checked.

What Advertising Can Do

Advertising still plays a major role when there are several similarly acceptable options in a category. Let’s look at a situation where there are two minivans of more or less equal price. Both perform well in government crash tests, both are deemed fairly stylish (for minivans) and both have their share of loyal fans. This is where advertising can make a real difference, by creating a memorable brand image. It’s going to have to be a broader swath than what we’re used to carving out: the cool one, the safe one, the fun one—but we need to take into account how little consumers care to hear from advertisers about me-too specifics and copy points they can research and learn about themselves.

Here, as always, the end product needs to match what’s being promised: no pushing Twinkies as a healthy alternative to candy bars.

What Advertising Needs To Do

Offline advertising still tries to pretend the internet doesn’t exist. Sure, ads will throw a url down at the bottom of the page and TV commercials will throw one up next to the logo. But that’s about as far as they go. TV spots devoted to exclusively touting a new website or new functionality are few and far between; those referring to something other than a promotions-based microsite, even further.

But advertising needs to acknowledge that people don’t see the internet as monolithically as the industry does. They see the web as a multi-purpose tool-- everything from a virtual Yellow Pages to a virtual newspaper to a stand-in for television. These behaviors may take place on the same computer screen, but they have different drivers, motivators, time frames and degrees of openness to marketing messages.

It’s not about “storytelling”— that overused buzzword for multiple touchpoints-- it’s about acknowledging how the internet has become the default venue for so much of our day-to-day activity and figuring out ways to make advertising reflect that reality. Even something as banal as recognizing the fact that I was likely going to check out online reviews before purchasing the product would be a start.

Creating the emotional connections effective brand advertising requires will not be easy at a time when word of mouth is king and the ability to fact check ads gives consumers the upper hand. Much of the effort will have to come from brands themselves by creating a truly customer-centric culture and through engaging customers directly online via blog comments, Twitter and the like.

Ad agencies can and will play a role in the future by creating the image a brand can own. How they accomplish that is something for the next generation of ad people to explore.

Comments

Add Your Comments

Craig Elimeliah (NYC)	on 21 Dec 2009 at 11:26 am

Excellent point made on how the power of social media has become a challenge to advertiser's grip on brand image. Transparency will prevail and helping to endear more verbose customers will be the new challenge to ad folks in the digital age. Social Networks echo back to a time where small villages knew everything about everyone and word of mouth was how people survived. It helped formulate peoples decisions and gave them a more prominent role in their social circle. Social Networks have returned us to a time where technology is enabling people to once again be part of a village where they can voice up their opinions and share them with their circles. There are tons of virtual villages that will serve as the main hub of information for many people and advertisers will need to find micro-ways of being invited into these villages to peddle their wares. Technology has enabled us to go back to a time when we trust those closest to us for information rather than have to rely on mass media. Its very exciting!

CA Mktg Guy (Auburn CA)	on 24 Feb 2009 at 12:55 pm

I see we are discussing a broad topic with a narrow brush and of course, both pictures are correct. And both are useful tools in the hands of a skilled mareting person. about Yes, sales (buying something) are emotional even for the the unemotional analytical lab engineer. Funny, an HP lab guy was just telling me the results of his web research on which HDTV to buy. Consumer Reports has nothing on an HP Labs guy. His emotions were structured on facts totally ignoring emotional strings the ad guys were trying to pull. So yes, some people take full advantage of the web resourches to base desisions because they are psychically tuned to recognise and ignore emotional based data. A technically trained salesperson knows that about 25% to 50% of the public is this way and when you face them in a sale, forget the emotional and focus with only the facts to help them choose your product. On the other hand, there are the other 25-50% who get confused by the analytical facts and much prefer what they feel about the product. And yes, Advertising and presentation will have high impact on their choices. Analytically, we need to recognise that some Joe Plumbers are not very analytical and some are very analytical: different tools are successful for different audiences and products. It is our flexibility and a broad range of tools that makes us consistantly successful.

justahousewife (upstate ny)	on 19 Feb 2009 at 11:18 pm

Thanks Alan, I must have read your article 4-5 times. You made me really stop and think about what drives me to buy the things I own. Take for instance our mini-van. It all began with a Television ad..the 100,00 mile warranty sold me right then and there...I felt obligated to check the internet for a price, although it really didn't matter (just being honest) ..then off to see and feel and test drive, (the salesman had very little to do with this sale) I honestly can say no one media had it all, each one worked together to weave the final decision. Just for fun ...I have been buying Scott T.P. for 30 years.. What sold me and kept me loyal ?? Those "magic words"--- "good for your septic" .... and I don't even have a septic. I always figured if it was good for your septic it would have to be great for my sewer! Does advertising see consumers as peers? just wondering...

