A
fateful day is coming
when there will be no more advertising, marketing, or public
relations. Why? Simple: we're killing our industry by being
too successful at it.
The
communications field keeps finding new ways to send sales
messages to target audiences, and by utilizing these new
methods to the maximum extent possible, we are strangling
the effectiveness of all media. Quite frankly, marketing
intrusiveness is out of control.
Ads
Beyond Counting.
Some reports claim you'll view 10,000,000 ads in your
lifetime, yet with new communication channels and new
techniques of marketing, that number is probably under-estimated.
Sponsored
data is built into your mail, e-mail, Web sites, video
games, online games, magazines, newspapers, newsletters,
and media broadcasts. Ads are delivered by TV, radio,
phones, outdoor boards, private vehicles, and transit
posters. Marketing messages are sprayed on walls, chalked
on sidewalks, printed on condoms, acted out in the streets,
waiting to ambush you in restrooms, and beamed at you
from electronic displays of every shape, size, and description,
including sound-emitting urinal cakes.
Viral
creations contain ad messages. Word of mouth advertising
(WOM) is expanding fast. Channel One delivers commercials
to kids in schools.
In
stores, RFID (radio frequency identification) chips track
your purchases. Watch TV and your selections are tracked.
Online, every click is monitored. That information is
available for sale, so demographic and psychographic data
can be accumulated and you, the targeted consumer, can
be more accurately reached.
Sponsormania.
Phrases like this emerge from your radio and TV: "Welcome
to the Nextel Halftime Report, brought to you by Toyota."
They might reel off a whole string of sponsors for a ten-minute
programming segment that features interviews with players
and coaches wearing corporate logos while standing in
front of electronically shimmering backgrounds displaying
other corporate logos. The way we're going, we can soon
expect to hear: "Welcome to C-SPAN's coverage of
the Halliburton Congress, brought to you by Bechtel."
Ads
by the Pound.
Grab the Sunday morning newspaper. Weight: 3.4 lbs. Remove
the advertising booklets, inserts, leaflets, flyers, announcements,
mini-magazines, and the classified section. Remaining
weight of news sections: 1.2 lbs. But each of these sections
also contains ads. And some entire sections could be viewed
as ad-oriented, such as Entertainment, Style, Food, Real
Estate and Automotive.
Most
of us don't begrudge the puffery in the movie or TV sections,
but we're blurring the line between information and marketing
in all other areas of the paper.
In
an "article" on a new car were the following
phrases: "…unique charm… head-turning
good looks along with outstanding usefulness... exceptional
headroom… feeling of spaciousness… Definitely
a good buy." Mileage was reported to be 22/city and
30/highway. Hardly impressive, yet the article concluded
with "attractive gas mileage" as one of the
vehicle's features.
I
think money changed hands to get that favorable review.
Or there was pressure on the writer to state everything
in a positive manner so the auto maker as well as their
dealers will take out more ads.
We've
gotten used to these things in the auto, movie, TV, cooking,
lifestyle and home sections. But now they're happening
in every section. Indeed, they happen in every aspect
of today's communications.
The
Pay-To-Say Society.
In advertising, marketing, and public relations, editorial
and news coverage are now available for a price. We are
in the "pay-to-say" society.
Consider:
~ Authors interviewed
on TV: the time has been bought and paid for.
~ That lighthearted TV
show roundup of the best kitchen appliances: the products
have been "placed" in the program (just as
the clothing, cars, restaurants, cameras, TV sets, furniture,
dishware and other products have been placed in movies
and TV programming).
~ That model/actress/hunk/entrepreneur
on a magazine cover: the space has been sold according
to a rate card, just like an ad.
~ That "news report"
on government support of education: the entire mock
documentary was written, produced and distributed by
the people who want to shape your opinion.
You
may be reading this on a Web site that places ads all
around the text and/or links to ads embedded in the editorial
content, just awaiting your unsuspecting cursor to roll
over them.
If
you're reading this in a magazine, an RFID may be inside.
(For that matter, there may be RFIDs in the lining of
your jacket, in your shoes, in your jeans, or in that
pack of gum in your pocket.)
The
Truth: On Sale.
I once ghostwrote an article for a coalition of companies
that made polystyrene products. Their industry was facing
problems over the waste issue and they needed to have
an upbeat but corporate magazine story about how dedicated
they were to recycling. So I was paid three thousand dollars
to state their case.
Since
I was supplied with tons of input and interviews, the
article was full of facts and figures about the miracles
of their recycling process, the enticingly high percentage
of re-used product that the industry could accommodate
in its manufacturing processes, and on and on.
