The Three W's of Unholy Disengagement - Mike Einstein - MediaBizBloggers

By The Brothers Einstein Archives
Cover image for  article: The Three W's of Unholy Disengagement - Mike Einstein - MediaBizBloggers

In a recent article here on MediaBizBloggers, The March to Addressability, Universal McCann's David Cohen intones, "Delivering the right message to the right consumer at the right time is the holy grail of advertising."

In another article, The Three Rs of Engagement, Catalyst SF's Cory Treffiletti labels these three Rs as "…recency, resonance and relevance."

Both are saying the same thing: Right message is to resonance what right consumer is to relevance what right time is to recency. More Rs, more fun! Six Rs!

But with all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, I believe it's a matter of close but no cigar in each case. Neither hits the mark, and both miss it for the same reason. Because addressability and engagement can only occur in the right place.

Addressability and engagement are properties of the message, not media targeting. Targeting neither addresses nor engages anyone. Case in point, industry-average CTRs that are now less than .1%. If the holy grail of advertising is indeed found within the Three Rs of Engagement, then why do the data reveal the exact opposite? Anybody looking at the numbers would reasonably conclude that we are bound and determined to foist the wrong message on the wrong consumer at the wrong time - The Three W's of Unholy Disengagement!

The sober reality is that in an on-demand world, nobody demands more advertising. That's why response rates for banner and text ads have now reached statistical zero. We have the means to avoid the message, so we do.

But what about relevance? Messrs. Cohen, Treffiletti, et al, would have us believe that consumers actually "want" relevant ads and that given a choice between relevant and irrelevant will respond accordingly. Which consumers are these? Everything I read -- including the latest from comScore, Inc. -- tells me that more than 999 out of every thousand consumers choose no ads at all, relevant or otherwise.

Let's cut to the chase: The only place addressability and engagement can occur is in the controlled environment of an advertiser's own website or branded landing page. There are precious few brands and even fewer agencies that understand this, although some – like Coca-Cola, Lexus and Unilever (catch their engaging new Breyers Ice Cream campaign at www.smoothandcreamy.com) – have begun to experiment with it.

Advertisers need to cease their reliance on advertising as intermediary and embrace advertising as destination through the creation of environments to buy that, like the brand examples above, engage the senses. To see exactly how to achieve this seemingly elusive media symbiosis, I invite you to spend a few minutes here perusing our Brothers Einstein archives. Or, go to www.vidsense.com and see this theory at work in proven practice.

Better yet, I welcome anyone so interested to call me at (219) 878-1006 to discuss the possibilities. I won't promise you the holy grail (that, as the Hebrew National folks might suggest, is better left to a higher authority), but I will provide some needed relief from what doesn't work by offering you something that does.

About Mike Einstein and the Brothers Einstein

Mike Einstein is one-half of the Brothers Einstein, a creative strategy and branding boutique. The Brothers Einstein work with very select rapid-growth clients to help define and execute healthy brand strategies in a toxic media environment.

Read all the Einstein Brothers' MediaBizBloggers commentaries at the Brothers Einstein - MediaBizBloggers.

Copyright ©2024 MediaVillage, Inc. All rights reserved. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.