PP (New Youk City)	on 18 Feb 2009 at 12:00 pm

What simple-minded and pragmatic views you have... And a waste of my time reading them. Off we go now...

Janie Peterson (Minneapolis)	on 18 Feb 2009 at 12:17 am

I laughed when I saw this because I come from the "storyteller" is king background of TV news. I agree with the notion-- it's a buzzword that's overused. But I question the criticism nonetheless. When you boil down a brand, whether a product or a even politician, the way the story is told becomes central to the brand idenity. Online, the messaging is unleashed into a viral swirl, all supplying information. The stories are strategically morphed into different emotional tugs from blogs, video, Facebook, ads or a web site. Without the same time constraints of broadcast television, the opportunities for storytelling could be more creative and inventive than ever before. I can see a case where effective online campaigns revolve around masterful storytellers who weave a web of intrigue and skillfully blend it with valuable information. This new wave of advertising-- sounds like storytelling to me.

Alan Wolk (Millburn, NJ)	on 17 Feb 2009 at 7:11 pm

Thanks for the comments all. To reply in longer form: @Vickie - Thanks, I agree that people building a superior product will have an easier time getting the word out. @NY Ad Guy: As I noted before, your theory is false, as a large majority of consumers refer to online reviews and the number is going to be growing, not shrinking. @adbroad: Thanks. And agreed about higher-end products, cars in particular. The number of car review sites- from all angles- is pretty mind-boggling.

Ad Broad (ny, ny)	on 17 Feb 2009 at 2:52 pm

Another great article, Alan. "Offline advertising still tries to pretend the internet doesn’t exist." Sounds simple, but I agree this is one of the underlying problems. The consumer doesn't silo messages and neither should we who create them--brand message should be well translated across all media, old and new. Due respect to NY Ad Guy, but have to say I think Joe (and Joline) the Plumbers DO use internet to check out product reviews, especially for higher-end items. Especially these days. (Bye, bye 401k) So what people are saying about your product online matters enormously. If talk isn't complimentary, it's an opp. for a company to turn that around. (Hello, Comcast.)

Alan Wolk (NYC)	on 17 Feb 2009 at 11:58 am

Will respond in in full later on, but quick response to NY Ad Guy: check this link- it seems that 83% of consumers use product review sites: http://www.kikabink.com/news/71/83-percent-of-consumers-use-online-product-reviews/ Even if it's off by 25%, that's a huge number.

NY Ad Guy	on 17 Feb 2009 at 11:00 am

One anecdote/addendum: I was at a seminar about viral stealth blogging. After this rep described how his employees would blog online about his clients' products, someone asked whether his clients' competitors also hired stealth bloggers. Of course, he answered. So she asked, "So, at some point, you'll be in a situation in which blogs will consist of reps from one company talking to reps from another company." This is what we have to guard against, because it ends up serving no one's interest.

NY Ad Guy	on 17 Feb 2009 at 10:55 am

I wonder, when you say: "It’s not about “storytelling”— that overused buzzword for multiple touchpoints-- it’s about acknowledging how the internet has become the default venue for so much of our day-to-day activity and figuring out ways to make advertising reflect that reality. Even something as banal as recognizing the fact that I was likely going to check out online reviews before purchasing the product would be a start." whether you're talking mostly about power users, the top 10-20% of Internet users, rather than the general consumer population? I hate to use this well worn cliché, but, how often does "Joe the Plumber" check online product reviews? So much of the behavior we associate with consumers online is, actually, attributable to a 16-24 age demographic -- largely unemployed kids in school with a lot of time on their hands. It's not that people don't use the Internet, but they use it selectively to achieve very specific goals: plan a trip, pay bills, shop for a specific garment, watch their favorite show online. Assuming that the rest of the time they're just surfing around randomly reading blogs and generally absorbing the culture online -- I'm just not convinced that's normal consumer behavior. It's normal geek, Internet obsessed behavior. How much of this is us talking to ourselves and not really looking at how consumers are actually behaving online?

Vickie Smith (Wayne, NJ)	on 17 Feb 2009 at 10:28 am

WOW. This article was a quick and easy read - I think we are all part of a major shift in where companies, both large and small, are sinking in their marketing budgets. If they're not taking advantage of the net, someone else who comes up quicker in a search is going to sweep the carpet out right from under them. And maybe quality will improve, as well, as companies are now more visible in the eyes of consumers all watching over them. Hoorah!

About the Author
Alan Wolk

One of the most distinctive voices to come out of the creative side of the ad business, Alan Wolk has staked out a unique space for himself and his Toad Stool consultancy. The wide-ranging appeal of Wolk’s common-sense approach to strategy, as exemplified by his “Your Brand Is Not My Friend” series, has made him a go-to guy for social media thought leadership, speaking and consulting.

alan.wolk@mac.com

http://www.alanwolk.com