Change in Marketing Part II - Pain & Progress vs. Comfort & Failure

In my last post I asked why agencies and clients are asking about the risks of new media rather than asking what the risks of NOT being in these media are? The answer is simple - old media isn't measurable and new media is. In automotive, 200 TRPs or a full page can be bought and other than anecdotal accounts, no one will know if it ever worked. The real "problem" with new media, from the web to mobile phone marketing is that it is measurable. Agencies will tell you they welcome measurability with open arms - so why the constant recommendation of non-measurable media?

Imagine you've lived alone in a cave all your life and according to you, you're a world-class painter. All of a sudden, an earthquake happens, your cave breaks open and you're surrounded by hundreds of other artists who have been competing against each other all their lives. Are you scared you're not as good as you always thought you were? Heck yes! You're petrified. After all, what are the chances that you actually are world-class when you've never seen anyone else's art?

Well, the earthquake has happened and it's the empowered consumer who can edit advertising out of their content, create and rate their own content and blog about your product. So, now you're exposed. You will be measured and compared. The question isn't whether or not you should take risks - you have to. The question is with whom you will take the risks. Size up your partner and your team wisely, for those who have measured before and welcome it will likely be the ones to produce the best work in the future.

Change in Marketing Part I

Between reading Thomas L. Friedman's The World Is Flat - Release 2.0 and seeing Over The Hedge with the kiddos today, the general topic of "change" has been flickering in front of me like and old black and white movie.

While Friedman's book certainly backs his own political views and agenda, the facts he presents are undeniable. The world is flattening, jobs are being in and outsourced more rapidly than ever, and it's up to you (the individual reading this) to keep up or even stay ahead. Whether you are Vern the turtle in Over The Hedge or the IT worker whose job was transitioned to India, you can beat change or it will beat you.

Friedman's analogy of the optical fiber that connects the world today is no different than the railroads that joined together small towns across American 150 years ago. Imagine the local tradespeople who now realized their products all of a sudden had to compete in quality and price with those from 12 other towns. If the local seamstress or blacksmith had always provided top quality at unbeatable prices, he'd welcome the competition with open arms because his or her wares could now compete in all 13 towns. If the tradespeople had simply been comfortable, they were probably right in fearing the competition. This is not a new lesson, though, and OTH and TWIF are certainly not the first to teach this lesson. Yet after this message has manifested itself thousands upon thousands of time throughout history, most people still fear a larger market and more competition. What they really fear is that they may not be up to par with in their field.

The same goes for marketing. Consumers are changing how they consumer media whether or not we, as marketers, change how we dialogue with them. The question all clients and agencies seem to be asking right now is What are the risks associates with advertising in new media? How about what the risks are if we DON'T advertise there? There's an easy answer for that.

"Automotive" Eludes The Top 32 Spots

The automotive category is by far the biggest ad spending category - often accounting for more than 30% of all ad dollars spent. Add to this that the most recent JD Power data suggests that 67% of consumers research their vehicle purchase online before going to the dealership and one would think the auto category would be eating up the web and it's inexpensive CPMs. Nope.

This recent report found on Clickz shows the web's top 50 spenders, with Nissan leading all automotive and placing 32nd. No other manufacturers cracked the top 50.

With all the focus on measuring every penny of advertising, where are is automotive over-indexing in its spending? See previous posts :)