"You're Too Into Real Business to Understand Advertising and Social Media" - Shelly Palmer - MediaBizBloggers

I had a very interesting discussion with a techsavvy Internet veteran the other day He is a selfproclaimed quotserial entrepreneurquot with an impressive track record of successfully exited startups For reasons of decorum and political correctness I will call him quotJoequot It39s not his real name obviously but this is a true story and you would recognize this person39s real name instantlyA mutual friend introduced me to Joe at a cocktail party His new startup is focused on reinventing advertising and marketing using social media We were in violent agreement about the power and potential of social media so I thought the conversation was going to evolve into a serious business conversation I was wrongTo my surprise and amazement hyperbole intended Joe presented his theory of the future of online advertising empowered by social media He articulated a future where traditional media and big brands were dead and just for good measure he postulated a consumercontrolled selfselected future of infinite choices of goods and services His monologue was pervaded by phrases like quotadvertising doesn39t workquot and quotpeople don39t want to be interruptedquot And my favorite quotSocial Media marketing is the only possible future brands are completely out of control and marketers have to realize that Consumers control everything Besides everyone wants targeted measurable messaging it39s all going to be onlinequotBecause of Joe39s reputation and stature I listened attentively for a while Then I asked a question quotWhat do you mean by advertisingquot He answered quotYou know TV commercials and stuff like thatquot So I asked quotWhat do you mean by marketingquot He answered quot ideas to help sell stuffquotI don39t think you can lump all advertising into one category and I can assure you that marketing is more than just quotideas to help sell stuffquot Definitions matter and semantics are important And in this case Joe simply didn39t know what he didn39t know You may have a different way to describe the following I hope you do but here39s my takeFirst of all advertising does work Far from being one thing there are at least three major types of advertising brandlifestyle call to action and direct response The efficacy and ROI of direct response advertising is accurately measured because you are asking the consumer to directly respond So Joe and I did not need to discuss this 200 Billion use of advertising dollars He admitted that DR is actually a pretty good business and actually works But not until it was pointed outThen there39s calltoaction advertising This kind of message asks you to do something at a later time such as quotCome in to our car dealership for a test drive and a free glass of soda this weekend and get zero percent financingquot You can39t directly respond and it39s not an emotional ethereal hardtomeasure nontemporal request you can measure the efficacy of a calltoaction by tracking how many people came in to the car dealership before you ran your campaign how many people came in during your campaign and what happened when the campaign was over Calltoaction measurement is more of an art than a science but it is measurable to a fair degree of accuracy This really can39t be what Joe was referring to this system is clunky and oldfashioned but it39s not really brokenPerhaps Joe really meant brandlifestyle advertising It is hard to measure because it does not require a direct response but there are plenty of organizations that will tell you how to measure the efficacy and ROI and you know who they are For example How many BMW quotUltimate Driving Machinequot ads do I need to see before I start dreaming about driving one It39s an important question it will always be Perhaps this is what Joe really thought he was talking about It39s where 60 Billion gets spent annually And to quote John Wanamaker well you know the quoteAs my conversation continued with Joe he informed me again and again that not only was big media dead but big brand39s days were numbered quotWe are in the information agequot he said quotconsumers want to completely control what they consumequotWhile this is probably true for some percentage of items that we consume let39s not get crazy You need to wash your clothes You need to brush your teeth You need inexpensive nutritious food You need durable goods soft goods hard goods and you need them packaged and delivered to a venue near you everyday In fact the more organic unpreserved special and perishable the produce and goods are the more time and energy must be expended to get them as close to you as possible Not just in your town nationwide and in some cases worldwideSo I asked Joe if he thought that people were giving up Cheerios or Tide or Crest or Ivory soap or cold cuts or spices or dog food or disposable diapers any time soon And then he said it quotYou39re too into real business to understand advertising and Social Media in the 21st centuryquot You know I never thought about it that way quotToo into real businessquot I really didn39t know what he meant by that so I asked He told me in a very authoritative and pejorative way that he wasn39t really talking about the benefits of the Internet or social media for big incumbent multinational brands with justintime inventory systems and EDIbased replenishment and RFID systems on loading docks He39d never heard of quotadjusted case volumequot or quotvelocity at retailquot ROI in his mind was about the return of investment capital from the Venture Capitalist and Private Equity firms that substantially own his startups He to use his words was talking about quotall the new businesses that were forming in the Information AgequotI39m glad he cleared that up As it turns out he agreed there is room for both of these types of businesses to coexist What a relief We39re not all doomed Wow that was closeAll kidding aside no matter how much new communication technology evolves some businesses will be quick to evolve and others won39t Manufacturing distribution marketing advertising and financing all respond to market pressures the best way they can It39s the nature of businessI think it is a huge mistake to focus or fixate on what the universe will quoteventuallyquot look like It39s not a good strategic exercise and it39s not a good practical or tactical exercise Most astrophysicists agree that at some point the sun will expand and consume the earth Is it really helpful to put that in your longrange plan So why try to guess when technological efficiency will usurp incumbent massive inertial systems Why not simply profit from the delta between the two and be best practices at bothI enjoy a Socratic debate about how technology is going to destroy everything we know as much as the next guy And I get hired to scare people with stories of technologically empowered consumer behavior changes on a regular basis But it39s important to remember that the technology does not exist in a vacuum As long as the VP of marketing at XYZ Company39s main focus is to become the SVP of anything at Any Company we are going to live in a world that doesn39t work as designed but works as evolved So relax you39re NOT too into real business to understand Social Media most selfdescribed Social Mediatypes are too into technology to understand real businessShelly Palmer is the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer a daily show featuring news you can use about technology media ampamp entertainment He is the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2008 New York House Press and the upcoming Get Digital Reinventing Yourself and Your Career for the 21st Century Economy 2009 Lake House Press Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences NY the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy Awards For information about Get Digital Classes visit httpwwwshellypalmercomseminars Watch Digital Life with Shelly Palmer Tuesdays at 10p ET on WNBC39s NY Nonstop httpwwwshellypalmercomdigitallifeRead all Shelly39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Shelly Palmer MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

"You're Too Into Real Business to Understand Advertising and Social Media" - Shelly Palmer - MediaBizBloggers

Author

Publish date

Channel

Shelly Palmer

Lead Human with Aaron Walton: Culture, Precision, and Human-Centered Growth (Video) - By Jack Myers

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

"You're Too Into Real Business to Understand Advertising and Social Media" - Shelly Palmer - MediaBizBloggers

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Shelly Palmer

Lead Human with Aaron Walton: Culture, Precision, and Human-Centered Growth (Video) - By Jack Myers

The payment was successful

Cookies