This latest message is true of course, and it confirms what we are told to tell clients. That advertising works...it's just that we don't fully understand the marketplace. While that is true in much the same way that a gambler will say that he can get rich if he has the right luck. Or the salesman can make a million dollars a day at a lemonade stand if he sells enough lemonade. Or that robbing banks can be a successful venture if one is smart enough to figure out the market conditions enough that he doesn't get caught. Or the alcoholic can enjoy a few more if he can figure out a way to control himself. Or one can play Russian Roulette forever if he is careful enough or lucky enough. All that is technically true. It is the same as saying that playing with hand grenades is safe as long as you take enough precautions and do it wisely. Or that playing the state lottery is profitable if you understand the marketplace, calculate the odds, buy enough tickets and become lucky enough. Or you can drive on city streets at 150 mph if you are careful enough. Let's just say for the sake of argument that almost every thing you do in business is advertising, from the people you hire, your dress codes, the floormats, the parking lot, your fancy address or perhaps lack thereof if you are playing on the low overhead theme, your building, your signs, your custom phone number, your networking philosophies and techniques, your relationship with your vendors and a million more examples. Eventually that gets into things and decisions that may cost you more than you will get back. That's where you should use extreme caution. There are plenty of people along the way that are charged with possessing knowledge on the subject. If you own a business you are inundated with salespeople and marketing experts not just from local media outlets, but from Chambers of Commerce, trade groups, communications specialists, marketing people representing clubs and vendors, local venues, sports and team interests, community and social leaders wanting a special deal (perhaps an up and coming coach or olympic participant wanting sponsorship or a free car or a clothing tradeout, whatever), and the list is endless. Be very careful. Advertising doesn't work (in most cases) and I see it every hour of every day. The advertising field is littered with people that are in general the lowest educated and lowest paid of their graduating class. That's why even the big boys like a major home builders retail chain that today found out their adverrtising was running on a major cable channel at the wrong and unspecified time. They only found that out because they were told by an outside accounting and special interest group that was protesting their commercials on a program they found offensive. Most times when one is told that advertising works, they don't furnish data supported proof that it does. They only say that it can. That's true. But as one that sold advertising for decades and one that has bought it, I have the proof from myself and I have the proof from those that bought it.
At least the author admits he doesn't have all the answers and he certainly doesn't offer any.
Advertising is all too often offensive, expensive, and takes advantage of the vulnerable members of our society.
Advertising in America is more intrusive than in any other industrialized country. Yet, in spite of the fact that most Americans are exposed to an estimated 1,000 advertising messages every day, the majority of us are hardly influenced, at least not in the sense that it induces us to buy anything.
Advertising as a means to sell a product or service is simply not effective. People know that advertising is propaganda and don't trust it, nor do they remember it. According to market research studies, only 9 percent of television viewers can name the brand or even the product category they saw advertised a moment before.
If we as consumers have personal experience and a network of friends and relatives whom we can trust to Macy's ad found in the San Francisco Chronicle recommend products and services, this is most likely to influence us. When survey research studies of the final sales influence are conducted, rarely is advertising credited by the survey respondents as a reason for choosing a product or service.
We seem politically and morally blind to the fact that so many ads are dishonest. The victims of this self-serving industry are children, the economically poor, tourists, the elderly, and the educationally disadvantaged. Preschool children, for instance, have not yet learned to be defensive and wary of commercials as have their older siblings and cannot distinguish between television programming and advertisements.
This is not to imply that the majority of advertising agencies or their employees are evil and calculating, attempting to make our lives miserable for a profit. Ad agencies exist to serve their clients and are extremely vulnerable to their every whim. There is little loyalty in this industry. And we, the buying public, are equally guilty, as to a large extent we use advertisers to support their media. Regardless of how tasteless an ad or how corrupt the business supporting that ad might be, by our silence we give them the power over our media.
It is not a big secret any more among the advertisers that traditional advertising ROI has rapidly dropped. In fact it continues to surprise us that there is still so much advertising budget for television despite the low return. Sometimes you actually wonder why some companies continue to waste their dollars on what everyone knows does not work effectively. (Related article: *Traditional advertising in danger*) While iProceed.com has been concerned about advertising for a while, their hypothesis was validated when James D. Speros, the Chairman of the Association of National Advertisers (and the Chief Marketing Officer at Ernst & Young) admits to it. He writes in Fortune, "...advertising is no longer the be all and end all of moving product...Where we're all missing the boat is the lack of focus on creating big ideas that resonate with consumers. Instead of paying agencies by labor-based fees and commission, we should pay by the value of the marketing ideas they create."
