HOW HAS ADVERTISING CHANGED OVER THE PAST DECADE?

I was recently asked to identify how has the advertising industry has changed over the past decade and what was the impact on brand?

Is the world different today? Of course it is. In 2004, smartphones and tablets did not exist. Social media was not part of the local lexicon. Facebook only debuted as “The Facebook” to Harvard students in 2004. Youtube was not created until 2005. 2008 saw the introduction of Netflix. The same year Pandora and Spotify brought radio to the internet. Suddenly people were able to watch television online, eliminating traditional advertising delivery.

BUT DOES A TECHNOLOGY CHANGE MEAN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ADVERTISING HAVE CHANGED?

I will argue that they haven’t, but it may have been added to. Technology has expanded on how and where we communicate with the consumer but it hasn’t changed the need to follow through on the basics:
1. know your consumer
2. know how your consumer views your brand
3. know how to communicate with your consumer
4. be consistent in how you communicate with your consumer
5. marketing is an ongoing process; it never stops

ROI DRIVES THE BUSINESS

The advent of the internet, digital and POS capture technology means that there is more data on consumers than ever before. It has also really pushed advertising ROI into the spot-light. For far more than ten years, marketing executives have toyed with the idea of measuring the effectiveness of marketing-spend. That shift has been seismic. From paying lip-service of measuring effectiveness and marketing contribution to revenue, today 82% of marketing executives say they are held accountable for ROI on marketing spend.

In 2014, 87% of marketing professionals rely on marketing data to do their job. This represents the single biggest directional change for the marketing environment and how advertising dollars are allotted. The allure of the digital environment is the ability to directly measure response – and therefore ROI. Not so fast. Three out of four marketing executives are unable to calculate social media ROI.

Data may provide ROI measurement on each initiative and campaign, data also defines the consumer. Never before has so much been known about consumers. Data drives decisions on the plethora of new ways to communicate with the consumer. Marketing spend is not down, it has been subdivided.

THE CONSUMER IS IN CHARGE

Consumers are inundated with messages: from social media advertising, to television commercials, radio, print, product placement, POS, outdoor and the list goes on-and-on. Even the back of a parking ticket provides opportunity for local area advertising.

New technology has significantly increased the opportunities for advertising. It has also raised consumer desensitization. The difficulty is not putting out a message, the difficulty is creating a message that grabs the attention of the audience.
The advent of digital media has put the consumer in charge. Traditional advertising “interrupted what the consumer was interested in”. Today’s world demands that advertising “be what the consumer is interested in.” No longer do marketers talk “to” consumers, now its time to have a conversation “with” the consumer.

IT’S A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE OF MIND-SET

The traditional marketing focus of the four “Ps” of has changed significantly. The advent of the social media has changed the way successful marketers look at their environment. The basics of the right product, at the right price in the right place with the right promotion have to be met, but now a fifth “P” is added to the mix – people. A people strategy is much broader, deeper and more profound than simple consumer targeting. It’s fundamental to the change from “interruption” to “interest”. It involves listening to and engaging with everyone who can touch or influence current and potential customers at all stages of brand interaction.

Today’s consumers have far more control over what advertising or information they consume. To be interesting and to be seen, means advertising must be relevant. And possibly most importantly, consumers have the ability to connect with a brand like never before, giving instant opinions and responses to brands and marketing initiatives.

To be effective, advertisers have to use multiple channels for the same message. TV ads are created with the mindset that a version will also appear on social media; product websites, social media postings, blogs, print ads, banner ads, and POS programs must all carry the same message (in both look and feel). Finally, since the general adoption of broadband, video advertising is now growing faster than all other online ad formats. And each modality will have an ROI tag associated with it.

TODAYS WORLD IS INTERACTIVE

Consumers engage with brands daily. Promotions that are interactive and provide opportunities for consumers to engage with and learn more about products through social interactivity provide some of the most robust ROI. Today’s advertising models are based on technology and innovation that encourage consumers to take the initiative and interact with what they find online. The challenge for marketers is to go beyond messages and story telling and to master the art of conversation and community. Bob MacDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble, sums up just how far a “people focused campaign” can go: “What I would like to have is a one-on-one relationship with seven billion people in the world and be able to customize offerings for those seven billion people. Digital allows that relationship.”

The past decade has brought about many changes in the marketing community and the advertising industry, but I would argue that it has not changed the fundamentals. Although successful advertising in the digital age has lead to a new way of thinking – now that consumers are more in control, advertisers have to come up with innovative strategies to keep consumers active and interested in the brands that they are marketing – it doesn’t change the foundations of how marketers do their job it has only heightened the need to do it well. Advertising, on the other hand, is an art, made up of ideas that move and persuade people. Technology, digital tools and metrics are useful, but they are tools. They do not create the ideas.