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StumbleUponAd Trends: After The Blitz & Glitz
Traditional advertising approaches, which have remained remarkably stagnant in the past 40-odd years, often leave little to the imagination. Treating the consumer as a naive child in search of important information or assistance, advertisers often deploy a solution or needs-based approach, purportedly helping consumers with critical problems of daily life. "Need a cleaner bathroom? We've got just the solution for you!" "In search of a lighter frozen meal? Consider our patented light entrees!" "At Acme, we're in the business of providing effective solutions...blah, blah, blah."
While these approaches are straightforward, clear and unambiguous (often endearing themselves to old-school marketers fond of keeping things simple), their utility to contemporary consumers remains suspect, at best.
To consumers in the 50s, 60s and 70s, such information and assistance was mostly greeted with open arms. The post-war boom in consumer culture was still in its relative infancy and many of us were new to all of this consumer stuff. "Homemaking" as a practice was just coming into its own and many welcomed any additional tips marketers could offer. Recipes - be they from soup can labels, collectors cards or magazine ads - were hot stuff back then. Ditto for helpful household hints and cute jingles.
But today's consumer has evolved far, far beyond that halcyon era. Those of us under the age of 60 have grown up under the auspices of a fully developed consumer culture; our expertise in "all things products and services" is more innate than learned. Moreover, because women are now pursuing careers in record numbers, men have been fully integrated into the fray. While they may not still carry their weight in terms of responsibility or execution, they all (well, most anyway) know the routine. Be it shopping, cooking or otherwise (i.e., how to clean a bathroom), men are more savvy then they may let on.
In short, we are (mostly) the wise, evolved, all-knowing consumers depicted in those theories crowding economic textbooks. We know the drill. We don't need the marketer's help, however well-intentioned. Most importantly, we surely don't have time to waste listening to such help.
These developments have already had an important impact on current marketing and advertising campaigns as marketers seek to remain relevant to contemporary consumers. Interactive, online marketing programs, viral advertising, entertainment advertising and content marketing have all been hot categories as of late.
Surprisingly, however, we find that while many marketers are pursuing these alternative advertising forms, they often do so with the same vision of their predecessors some 40 years ago. Rather than treating their consumer as their "hip friend" who is "in the know," and simply wants to be entertained, they revert to old-fashioned paternalism, choosing to treat their consumer as a naive, helpless child in need of assistance. We call this unfortunate tendency "rampant remedialism."
To get a better idea of this scenario, consider TiVo's latest development, Product Watch. Aware that TiVo allows consumers to bypass conventional broadcast advertising, Product Watch is a service offering on-demand ads and sponsored content to TiVo's subscriber base. Rather than running 30-second ads, marketers will offer longer programming, what most would term "content," to be viewed in an on-demand basis. As of yet, however, most of the content leaves much to be desired, especially for today's time-famished consumer.
General Motors plans to offer lengthy, detailed video presentations about its vehicles, while another segment offers 20 different cooking videos that will show such things as how to grill a frozen pizza, potato-salad basics or how to create a cantaloupe and Jell-O dessert. Others are planning on offering financial advice or tourist tips.
The disconnects here are two-fold. Firstly, consumers are rarely in need of information or assistance anymore. We are surprisingly clever adept critters who manage to get through our life without such dilemmas as how to prepare a frozen pizza (when flummoxed, we glance at the product label!). Few, if any, of us struggle with potato salad (and if we do, we simply outsource that anxiety to our local deli). And if we really need information on a GM vehicle, we surely don't want the information from GM (we seek an unbiased source like Road & Track).
More critical, however, is the issue that consumers switch the television on for one reason only - to be entertained. Despite marketers hopes and dreams, 15 years of Hartman Group research indicate that consumers continue to use their televisions for - surprise of surprises - entertainment purposes. First and foremost, then, any such sponsored content must be genuinely entertaining.
But lest we be dismayed at marketers shortcomings, we have found plenty of successful examples of relevant, program-based advertising and marketing content in recent months. Consider music superstar Jack White's recent ad for Coke. As front man for The White Stripes, Jack penned, performed and starred in an original video for Coke. The video proved an instant classic among his millions of fans who promptly downloaded and passed the long-form commercial on in viral form.
Or how about Wes Anderson's extended American Express commercial. Paying homage to his overwrought, at times fantastical directorial style (c.f. Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic), the commercial is an elongated circular reference to the key themes and symbols that have made his films so attractive to his legions of fans.
Topping it all off is the now infamous, iconic commercial for Sony's Bravia television. In addition to creating an immediate sensation upon its Internet release (though the commercial has yet to even be screened on American television!), the soundtrack caused a surge in CD sales for its performer, Jose Gonzalez. The commercial was such a hit it even has its own website.
And while those commercials were released in short and long form, there is also no reason marketers could not consider simply offering to sponsor actual on-demand content. MTV2's Andy Milonakis show would have been ideal content for display in a sponsored, on-demand format such as Product Watch, which in a way presupposes the next innovation in relevant advertising for major brands - namely, sponsoring (or creating) entire networks of original programming. Rather than grabbing our TiVo controller and scanning through lists of "informational" content, wouldn't it be cool to simply switch to the P&G channel, the only place you'd find such "must see" programming as Spike Jonez music videos or Lonely Island digital shorts?
If this sounds too far-fetched, remember that one of the world's most successful brands got their start in a similar manner some 25 years ago. In 1981, MTV began quietly with a humble proposition: offering relevant, interesting content - which in this case happened to be advertisements funded by the music industry. 
