And I thought...
Digital advertising: Is it time for a pit stop?
I had a slightly more radical opener when I began to type the first words of this piece. But that’s a risk that a lesser mortal like me cannot afford to take, now or ever!
Now for the piece, and a disclaimer: This is purely food for thought and an appreciation of the fact that the wonder that is the web, has made it possible for us to interact in many productive and unproductive ways. This could be either.
It all started when I read this article about the evolution of the web. From the days of bulletin boards, chat rooms, newsgroups, FTP, P2P. It all seems light years away.
For some of us who have been part of this transformation, first as consumers and then as hapless media planners , there are a few observations that point to the fact that this whole idea of digital media, albeit very fascinating, needs a rethink . And that what we are milking right now is the last one in the barn. Before the more skeptical kinds raise their eye brows in disgust and move to the next article, here are a couple of reasons why I feel so.
Reason 1: The web as we know it, has changed. Gone are the days when you went to the web, now it comes to you. You decide what you want – news (local, sports, weather, stocks etc), social updates, travel, pictures. And when you decide what you want, you don’t want advertising. Enough and more studies have established rising ad-avoidance among consumers. In fact I would reckon that a bad/ untimely ad would beat a bad boyfriend/ girlfriend on avoidance scores! Take the case of TV, it still is a medium to which you go to and therefore exercise minimal or no control over the riders (read advertising) that come along with the content that comes along with it (it being avoidable on most occasions!). That is not the case with the digital medium where you control what you want coming to you. So, greater consumer control on content consumption would mean lesser advertising opportunities.
Reason 2: Marketers are a viral relapse on perpetual loop. As consumers try their best to avoid advertising on the web, marketers are always on the lookout for newer opportunities. One of those buzzwords now is behavioral targeting which essentially tracks the online life of unsuspecting webizens (which sadly is a vast majority of the www population) and then delivers advertising to them. But with privacy issues cropping up in many discussions (thanks in part to world domination ambitions of a certain Mr Zuckerberg), this in my view is only going to get tougher as technology is developed to keep privacy secure in the online experience. Which would mean that contextual ads would be harder to plan in the absence of a context itself?
Reason 3: Facebook is trying to sabotage the internet and that’s not a good sign. From social currency, e-commerce, games, news and now rumours of a facebook phone! When did the web become synonymous with one entity? As the online community heads to a world of co-creation, the emergence and domination of a single entity (borne of a convoluted techie mind) is sign of rough weather. No-one likes a monopoly. That means a single entity calling all the shots would mean substantially higher costs.
So what does that imply for us media planners? We need to get a grip on the future. A large part of media’s success in advertising comes when the consumer makes the journey to the content and in lesser cases the other way around. So the trick would lie in identifying, or for that matter creating areas on the web where the consumer sees value in ‘going’ to consume content. Some that would qualify and come instantly to my novice mind are video and e-commerce. By this time, some of my more accomplished colleagues would beg to differ. But remember the disclaimer at the start.
I had a slightly more radical opener when I began to type the first words of this piece. But that’s a risk that a lesser mortal like me cannot afford to take, now or ever!
Now for the piece, and a disclaimer: This is purely food for thought and an appreciation of the fact that the wonder that is the web, has made it possible for us to interact in many productive and unproductive ways. This could be either.
It all started when I read this article about the evolution of the web. From the days of bulletin boards, chat rooms, newsgroups, FTP, P2P. It all seems light years away.
For some of us who have been part of this transformation, first as consumers and then as hapless media planners , there are a few observations that point to the fact that this whole idea of digital media, albeit very fascinating, needs a rethink . And that what we are milking right now is the last one in the barn. Before the more skeptical kinds raise their eye brows in disgust and move to the next article, here are a couple of reasons why I feel so.
Reason 1: The web as we know it, has changed. Gone are the days when you went to the web, now it comes to you. You decide what you want – news (local, sports, weather, stocks etc), social updates, travel, pictures. And when you decide what you want, you don’t want advertising. Enough and more studies have established rising ad-avoidance among consumers. In fact I would reckon that a bad/ untimely ad would beat a bad boyfriend/ girlfriend on avoidance scores! Take the case of TV, it still is a medium to which you go to and therefore exercise minimal or no control over the riders (read advertising) that come along with the content that comes along with it (it being avoidable on most occasions!). That is not the case with the digital medium where you control what you want coming to you. So, greater consumer control on content consumption would mean lesser advertising opportunities.
Reason 2: Marketers are a viral relapse on perpetual loop. As consumers try their best to avoid advertising on the web, marketers are always on the lookout for newer opportunities. One of those buzzwords now is behavioral targeting which essentially tracks the online life of unsuspecting webizens (which sadly is a vast majority of the www population) and then delivers advertising to them. But with privacy issues cropping up in many discussions (thanks in part to world domination ambitions of a certain Mr Zuckerberg), this in my view is only going to get tougher as technology is developed to keep privacy secure in the online experience. Which would mean that contextual ads would be harder to plan in the absence of a context itself?
Reason 3: Facebook is trying to sabotage the internet and that’s not a good sign. From social currency, e-commerce, games, news and now rumours of a facebook phone! When did the web become synonymous with one entity? As the online community heads to a world of co-creation, the emergence and domination of a single entity (borne of a convoluted techie mind) is sign of rough weather. No-one likes a monopoly. That means a single entity calling all the shots would mean substantially higher costs.
So what does that imply for us media planners? We need to get a grip on the future. A large part of media’s success in advertising comes when the consumer makes the journey to the content and in lesser cases the other way around. So the trick would lie in identifying, or for that matter creating areas on the web where the consumer sees value in ‘going’ to consume content. Some that would qualify and come instantly to my novice mind are video and e-commerce. By this time, some of my more accomplished colleagues would beg to differ. But remember the disclaimer at the start.
posted by Saurabh at
3:25 AM
0 Comments
