A World Without Ads? Be Careful What You Ask For - Tom Phillips

I was at a social gathering last weekend with some friends and one of them asked me about my job and how I thought the digital ad industry was faring these days We talked a bit about the growth in the industry what Microsoft was doing compared to Facebook Google Amazon and others The conversation amp8211 as it inevitably does when talking about advertising with amp8220civiliansamp8221 amp8211 turned to the pervasive nature of ads on the internetI asked my friend amp8220Do you like being served ads when youamp8217re onlineamp8221The answer of course was predictable amp8220Are you kidding I hate those thingsamp8230 theyamp8217re just so annoyingamp8221I reminded my friend that itamp8217s the ads that pay for the digital content she seeks out and the alternative could be a world where everything is subscription based And that if she hated ads that much she should have no problem paying for content news and entertainment that she currently gets for freeThat argument resonated to some degree but only partially so It only served to rationalize something that she really doesnamp8217t like And that is a shallow victory indeedIt then dawned on me that maybe we were having the wrong conversationFor everyone who professes to HATE online advertising we should rephrase the question and then paint as vivid a picture as possible What if there were no ads at all What would that look likeHereamp8217s what I think it would look likeIn New York Yankee Stadium would just be a bunch of seats blank walls and a scoreboard Times Square would be dark at night Broadway would look like any other streetThe more than 50 percent of people who tune into the Super Bowl every year just for the ads would have no reason to watch the gameHundreds of thousands of people who are currently employed either directly or indirectly by the advertising industry would be out of a job The unique skill set of combining business with creativity would be lost The world already has enough accountants and lawyersReporters who work the media and advertising beat would be out of a job because there would be nothing to critique honor or debate No whispers about whoamp8217s in or whoamp8217s out at this agency or that No speculation about who was going to win the ad review du jourWe would never have another discussion about which ads that we hate and which ads we love Those quick snippets of creativity that make us laugh KMartamp8217s amp8220Ship My Pantsamp8221 cry Budweiseramp8217s amp8220 Brotherhoodamp8221 or quote in perpetuity amp8220Got Milkamp8221We would lose all memory of ads that conjure up happy simpler times in our lives amp8211 like amp8220Iamp8217d like to teach the world to singamp8221 or amp8220Whereamp8217s the Beefamp8221 or David Ogilvyamp8217s beautiful but exquisitely simple Volkswagen ads that inspired a generation of copywritersWe would lose a huge part of our culture amp8211 with no ability to easily look back and see how much things have changed in our society Remember how women used to be portrayed in ads Or how cool we thought cigarette smoking was Ads give us the perfect lens through which to view our own cultural transformationI donamp8217t know about you but I donamp8217t like that worldAll of this is to say that I think the people who claim to hate ads amp8211 especially digital ads because thatamp8217s the business weamp8217re in amp8211 are actually not haters of ads at all What they hate is BAD advertising amp8211 stuff that just contributes to the preponderance of amp8220digital noiseamp8221And that is a perfectly reasonable POV to have We should all hate bad advertising amp8211 especially those of us who work in the businessIn my opinion a bad ad is one thatamp183 Has the characteristics of an uninvited guestamp183 Is intrusive and distracts or blocks people from contentamp183 Has no intrinsic value or relevanceamp183 Isnamp8217t smart enough to be invisible when every signal the consumer sends is to amp8220go awayamp8221amp183 Is boringamp183 Feels like it was served up by the ton instead of the ounceAs an industry we should make it our mission to kill digital ads that bear these characteristicsAnd for all the companies today in digital advertising who claim that they are reinventing advertising to be more consumercentric yes including Microsoft we need to ensure that weamp8217re not just paying lip service to a hot new catchphraseamp8230 that weamp8217re living it and delivering on that promiseItamp8217s the best way to provide an effective counterpoint the next time our friends turn up their noses when we ask them what they think of advertising today and they tell us how much they hate it We need to be in a position to say that maybe itamp8217s not advertising they hate but bad advertisingTom Phillips is Senior Director of Communications for Microsoft Advertising In this capacity Tom has global responsibility for external communications and Public Relations for the Microsoft Advertising Business Group MSA BG Follow him on twitter at tphillips59Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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A World Without Ads? Be Careful What You Ask For - Tom Phillips

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