Don't Waste my Precious Time with Hogwash and Gibberish

Fallon Agency Slideshare Link

The above link was shared on Twitter from a to be left un-named source.

Its hogwash. I would fire the person who created this presentation. I will admit I do not know the person. It could be Fallon and this is what they teach their employees. 98 Fucking slides with maybe 7 or 10 of value. WTF? Don't waste my time. I want no gibberish. I want none of the Advertising-Marketing lingo. I want real info that gets right to the point. Is that so hard?

This is what the 98 slides say:

1] Identify the Goal/Problem
2] Here are the various digital technologies available to use.
3] Fallon can help you choose which of these technologies and strategies fit your needs.
4] Lets go do it.

The slides infer that we all want to interact with brands all the time. That is the biggest piece of bullshit ever stated. In fact we don't...except when we have a need. We will interact if we buy something and it sucks. Or we want something they don't have or maybe we substitute and wish we didn't have too. Yes if we are already passionate Brand Ambassadors on our own we will do this online. But remember people become that not from Advertising but from great Product-Brand experiences.

Other than that I want a bribe. I want free stuff. I want your margins zero. Or why are you wasting my precious time? Seriously I will interact with McDonald's when I am hungry and I chose McDonald's. Or maybe I am undecided. Then I will place several choices in play and want bidding. Who will drop their pants the fastest wins. Is Fallon going to help a Brand drop their pants for me to win my business?

But seriously. Most of Digital Advertising so far has been wasted. With some exceptions. SEO is a success. Google Paid Search pretty good since its pay for performance. Shopping comparisons on Google, Bing where I can compare prices for things I already want are great for the consumer and margin destroyers for the sellers. Yes have a Social strategy even if your not in Social since viral attacks can occur and you should respond. And if your not 'listening' to learn your not a market leader in your segment.

But 98 Slides? Just read this blog post! Done.

The Convoluted Advertising Ecosystem

Yesterday I wrote about the Media/Entertainment world. Today I wish to discuss the world we operate in...Advertising. I am new to Advertising. Only 2 years in and I have an outsiders view. My background in B2B Sales, Business Development to Major Industrial Businesses like Lockheed Martin, Chevron-Texaco, Exxon-Mobile, Raytheon, Ford Motor Company etc really is completely foreign to Advertising to consumers. I have a Finance Degree but my social life is mostly around creative types in music, art, performers etc. Since I have always championed my customer, always sought to add value, and refused to take money just because I could unless I helped my client, I am actually the type of person the staid and entrenched entities in the Advertising-Media World love and loathe. I can help a Brand focus better to maximize their Ad Spending. I can help an Agency prove their worth to Brands to help them increase their value which always seems to be fuzzy.

The biggest issue with marketing is two fold. First is how do you connect marketing with sales. How do you value the different areas to prove you spent the Brands money well. Secondly is how complicated media plans are, especially today and now they are getting even more complex. To top this all off Agency's tend to specialize in certain niches like Mobile, Digital, TV etc, as well as for the actual Media Buying. And when you operate on a national scale combined with the fickle and chaotic decisions people make when they buy, I truly feel this is just as complex a task as when I worked on Missile Defense Programs for the Department of Defense.

Plus there is competing interests all over the place. I might tell Pepsi they can cut their advertising budget by 15% and they won't lose a penny in sales. Pepsi's Agencies will hate me for this reduction in revenue...even if it is true. It is not in an Agency's best short term interest to be honest if it means reduced billings and profits to be honest. But not being honest leaves you open to being exposed and have your business put out for review, which for long term is not in your best interest. This is why the review process sucks and hurts incumbents. Is the reason for the review a problem with creative or a problem with costs in the view of the Brand's CFO. As much as all you Creative types hate us Finance types, we control the purse strings. And while you may feel we aren't willing to spend money to make money, you should go see the expense reports for the sales team. It is the inability to measure the return on investment that creates all this chaos. And Brands and Agencies feel helpless.

Think of a nationwide media blitz for an upcoming Blockbuster Movie. You can spend all you want and force feed the information to the consumers but if the movie sucks it will bomb. How many times do I need to see a trailer? If I see it 25 times isn't 20+ of those times wasted money? And billboards and poster work across the nation? How do I know the placement is good? No one can do that on a massive scale. No one not even a media buyer/planner. They trust the local folks and take their word for it. And what about digital? My trailer had 1 million hits on You Tube. That was free yet I was told 20 million saw the TV trailer but that can't be proven because we are not in people's living room.

So a CFO who see's that his star salesperson spent $25,000 in entertainment expense brought in $30 million in sales. But the Ad Agencies can't truly prove their value which creates friction, distrust, and animosity...even if the Agency is kicking ass on behalf of their client. and sadly a product that sells itself, like an IPod often the Agency takes credit. And when the Agency kicks ass, but the product fails because it sucks, they get blamed.

At least with Missile Defense I can see if the interceptor hit the target, and how often.