Ouch! It's probably not music to the ears of many advertisers and the agencies that they work with.
There are two good things about Speros' admission:
The best companies in the world with the most money to spend are making mistakes with advertising. The best agencies and the best people gravitate toward those companies with the most money to spend. They can't get it right. They have never got it right. It is becoming harder and harder to get it right and it takes the kind of people that aren't being attracted to advertising. Just today I saw on CNBC that the ad companies and the media want government money just to stay in business. A spokesman for the ad industry was told when he was hired that there was probably no way he could make enough money in his field (which involved integrating advertising with the internet) to keep his job. Of course when you have those expectations, you will fail anyway. Also today came an announcement that advertisers were dropping from the internet sites.
In my town just today I stopped a three businesses that had advertising backfire from them. My friend stopped at one. Very briefly, the national coffee shop chain advertised tea with a coupon at 99c. The clerk didn't know it at first, but that is the normal price. I tore the coupons up and left with bottled tea I had in the car. The saleslady though appeared more upset than me over the advertising. Did you note that she had never seen this coupon before? I went to the cleaners to pick up and deliver clothes. The sign said 99c for laundered shirts. The clerk said the sale hadn't started yet and she didn't know when it would start. You tell me what that does for business and morale?
I stopped to see a friend at a car dealership who is mad because his dealer advertises that the government has extended the cash for clunkers program when in fact his job is to either tell the customers it is a sham, since it was over several days ago, or to cover the amount in other ways so that the customer won't know. They also say the cash for clunkers program is good on used cars, which is one of many lies inherent in the advertising. My other friend got back from an upscale clothing store today afte being told by the manager that the national ciruclar distributed through the mail is wrong and that the merchandise she wanted either never comes there or it comes in several weeks.
I see examples every day of advertising with no creativity, no common sense and no connection to truth or the real world. As long as there is advertising it will always be hit and miss, because it always has been. In college advertising courses you are taught that half of all advertising doesn't work and you'll never figure out which half doesn't work. The reality today is worse...and yet the importance of focus is more important than ever. While I'm not saying one shouldn't advertise....far from it. In fact it is impossible not to advertise...even if it is by mistake. There will always be word of mouth, there will always be many opportunities to advertise and most of it will be free. If you don't know how to get free advertising, believe me, it isn't hard. For example, broadcast stations are often hard up to come up with story ideas. Just as an example, if you are a car dealer, make sure you are the go-to person when they do stories. Help them come up with stories that will involve you. They could be economic angles, safety seat or orther safety related stories, trends in the automotive business such as convertible popularity or whatever, city potholes and what they do to cars and tires...well you get the idea. No matter what business you have I could think of a hundred stories for tv or press releases for the newspaper. You'll find these stories carry more weight than "advertising" because they don't appear to be advertising. That's the point. No one really likes advertising, and the industry is barely keeping up with dogcatchers in the respect department. I covered that to some extent already.
There are examples that I find on an hourly basis just in my hometown and in my travels (I travel very extensively and very often) that advertising (as an industry) is letting businesses down. It seems to work better in other countries only because they have less government interference and independent broadcasting is still a much younger proposition in many places. Still....of course it can work...but it isn't a panacea and I'd say business owners must trust their own guts. Most of all, at least in advertising, BUYER BEWARE.
At least the author admits he doesn't have all the answers and he certainly doesn't offer any.
Advertising is all too often offensive, expensive, and takes advantage of the vulnerable members of our society.
Advertising in America is more intrusive than in any other industrialized country. Yet, in spite of the fact that most Americans are exposed to an estimated 1,000 advertising messages every day, the majority of us are hardly influenced, at least not in the sense that it induces us to buy anything.
Advertising as a means to sell a product or service is simply not effective. People know that advertising is propaganda and don't trust it, nor do they remember it. According to market research studies, only 9 percent of television viewers can name the brand or even the product category they saw advertised a moment before.
If we as consumers have personal experience and a network of friends and relatives whom we can trust to Macy's ad found in the San Francisco Chronicle recommend products and services, this is most likely to influence us. When survey research studies of the final sales influence are conducted, rarely is advertising credited by the survey respondents as a reason for choosing a product or service.
We seem politically and morally blind to the fact that so many ads are dishonest. The victims of this self-serving industry are children, the economically poor, tourists, the elderly, and the educationally disadvantaged. Preschool children, for instance, have not yet learned to be defensive and wary of commercials as have their older siblings and cannot distinguish between television programming and advertisements.
