Opinion: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

As advertising spend on traditional media declines, spend Online continues to accelerate. But it is only playing catch-up with the time consumers now spend online. This time spent online increasingly involves Content creation, community building and blogging. This is proving rather inconvenient to adland as these activities were never intended for infiltration by commercial interests (as many attempts have so far proved).

But if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The new orthodoxy is that brands must therefore generate their own communities of users who will then voluntarily shape and even champion the brand. This sits alongside that other new orthodoxy that online ads must only ever invite users to engage with their message. This medium, it seems, is too posh to push.

Allow me to dissent from these orthodoxies. Advertising in the user generated world is more often than not seen as encroachment. It is also complex and time consuming to manage campaigns that have to navigate through such a minefield (not forgetting the bogeyman of inappropriate user-content). Often these campaigns are characterised by unquantifiable impact and limited volume Reach.

Campaigns which imitate 2.0 activity are often highly creative and effective but again can be costly and time consuming especially with the relatively small volume of users reached and converted. They often assume that “time poor” users have the time and inclination to become “immersed” in and “pro-active” with their brand. Advertisers, in pursuing this advertising model, often become more like publishers: providers of information rather than sellers of products. It is effectively Sponsorship which may support awareness but does not directly sell product benefits or the brand. Fine for some brands, e.g. in media or entertainment, but many brands require more impactful and cost-effective advertising solutions.

Many on-page “pull” ads, e.g. expandables which engulf the page and have a miniscule close button, seem increasingly, well, push-y. These ads, which can be expensive in production and in real estate, will often inevitably generate relatively low user volume and so poor Campaign ROI.

Video advertising brings a new perspective to this question of push and pull. Video ads will require push to reach the coverage that brand advertisers migrating from TV require. Will users tolerate this? Well, not when tied to user-generated content but perhaps they will in return for access to quality video content (and quality site content in general). Recent ICM research indicated that more than 50% of users would prefer to watch adverts to receive free content than directly pay for that content (74% of 18-24 year olds). But these video ads, whilst utilising the branding power of TV need to be relevant to users (i.e. targeted) and offer them interaction. An excellent example of interaction, from a professional viewpoint of course, is being able to click on Kate Moss’s Agent Provocateur knickers, during Mike Figgis’s video ad, to reach the relevant product page.

Online does require new engaging forms of advertising for a “lean-forward” audience. But as TV and PC converge I think effective online advertising will emerge from the strengths of both media. As major brands increasingly follow their consumers online new media needs to offer these major brands advertising solutions which combine the reach, branding and visual impact of TV with the targeting and interaction of online. Video advertising has that potential. With increasingly sophisticated targeting and the need to monetise compelling but expensive content the question of push becomes a red herring. But don’t take my word for it. Joost, the new online TV service from the inventors of Skype, will offer free video content funded by, shock, horror, a three minute advertising break every hour.

David Michael
Strategy Director
Utarget Networks