TODAY'S ADVERTISING PARADIGM IS BROKEN...AND EVERYONE'S TO BLAME

By Hollis Thomases, 12/11/13

ADVERTISING USED TO BE…

Mad Men image source: http://blog.wordnik.com/word-soup-mad-men

…WHICH MEANT

Singular, big creative ideas The Creative Director was God It was all about branding and generating an

emotional reaction Ad agencies stuck to paid media and

advertising vehicles were finite and standardized (mainly print, radio, TV)

Media commissions were fat (~15-20% of media spend)

Agency teams revolved around client brand

NOW ADVERTISING IS…

ONE BIG MESS

FEW “ADVERTISING” AGENCIES ARE EVEN STRICTLY PROVIDING ADVERTISING… Some are doing only one thing – like brand concepting

and creative develop or media planning and buying – really well…

And outsourcing or partnering to do “the other stuff” While the rest are really acting more like marketing

agencies, offering whatever kinds of services it takes to make it appear as though they have competency in everything to satisfy their clients

Too many silos exist (strategy, creative, traditional, digital, mobile, search, etc.)

As a result, agency compensation models are thrown asunder, and it’s hard for companies to compare apples to apples during an agency review process

SO SHOULD ADVERTISERS BE HIRING “AD AGENCIES” OR MARKETING AGENCIES??

SPEAKING OF ADVERTISING CLIENTS…

ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM

1. CMOs come and go, sometimes even before the agency term is up

2. They have internal silos of their own

3. Smart ad/marketing decisions can be stymied by corporate politics

4. They want to piecemeal out work as projects but expect all involved players to play nice in the sandbox

ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM

5. KPIs and other benchmark metrics of successful marketing aren’t often pre-defined

ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM

6. There is a tendency to be swayed by bright shiny objects (e.g. Pinterest, Vine, Groupon, etc), even if they don’t serve the business objective

7. The ad/marketing landscape is crowded and cluttered, and hard and getting ever more difficult to understand

ADVERTISERS CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM

8. Digital ad/marketing technology can be intimidating

9. It’s easier to default to “experts” than to be one...but are they too easily abdicating the allocation and performance of their ad/marketing dollars?

SPEAKING OF DIGITAL…

AD/MARKETING TECH IN THE PROBLEM MIX

Built by technologists trying to solve problems but…

Technologists don’t often speak the same language of ad/marketing people Benefits get lost in translation

Start-up technologies may use too much of their funding on building and not enough on educating the market on the value of their product Are they even pitching to the right decision-

makers?

AD/MARKETING TECH IN THE PROBLEM MIX New technologies often face long adoption curves, so

much so that their value may be obsolete by the time the market catches up…and the tech may be out of cash to adapt and change by then

Utilizing, implementing and updating new ad/marketing tech requires expenses clients and agencies might not have budgeted for, and therefore the tech might just get passed over

Clients AND Agencies may be missing out on great tools to help them reach, acquire, process and retain new customers

THE ENTIRE AD PARADIGM NEEDS TO SHIFT TO ACCOMMODATE TODAY’S PACE OF CHANGE!

HOLLIS THOMASES – CLIENT DIGITAL ADVOCATE

In 1998, multi-time award-winning entrepreneur Hollis Thomases founded Maryland-based Web Ad.vantage, providing strategic digital marketing and advertising solutions. In 2013, Hollis became a sole practitioner focused on marketing advocacy – ensuring clients were educated and aware of the pitfalls and missed opportunities that the digital marketplace can provide.

In January 2010, Hollis authored the book, “Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day,” by John Wiley & Sons, and has been a columnist with Inc.com, Social Media Marketing Magazine, and ClickZ. Hollis also frequently speaks at industry conferences and association events.

Hollis Thomases graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Social Relations. You can find her in the Twittersphere @hollisthomases, on LinkedIn, by email or by old-fashioned phone: +011-484-679-6364.