America just recently celebrated what is becoming one of it's more obscure holidays, I am not speaking of President's Day, but rather the release of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Issue. The fanfare surrounding this issue increases every year, including cover girl speculation, supermodel interviews, and any other form of ridiculous narcissistic media coverage of a future media you can think of. The real crime of it all though is that when it came in the mail (for the record my gullible roommate accidentally bought a whole year's worth in an internet "sweepstakes", not just this issue), over half the particularly thick magazine was advertisements; some were overt, some were tastefully themed toward the Super Bowl of print advertising opportunities, but in all there were a lot of them. After flipping looking through it... for the articles... it had me craving for my internet browser's ad-block feature or at least some curation of the content being thrown at my face.
This is one of the many reasons journalists have been crying for years that print is dead, people want their media tailored to them, and if they can trim the unwanted commercial fat, all the better. Good luck to the 2015 graduating Marketing Majors all over the country, with better and better ways to avoid advertisements, like the aforementioned ad-block, marketing is being a far more fickle beast. It is pretty clear though that the future of commercialism lies in the internet, but there are definitely right and wrong ways to go about this, and its going to involve a lot more than looking at my cookies and thinking all I want to see are banner ads for running sneakers. For the smart companies they know the internet's value isn't in my browser history, but rather is the shear number of interactions between people.
The internet breeds creativity and the same can be said for internet marketing schemes. A growing trend of video game media outlets is to post YouTube videos called "Let's Play"s, it involves footage of video games being played with a narration from the player. A stupidly simple concept with incredibly good results, and as views have begun to pile up, game developers have noticed. Initially video game giant Nintendo argued that these video's infringed on copyright laws, while others instead of following their lead, remained silent. This is because they saw what these video really were.... free advertisement, made by fans for other fans, that gave such a stronger motivator to buy than any 30 second commercial ever could. Advertisement being more about communication between fans than a 2 -bit pop-up is sweeping the internet.
Kickstarter began 6 years ago with the intention to be a soapbox for small company start-ups to find the voice and monetary backing they would otherwise be unable to receive and it has continued to do that. One-time Kickstarter success story now multi-million dollar company, Pebble, has returned to Kickstarter to fund their new project, and people wonder why. Surely, they could fund the project themselves, or easily gain an investor due to their great track-record so what's up? They're freaking marketing geniuses that's what's up, a week into the fundraiser and they've set a Kickstarter record with $15,133,977 raised as of writing with only a measly 23 days left to raise more. Someone smart at Pebble understands that the power of the internet is the community it creates, Kickstarter and other similar crowd sourcing websites build and curate communities to maximize interested eyes in projects, and in turn those fans naturally publicize for free on social media. Lets sum up how this has gone for Pebble, they haven't spent a dime on marketing, they have $15 million in income, they've already sold product, and social media is a buzz about it. Internet - 1... Print - 0
The internet provides so many opportunities for companies to brainwash customers, but the smart ones will be the ones who let us brainwash ourselves.
It is funny you mention the ad-blocker because until about 3 weeks ago, I didn't have one. I guess I was still living in the stone age. Ever since I got one, I feel like my life on the Internet has changed, that it is much easier to navigate everything. As for magazines, I enjoy the ads being there. Unlike the Internet which has ads plastered in every corner, that follow you when you scroll, and are repetitive unlike anything else, magazine ads are tasteful and throughout since they have to deliver their message through one page and that one page has to stick with you. I know it may sound weird to enjoy the ads but that is just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is weird to enjoy adds. I know many people who love seeing trailers for movies. Sometimes the trailers are better then the movie. I think this an important point that Mathew is talking about. The smart strategy is for companies have people enjoy participating in the advertisement process.
DeleteI don't think it is weird to enjoy adds. I know many people who love seeing trailers for movies. Sometimes the trailers are better then the movie. I think this an important point that Mathew is talking about. The smart strategy is for companies have people enjoy participating in the advertisement process.
DeleteI think the interesting lesson that is brought here (besides the terrible subject that is the Swimsuit Edition which is a relic from a misogynistic past I think we can all agree should just...go away) is that everything comes at a cost. Especially in an ad-block heavy world, I think the cost of developing an effective marketing strategy are becoming harder and harder. Heck, Pebble started the smart watch craze, and that's why they are still entitled to such an awesome turnout, while other smart watch companies that tried their hand at Kickstarter (and some were arguably better products) either didn't get such a great following or just failed altogether. Oftentimes, it's very much first-come first-serve. A lot of these marketing strategies are just gambles, and the price for putting a lot of your dollars behind new an innovative ways to market is something incredibly challenging and difficult for a company to work out--more than it's ever been before.
ReplyDeleteAlso, by the way, Kickstarter takes a 5% cut (*and* have 5% taken for fees, which, as of this writing, means that Kickstarter is making about $2million on this one project), so it's actually surprising that Pebble returned to Kickstarter when there are cheaper ways of getting the word out, especially for a company like them that has every right to leave. I think the community is something they want to bet on, rather than the money itself. Which is very admirable, if you think about it.
Personally, I like having ad-blocker installed to keep all the ads off my computer screen so that I am not bothered by pop-up ads or other nuisances that fill the sides of my screen. Based on this blog post, I am surprised that Sports Illustrated places so many ads in their magazine. Considering how there is a subscription fee attached with many newspapers and other media prints, I would not want to pay for any newspaper or other issues where even half of it is filled with advertisements.
ReplyDeleteWith the news being accessible online and plugins like ad-blocker, marketing professionals and journalists must evolve with the technology to remain profitable and relevant in our capitalist economy. Just like how "Let's Plays" are great ways for video game developers to have free advertisements or Pebble used Kickstarter to fund its product and marketing, other industries must be able to innovate and adapt to a more online and connected world.