Hard-to-reach consumers = Highly creative marketers
As a future marketer I am always in search of the answer to the question “What makes a good ad?” Why is it that an ad that has a brilliant copy and according to all researches should be highly appealing to the target audience remains almost unnoticed? What is it that is missing?
It turns out that there are two concepts that are vital to finding the answer to these questions and probable many more; two words – relevance and permission – give marketers the key to successfully reaching consumers.
In today’s harried world people do not have the spare time to spend on watching and listening to information that is not relevant to them, their wants and needs. When watching TV, listening to the radio, going to the movies it is not advertising that people are seeking but entertainment, escape from the harsh realities of their own lives. And when advertisers, always trying to sell them the next unnecessary gadget, insensitively invade this private world of escapism the only thing they are getting is annoyance. Probably that is why when time comes for commercial break the remote control is the best friend of the humans. This is also the reason for the boom of such devices as iPods and TiVos, which help people enjoy their favorite leisure activities without being interrupted. That and the growing technological literacy of the population, also contributed to the growing importance of the Internet as a source of both information and entertainment.
According to some professionals (one of whom is Seth Godin), when people go to the Web and search for something they give marketers the permission to send them their relevant messages. We can talk of relevance because ads appear according to the key words the person used for his/her search (for example if I typed in coffee and a together with my search results a Starbucks ad appeared on the side, it is going to be relevant to what I am looking for at the moment). We can also speak permission because it is the surfers who decide whether to click on an ad or not, by clicking on the ad they allow the advertiser to send them the brand’s message. The results of the permission/relevance era in the marketing sphere are the decreased ability of traditional (non-permission, non-relevance) mass media to reach consumers, the increasing potentials and importance of the Internet, and the great challenge for advertisers – to reach consumers when and where they want them to with the bit of relevant information that is going to solve their problems.
And marketers got creative!
Branded entertainment, sponsored content, product placement, and advertainment came to the scene. So what is what any reasonable person might ask, staring in bewilderment in these words?
Branded entertainment also known as branded programming is the integration of a brand into a television programs or motion pictures. However, recently marketers have reinterpreted this concept by aligning not the brand to the content but developing content that is going to fit the brand. A good example of this is the Bud.TV - an online entertainment network that Anheuser-Busch, the manufacturer of Budweiser beer, will launch the day after Super Bowl.
Sponsored content encompasses a large number of promotional activities, ranging from the weather forecast (or any other show) that ends with the words “this program is sponsored by…” to Larry King’s show, hosting a spokesperson for some brand. The latter, however, might be deceitful because programmers sometimes “forget” to mention that the person is actually paid for to appear in the show.
Product placement as defined in video and PC games. However, advertisers should be very careful in this case because the ad is only going to be successful if the product relates in some way to the game and it enhances its real feel. Otherwise, if at all noticed, it would be disregarded as just unnecessary and undesired noise.
Avdertainment as you have probably already noticed has two key components to it – advertising and entertainment. This is an interactive form of entertaining online advertisement. This can involve a product demonstration or a branded game or some other engaging presentation which identifies the sponsor and involves the viewer (www.revolution.ca/knowledge/glossary.cfm?t=205). A cool example of advertainment is Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” that attracted tens of thousands of people to its site.
As a future marketer I am always in search of the answer to the question “What makes a good ad?” Why is it that an ad that has a brilliant copy and according to all researches should be highly appealing to the target audience remains almost unnoticed? What is it that is missing?
It turns out that there are two concepts that are vital to finding the answer to these questions and probable many more; two words – relevance and permission – give marketers the key to successfully reaching consumers.
In today’s harried world people do not have the spare time to spend on watching and listening to information that is not relevant to them, their wants and needs. When watching TV, listening to the radio, going to the movies it is not advertising that people are seeking but entertainment, escape from the harsh realities of their own lives. And when advertisers, always trying to sell them the next unnecessary gadget, insensitively invade this private world of escapism the only thing they are getting is annoyance. Probably that is why when time comes for commercial break the remote control is the best friend of the humans. This is also the reason for the boom of such devices as iPods and TiVos, which help people enjoy their favorite leisure activities without being interrupted. That and the growing technological literacy of the population, also contributed to the growing importance of the Internet as a source of both information and entertainment.
According to some professionals (one of whom is Seth Godin), when people go to the Web and search for something they give marketers the permission to send them their relevant messages. We can talk of relevance because ads appear according to the key words the person used for his/her search (for example if I typed in coffee and a together with my search results a Starbucks ad appeared on the side, it is going to be relevant to what I am looking for at the moment). We can also speak permission because it is the surfers who decide whether to click on an ad or not, by clicking on the ad they allow the advertiser to send them the brand’s message. The results of the permission/relevance era in the marketing sphere are the decreased ability of traditional (non-permission, non-relevance) mass media to reach consumers, the increasing potentials and importance of the Internet, and the great challenge for advertisers – to reach consumers when and where they want them to with the bit of relevant information that is going to solve their problems.
And marketers got creative!
Branded entertainment, sponsored content, product placement, and advertainment came to the scene. So what is what any reasonable person might ask, staring in bewilderment in these words?
Branded entertainment also known as branded programming is the integration of a brand into a television programs or motion pictures. However, recently marketers have reinterpreted this concept by aligning not the brand to the content but developing content that is going to fit the brand. A good example of this is the Bud.TV - an online entertainment network that Anheuser-Busch, the manufacturer of Budweiser beer, will launch the day after Super Bowl.
Sponsored content encompasses a large number of promotional activities, ranging from the weather forecast (or any other show) that ends with the words “this program is sponsored by…” to Larry King’s show, hosting a spokesperson for some brand. The latter, however, might be deceitful because programmers sometimes “forget” to mention that the person is actually paid for to appear in the show.
Product placement as defined in video and PC games. However, advertisers should be very careful in this case because the ad is only going to be successful if the product relates in some way to the game and it enhances its real feel. Otherwise, if at all noticed, it would be disregarded as just unnecessary and undesired noise.
Avdertainment as you have probably already noticed has two key components to it – advertising and entertainment. This is an interactive form of entertaining online advertisement. This can involve a product demonstration or a branded game or some other engaging presentation which identifies the sponsor and involves the viewer (www.revolution.ca/knowledge/glossary.cfm?t=205). A cool example of advertainment is Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” that attracted tens of thousands of people to its site.
posted by Stefana Vutova at
9:52 PM
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