This is not to imply that the majority of advertising agencies or their employees are evil and calculating, attempting to make our lives miserable for a profit. Ad agencies exist to serve their clients and are extremely vulnerable to their every whim. There is little loyalty in this industry. And we, the buying public, are equally guilty, as to a large extent we use advertisers to support their media. Regardless of how tasteless an ad or how corrupt the business supporting that ad might be, by our silence we give them the power over our media.
It is not a big secret any more among the advertisers that traditional advertising ROI has rapidly dropped. In fact it continues to surprise us that there is still so much advertising budget for television despite the low return. Sometimes you actually wonder why some companies continue to waste their dollars on what everyone knows does not work effectively. (Related article: *Traditional advertising in danger*) While iProceed.com has been concerned about advertising for a while, their hypothesis was validated when James D. Speros, the Chairman of the Association of National Advertisers (and the Chief Marketing Officer at Ernst & Young) admits to it. He writes in Fortune, "...advertising is no longer the be all and end all of moving product...Where we're all missing the boat is the lack of focus on creating big ideas that resonate with consumers. Instead of paying agencies by labor-based fees and commission, we should pay by the value of the marketing ideas they create."
Ouch! It's probably not music to the ears of many advertisers and the agencies that they work with.
There are two good things about Speros' admission:
- The folks in the advertising world are finally admitting that there is a fundamental problem.
- Things have to change everywhere: advertisers, advertising agencies, and the media.
The best companies in the world with the most money to spend are making mistakes with advertising. The best agencies and the best people gravitate toward those companies with the most money to spend. They can't get it right. They have never got it right. It is becoming harder and harder to get it right and it takes the kind of people that aren't being attracted to advertising. Just today I saw on CNBC that the ad companies and the media want government money just to stay in business. A spokesman for the ad industry was told when he was hired that there was probably no way he could make enough money in his field (which involved integrating advertising with the internet) to keep his job. Of course when you have those expectations, you will fail anyway. Also today came an announcement that advertisers were dropping from the internet sites.
In my town just today I stopped a three businesses that had advertising backfire from them. My friend stopped at one. Very briefly, the national coffee shop chain advertised tea with a coupon at 99c. The clerk didn't know it at first, but that is the normal price. I tore the coupons up and left with bottled tea I had in the car. The saleslady though appeared more upset than me over the advertising. Did you note that she had never seen this coupon before? I went to the cleaners to pick up and deliver clothes. The sign said 99c for laundered shirts. The clerk said the sale hadn't started yet and she didn't know when it would start. You tell me what that does for business and morale?
I stopped to see a friend at a car dealership who is mad because his dealer advertises that the government has extended the cash for clunkers program when in fact his job is to either tell the customers it is a sham, since it was over several days ago, or to cover the amount in other ways so that the customer won't know. They also say the cash for clunkers program is good on used cars, which is one of many lies inherent in the advertising. My other friend got back from an upscale clothing store today afte being told by the manager that the national ciruclar distributed through the mail is wrong and that the merchandise she wanted either never comes there or it comes in several weeks.
I see examples every day of advertising with no creativity, no common sense and no connection to truth or the real world. As long as there is advertising it will always be hit and miss, because it always has been. In college advertising courses you are taught that half of all advertising doesn't work and you'll never figure out which half doesn't work. The reality today is worse...and yet the importance of focus is more important than ever. While I'm not saying one shouldn't advertise....far from it. In fact it is impossible not to advertise...even if it is by mistake. There will always be word of mouth, there will always be many opportunities to advertise and most of it will be free. If you don't know how to get free advertising, believe me, it isn't hard. For example, broadcast stations are often hard up to come up with story ideas. Just as an example, if you are a car dealer, make sure you are the go-to person when they do stories. Help them come up with stories that will involve you. They could be economic angles, safety seat or orther safety related stories, trends in the automotive business such as convertible popularity or whatever, city potholes and what they do to cars and tires...well you get the idea. No matter what business you have I could think of a hundred stories for tv or press releases for the newspaper. You'll find these stories carry more weight than "advertising" because they don't appear to be advertising. That's the point. No one really likes advertising, and the industry is barely keeping up with dogcatchers in the respect department. I covered that to some extent already.
There are examples that I find on an hourly basis just in my hometown and in my travels (I travel very extensively and very often) that advertising (as an industry) is letting businesses down. It seems to work better in other countries only because they have less government interference and independent broadcasting is still a much younger proposition in many places. Still....of course it can work...but it isn't a panacea and I'd say business owners must trust their own guts. Most of all, at least in advertising, BUYER BEWARE.
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