What
wasn't in the article was one teeny tiny little fact:
there was no means of collecting the used products in
order for any of this recycling to take place. That minor
detail negated the underlying point of the propaganda.
Oops, I mean informative editorial piece.
With
the improprieties of Jayson Blair and Judith Miller came
doubts about the print media. These doubts grew after
learning that Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert, a male prostitute,
was allowed to penetrate the White House press corps so
he could lob softball questions to the president's Press
Secretary.
The
main problem with all of the "advertorial" placements,
made-up stories, and outright lying is obvious. What is
left for anyone to believe? With everything becoming an
ad, people will start to turn away from ad messages in
greater numbers.
The
NASCARizing of Everything.
We've all seen and made fun of the maze of logos on NASCAR
vehicles but now other sports are mulling the idea of
ads on uniforms and equipment. Horseracing, the NBA, all
sports are considering it.
The
digital age has already enabled ads to be placed where
ads don't actually exist. For example, there are continually-changing
billboards behind the batter in televised baseball games.
That would be distracting to the pitcher, so they don't
appear in real life, only on your TV screen.
There's
a new magazine called "Other Advertising" dedicated
to the new forms of advertising intrusiveness. That's
where I read about digital outdoor billboards that sense
the FM station playing in your vehicle and change the
display to match demographic choices that align with your
choice of programming.
American
Technology Corporation's HyperSonic Sound system and Holosonics'
Audio Spotlight are perfecting the ability to direct audio
messages to individuals passing nearby. So, for example,
based on the RFID chip in your purchases, each person
in a checkout line would hear a different ad. (Full disclosure:
there is a message about ATC's HSS system in the song
"Paranormal Radio" on my ELECTRO BOP album.)
AdverInfoEduTainment.
When I first wrote about the ways advertising messages
were being placed inside almost every activity in the
universe, I ended the article with some predictions that
many people found outlandish, including:
~ Debit card scanners in
TV sets, so you can order during a commercial with the
flick of your remote.
~ Barcodes in songs, so
you can download from iTunes or Real Rhapsody by swiping
your XM or Sirius player with your Visa or MasterCard.
~ Credit cards built into
wristwatches.
~ Interactive ads, where
you get to star in a five-minute escape from reality.
~ Holographic projections
of commercials from postage stamps, car and house keys,
magazine covers, etc.
~ Microchips embedded under
your skin, so YOU will be the receiver for TV, radio,
satellite, telephone, and global positioning system
signals
I
was interviewed on many morning radio programs about how
Big Brother might take over all forms of communication.
This made for humorous drive-time banter, but what some
people overlooked in my list of prognostications was the
fact that every one of them had already come true by the
time the article was published. They're not all being
used in the marketplace due to high costs, but the announcements
of their existence have been made.
Ad
Industry Usefulness.
Without advertising, marketing, or PR, vital communication
is thwarted and sales suffer. Company payrolls are cut
and jobs are lost. Industries like manufacturing, packaging,
transportation, and retailing are all hurt. Without us,
parts of the economy evaporate like a puddle of water
on sun-baked concrete.
So,
what do we need to do? First, let's own up to what's going
on. We justify things by developing highfalutin' names
like "branded entertainment," "product
integration," "street teaming," "buzz
marketing," "positioned journalism," "secured
placement," and the like. But when faced with intrusive
technology for your marketing messages, ask yourself if
you'd like to be assaulted by it. Let's treat consumers
like someone we know. Let's treat them with respect instead
of like a mark, a patsy, a rube, or a flock of sheep.
Second,
can we attempt to insist on wit, taste and genuine humor
in the ads and PR we create?
We
advertisers are, at best, invited guests into people's
homes or the public space. At worst, we are party crashers
or unwanted intruders. And we're overloading everything
with annoying messages.
Imagine
if we behaved in this manner in our daily lives:
"Hi,
Shirley! My good morning message is brought to you by
Henderson's Hardware, for all your home improvement needs."
"Thanks,
Jim! My Have-a-Nice-Day reply is courtesy Magnum Magnificence,
your best choice for a complete line of lighting fixtures.
Come to Magnum Magnificence and see the light."
Before
it's too late, I hope we all see the light.
Scott G owns G-Man Music & Marketing
Miracles in Los Angeles (www.gmanmusic.com),
where he creates radio commercials and composes music
for radio and TV spots. Scott adds: "Speaking for
voiceover performers, please stop asking us to yell your
message, and please stop giving us 72 seconds' worth of
copy to read in 60 seconds. Speaking as a composer of
commercial music, please don't ask us to rip off other
artists' songs."
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Music & Marketing Miracles
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