Ad Leaders Struggling to Capitalize on New 'Golden Age'

From Adage:

"The American Advertising Federation opened its annual convention yesterday with a survey in which advertising leaders said they are confident about digital marketing's promise but far from confident in their ability to capitalize on it."

YOU DON'T SAY...

"According to the study, 63% of the 140 advertising-industry leaders said big companies are "generally behind the curve when it comes to online ad strategy," and 58% said they have problems keeping pace with a changing digital environment."

FASCINATING.

"We have a responsibility and a mandate to take charge of the changes that we see sweeping though the industry. Thing are moving real fast, and we aren't even on the fast track yet," ," Mr. Snyder said, adding that "breakthroughs are not light years away. Some are around the corner. Many are already here."

CHANGE-O-VATION NEEDED?

"Jeff Jones, director-interactive for WonderGroup, a Cincinnati agency that does teen and tween consulting, said technology increases the importance of looking not only at whether new creative is a "big idea" but whether that idea can tie in to multiple activities, not simply on TV or on the web, but also on venues such as mobile phones and buzz channels."

AGAIN WITH THE BIG IDEA...

Here's a big idea for the industry.  Stop obsessing about brands and witty taglines.  Start obsessing about people, customers, users, consumers or whatever we want to call them that best fits our context.  Become infatuated with meeting their wants, needs and desires.  Then start to obsess about the revolutionary ways we use technology to connect, inform, enhance, and enrich our everyday lives.  And for execs—start a blog, get Linked In, troll online communities and PARTICIPATE in them, upload digital photos—get a digital life!  Try to do some of the things your teenager is doing.  How can you ever expect to market to them effectively if you have no REAL idea how they spend their time?

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  GO GET SOME STEAK TO GO WITH THAT SIZZLE.

Comments

[Mack Collier]

You're exactly right David, it's all about companies JOINING their communities. They are no longer in complete control of their marketing message, and the ones that put aside their egos and realize this first, will be the ones that will profit in this world of Marketing 2.0.

[gabby]

Advertising is quite possibly a more conservative industry than even banking. We have, basically, 60 years of fat cat execs used to sitting in posh offices, having martini lunches and resting on their laurels. They have a serious case of elitism and do not even consider consumers--consumers, you see, don't understand 'creative' and 'brand'--better they just take what we choose to give them. Let the old guard gather dust in their fancy corner offices--their accounts will come to the agencies that get it.