In advertising, new is always perceived as better. Heck,
the concept is part of our professional lingo: New! New and Improved! Brand
New! So now, social media is being touted as the next new big thing. All of
sudden, EVERYTHING is social. Shit terminology like SEO, copydeck, and wireframe
replace what used to be known as technical writing, text, and diagram,
respectively. Agencies and clients are shifting their budgets to social; social
managers and “social experience agencies” are sprouting up like weeds. A website
won’t suffice; you need a “social engagement strategy.”
I embrace change and find the new direction that marketing
is taking to be very interesting, but one should not forget about the purpose of
and reason for things. What troubles me is how we, as an industry, are measuring
success. It seems as if the number of “likes” and retweets and “people talking
about this” are more important than actual cars/hamburgers/bottles of Coke sold.
I accept that we are in the conversation economy, but if I were a jeans maker,
I’d much rather SELL a shitload of jeans rather than have millions of people just
TALK about my jeans.
Call me old fashioned, but to me advertising is all about
selling, plain and simple. Yes, our methods of selling are more glamorous than
those of a used-car salesman, but at the end of the day, the seal of our success
is the sell. You can dress it up all you want with catchy phrases and creative
jargon, but selling is selling.
Case #1: Burger King recently woke up and smelled the
roses. After years as a social media/viral video pioneer, BK saw that it had an
amazing online/social/viral presence (Subservient Chicken, A Day Without Whooper,
etc.) but THEY WEREN’T SELLING BURGERS. Their solution? Change ad agencies and,
I now quote their corporate website, “go back to basics and create food-centric
advertising.” In other words, show fucking burgers and make people hungry
enough to go out and BUY your burger, not just TALK about it.
Case #2: The agency where I work is beginning to see that in order to persuade people to get social with the brand, you first have to tell them to do so. How do you achieve this? By running basic, old-school TV, print, and radio ads. After spending a shitload of money in building a digital department to come up with awesome social campaigns, they’re now relying on the old farts to create engaging TV, radio and print pieces to drive people online.
Like I said, I embrace change, but why reinvent what
already works?
1 comments:
To me it all depends on the brand, the type of business and the ability to sell. Having an online store is key in various categories. Also, being spoken of is also vital. I see social media and online advertising as new methods of getting people to the point of sale. You say our mission is to sell and I agree with that in part. I’ve always seen advertising as one of the driving forces to get people to the place where they can buy a product or service, then it’s all up to the sales team, customer service and the quality of your product.
Social gets people talking about your brand and gets them curious, but it doesn’t make a sale, or more importantly doesn’t promote REPEAT buys. Let’s put it this way, advertising may fool you once, but after one shitty experience, you can have the best advertising in the world and you won’t get one more dime from me. I’ve boycotted restaurants for years, telling people about my experiences and I’ve loyally touted the ones I keep going to. Part of the way I do that is through social media because I’m free to give my opinion.
Let’s put it this way, although 24/7 is a hell of a boxing infomercial, I’ve seen the Mayweather product and at the most I’ll see a pirated version of the product or let someone else take the hit.
Now about the good old times? Wow, if I start on this topic I’ll sound like a bitter Medicare beneficiary.
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