The Beauty of the 30 Second Spot

One thing I have beaten to death is measurability and wastage in the Advertising Industry. And I have discussed the issue with Nielsen pumping inflated, deflated, or just plain inaccurate TV/Cable ratings due to a flawed system. And I will admit this is a topic of interest with clients, and I will tell them it is almost impossible to prove someone watched your 30 second commercial. Were they in the room? Were they using a laptop or mobile device curing the commercial? Even polling won't fix things. Yes the subject remembers your commercial. But you bought 6-8 spots during the football game. Did he watch all 6 of exactly the same commercial? So many unanswered questions that not only are almost impossible to solve, but they will remain impossible until people agree to electronic brain impulse monitoring in mass numbers in a way that the monitor can actually confirm you viewed and remembered the advertisement! Good luck!

But figuring out a realistic CPM can be solved relatively easily with an educated guess. And that CPM is higher than the rate published on purchase contracts for the TV/Cable air time. But I am a firm believer that the value of each viewer who truly watches your 30 second spot is probably higher than the realistic estimate. The internet and mobile have presaged the death of the TV Commercial but not medium is as perfect for telling your story, building brand image and personality, exposing consumers to new products, and engaging them for that period of time. Even if I went to a Brand's website I might click on 10 web pages in 30 secs of my choosing (vs choreographed by the Brand), and I might stay 5 seconds of 5 mins. Maybe I will leave the site up in a Browser Tab for 6 hours inflating the Time Spent metric for the website.

But with that 30 second spot you can make people laugh, tell a serious story, pimp your business or product in glowing terms, or major promotional announcements on your terms. And while I will be the first to say that after seeing an Ad once or twice the rest is wasted Ad Dollars spent, there really is not perfect way to fix the shot gun approach of buying slots all over the place to blanket the airwaves in hopes that if you watch TV/Cable at all, you are likely to see an Ad if you fall in the proper age demographic.

Is Traditional Digital Advertising Over Rated and Over Hyped?

Center for Media Research Article on Media Post

Billions have been invested on Internet Ad Serving Networks and Companies. This was supposed to be Advertising Nirvana. That Behavioral and Demographic Targeting would reduce Wastage and enable Ad Networks to serve relevant Ads to people. But has this been achieved? Obviously based on the research the answer is no. Search actually was the answer not ad servers.

Why is this? Agencies and Marketers spend millions on research. People do enjoy advertising to learn about new products and services and promotions. They do state they wish more of it was relevant. So what is the problem? Very simple traditional branding doesn't excite anyone. Seeing a banner ad online or a billboard somewhere that just says Drink Coke means nothing even to a thirsty person. People don't like it when advertising permeates everything they do. They see Ads everywhere all the time as it is. So why should they click through a banner Ad unless it states clearly some benefit. Specifically something free, a coupon, sale, or deal, or a new product being launched that interests them. Most Digital Advertising does not offer any of these things. Digital Agency's have sold Brands that they need to put their name out there online because the Ad Serving Networks and Digital Agencies have a vested interest in this even if the ROI and Click Through Rate is completely pitiful. Yet Digital as a gateway to a website when successful is more powerful than a 30 second commercial spot because of unlimited time and creative options!

On top of all this open software communities like Mozilla not only created an incredible Web browser with Firefox, the Ad Networks had the double whammy of the creation of Ad Blocker Plus which prevents the ads from showing up on the browser. And malicious software/viruses led to the creation of No Scripts software. I specifically must turn on scripts for every single new website and I have never activated any of the Ad Networks.

So with me as an example there is an ROI of pretty much Zero. When I want/need something I search or go directly to the company I am seeking. When I want info on a Brand I type in the Brand not the category. And Ad Blocker Plus actually blocks Google Ad Words results!

Now I know you cry foul. That I am blocking Ads that support the free content that I consume and that statement is correct. But Brands don't force anyone to watch commercials on TV or Cable or look at Billboards or Print Ads. So why should I?

Now the worst kicker of all. I do feel guilty so for certain websites that I feel need support like Newspapers (NY Times, LA Times, Huffington Post, and the Economist and a few others) I have disabled AD Blocker Plus! And not only that I specifically click on Ads so that these businesses can make money equivalent to what the subscription rate is or more! And of course my clicks cost the Brands who's Ad it is money. Yet they make zero money from me. On the Economist I click on Ads from Siemens, Lloyds, Oracle, IBM, Shell, BP all the time yet give them no business because I am not interested in their message, and only interested in supporting the Economist.

So is Traditional Digital Over rated and Over Hyped? I truly feel paid content/technology is really the way to go for many digital brands and some are starting to get a clue such as the Wall Street Journal. The Financial Times has been charging for a long time is is very profitable. People will pay for quality content. Ad Networks and Brands be damned. I pay 6.95 a month for a radio show from Premier Networks that I listen to online time shifted commercial free (yet I would still pay even with the commercials because the content is that good!)

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This blog will focus on what is right and what is wrong in advertising and marketing. I will be commenting on developments in the world and the news as it relates to better principles and techniques to reach consumers and businesses. I will also include views on a wide array of products and services in relation to world at large. Stay tuned for more......