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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
No Soliciting Allowed!
By Jaffer Ali
"Whenever I click on a site that has a pre-roll... I either
totally ignore it or just scrub the video altogether. I
purposely try to avoid any site that has a video because,
quite frankly, I just do not have any more patience to be
yammered at." ?D. Jacobson, Consumer
One of my first jobs out of college was as a door-to-door
salesman. After six months, I was promoted to sales
trainer. The very first rule I learned ? and promptly
passed on ? was to never knock on a door that proclaimed
"No Solicitors Allowed".
Isn't that an obvious piece of advice? Consider what would
happen if you knocked on that door. Would you be success-
ful? And what kind of impression would you leave for your
company?
The questions above have obvious answers. But what do they
have to do with advertising in general and online advertis-
ing in particular?
Everything!
We have arrived at the point in our media ecosystem where
advertising has achieved such ubiquitous status that it is
actually becoming toxic. Consumers are turning away from
ads at every opportunity, be it with a DVR, a remote
control, or (especially) a mouse.
We have created an environment where consumers are either
literally erecting "No Soliciting" signs wherever they can,
or avoiding ads as if the signs were already there. Of
course the Do Not Call Registry (established in 2004),
the Do Not Fax Registry, and Do Not Mail lists have all
flourished. Whenever there is an opportunity to avoid ads,
consumers take it.
Every honest person in the media ecosystem knows that what
D. Jacobson (quoted at the beginning of this article) says
is true. What this means is that we may have reached the
point of a negative return on investment (NROI) with our
advertising.
Advertising now has a negative impact in consumers' minds.
What is the current response to this trend? Double-down
with more ad impressions! Our advertising industry and the
brands we represent are in a quandary. We have not yet
embraced the concept of NROI. We just keep knocking on
doors with "No Soliciting" signs posted, and the more we
persist, the more we compromise our brands ? and ourselves.
So what can we do to bring out the welcome mat?
First order of business is to stop knocking on doors with
clearly demarked "No Soliciting" signs! Brands need to be
invited in using something other than advertising to gain
entry. That something is content.
Content is much better bait than advertising. The early
days of radio and television taught us this. If advertisers
would simply revisit this proven dynamic, the signs would
come down and doors would begin to open again.
Imagine a video clip of Michael Jordan's best dunk shots
terminating on Nike.com instead of YouTube. Imagine a
video clip of glamorous film stars terminating on Dove.com
instead of YouTube. No pre-roll to repel the audience. No
"No Solicitors" signs to stop us at the door.
By terminating the viewing on a specific brand's site
instead of some disjointed third party's, the viewer is
immersed in the subject brand's exclusive "environment
to buy". All of the space around the video player reflects
that brand's image. And would a brand pay for traffic
delivered directly to its "showroom"? Smart brands certain-
ly would. But first they need to stop knocking on doors
marked "No Soliciting" long enough to understand this "not
so new" audience dynamic at play.
I have little time or patience for those who contend that
consumers don't want to and/or won't click to another site
to read an article or view a video, because of overwhelming
evidence to the contrary. Case in point: Drudge Report
generates 6 billion clicks annually to articles that are
all consumed on OTHER sites. And don't get me started on
how many Google-generated clicks to articles that terminate
on OTHER sites. Audiences simply don't care where they
consume content as long as they get what they want when
they want it. Welcome to the 21st century.
The biggest obstacle to common sense is nonsense. Agencies
that live and breathe by peddling more and more of what
does NOT work have somehow mesmerized brands into mis-
diagnosing the problem. These intermediaries see their
business as advertising rather than as communicating, and
can be excused for not seeing the solution. Their paychecks
depend on peddling what no longer works despite the "No
Soliciting" signs that abound.
Brands must be at the forefront of this change. They must
shift online gears and build websites that engage consum-
ers. They need to welcome consumers with content rather
than chase them away with ads. This is not revolutionary
thinking. It's the only media model that has every worked.
But as they say, the first casualty of Pop Culture is
history, and today's digitally born and bred brand managers
are stuck in a mindset that denies its own history.
No matter what business you're in, if your marketing plan
turns a blind eye to the "No Soliciting Allowed" signs and
attitude that permeate the landscape, don't be surprised
when the door slams in your face.
The above article is not a hypothetical treatise as Jaffer
is the CEO of Vidsense, a company dedicated to delivering
audiences AND licensed content to advertiser websites.
To contact Jaffer, pick up the phone and call him at
708-478-4500 ext.105 or email him at j.ali@Vidsense.com
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