Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Sales and Consumer Created Ads
Jonah Bloom's Don't Let Consumer-Created Ads Drown Out the Larger Conversation in the Ad Age February 12, 2007, is a timely reminder. Whilst acknowledging the contributions of this media, quoting many senior marketing executives, and Bob Garfield's Bob Garfield's "Listenomics" essay and his blog, he says
" But just as TV commercials are often mistaken for the sum-total output of a marketing department, so consumer-generated content is in danger of obscuring the bigger story here, which is that we're entering a new ad era -- the conversational marketing age."
Consumer created advertising is not new. In the past it was called "word of mouth" advertising, then "referral", "viral" and "buzz" marketing. Its the village drums that still works powerfully in the country sides of Asia. The only difference is that internet savvy consumers are now empowered (often provided with) new tools for spreading his opinion.
But the same rule of affinity will applies.... people will be more influence to those who they know well by reputation or closeness of relationships....they are not likely to believe everything they hear. They do have enough experience with "word of mouth" information and here say. Hence there is a lot of noise out there, possibly creating more doubts and incredibility than positive effects.
There will of course be a portion of the mass market that is gullible and may still believe that whatever appear on the mass media, (ie NEWS) is more credible ...or worth checking out, than what they hear through "word of mouth"
That of course is the old advertising game...presenting your message in way that is interesting, believable and response generating.
" But just as TV commercials are often mistaken for the sum-total output of a marketing department, so consumer-generated content is in danger of obscuring the bigger story here, which is that we're entering a new ad era -- the conversational marketing age."
Consumer created advertising is not new. In the past it was called "word of mouth" advertising, then "referral", "viral" and "buzz" marketing. Its the village drums that still works powerfully in the country sides of Asia. The only difference is that internet savvy consumers are now empowered (often provided with) new tools for spreading his opinion.
But the same rule of affinity will applies.... people will be more influence to those who they know well by reputation or closeness of relationships....they are not likely to believe everything they hear. They do have enough experience with "word of mouth" information and here say. Hence there is a lot of noise out there, possibly creating more doubts and incredibility than positive effects.
There will of course be a portion of the mass market that is gullible and may still believe that whatever appear on the mass media, (ie NEWS) is more credible ...or worth checking out, than what they hear through "word of mouth"
That of course is the old advertising game...presenting your message in way that is interesting, believable and response generating.
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It would be interesting to see how much prominence consumer driven ads play in different industries.
I'm currently involved in a non-profit playgroup which has been operating for some time - word of mouth advertising is so strong that I'm sure we could survive if we take down our website and the three magazine ads we usually run a year. But it has been like that for years, wihtout the auspices of blogs.
Colin
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I'm currently involved in a non-profit playgroup which has been operating for some time - word of mouth advertising is so strong that I'm sure we could survive if we take down our website and the three magazine ads we usually run a year. But it has been like that for years, wihtout the auspices of blogs.
Colin
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