If you dig hearing people argue about the future of advertising you might like this week's BeanCast podcast. We joined in the debate Sunday night with marketing gurus Bob Knorpp, the host; Joseph Jaffe of Crayon; Edward Boches of Mullen; and James P. Othmer, author of Adland. One key question that emerged was if advertising, including direct marketing, is really an "impression currency" that is being devalued as consumers learn to share their own content, how can marketers possibly make advertising work?
We think it comes down to three choices: Marketers can try to improve targeting (with sharper media buying and ad performance measurement); they can try to improve relevance (with product attributes, design, or creative that tell real stories vital to real people's lives); or they can increase shock value.
The shock option explains why users of Microsoft Office will have hot dates with women who put their hands in your lap.
5 comments:
The conversations around the approval of that photo would have been fascinating to watch. (Provided you had no stake in the ultimate outcome, that is.)
I'm sure it was an innocent mistake. As was the headline juxtaposition of "hard to come by" ...
I'm not sure that this ad achieves any of your criteria. Targeting, relevance or creative. You can target ads with relevant messages all you want. But if the creative is lame nothing will help. Since last night I've talked with a bunch of under 25 year olds who watch Hulu, have multiple screens, and believe they are entitled to free content. It's going to call for creative and messages that are even more original than hot chicks with their hands in your lap.
This ad appeared in Wired magazine, which appeals to youngish men with a tech interest. Since nothing happens in ad creative without very careful thought, I suggest the intent was to do something subtly provocative to get the young male audience to slow down and digest the ad, instead of rapidly turning the page. It's not brilliant creative; it's not really shocking (simply mildly evocative) -- but the aura of naughtiness made me stop. It also appeals to a rather broad male demo -- men from their 20s looking for fun with a pretty girl to men in their 40s looking for a date night out with their wife away from the kids.
From the test of "does this ad make you pause to digest the message," I think it works. It may not be brilliant, but it makes an actual impression. If the first objective of an ad is to get noticed, because nothing else follows if it does not, it succeeds. We puzzle slightly over what the heck is going on.
Hey. Maybe *I* am the target audience. I wondered why I picked up a new copy of Excel on the drive home tonight. Well played, Microsoft Office, well played.
Wow that girl does look like my baby sitter. Shes gets around. LOL
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