Imagine coming to a party uninvited and finding yourself so fucking out of place that you say as a greeting, "I'm N.N. and in five seconds you can kick me out again - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1- Bang!" And you're gone. Unimaginable, isn't it? Unimaginable, but true.
For this system of self-presentation, many, many companies unleash an avalanche of money in the form of so-called preroll ads, i.e. those advertising films that run on YouTube, for example, before the video that you actually want to see. Mostly equipped with a countdown for - see above ...
At my workshops and keynotes, I ask the question every time: "Who thinks these prerolls are good?", and so far not a single person has pointed out. Not a single one.
Don't the clients notice that they themselves, as users, click away from the annoying advertisements every time, at best, but are usually annoyed? And yet they get on other people's nerves just as much with their own messages? What's wrong?
That's it!
Why are more and more (all?) people lurking around YouTube prerolls waiting for the "skip ads" button to appear? Why do more and more people buy their way out of ads by upgrading to premium accounts? Why are more and more people installing ad blockers?
Because people hate advertising? The assumption seems obvious, but it is wrong. The answer is much simpler: because everyone hates harassment. That is not new.
We remember the phenomenon of increasing water consumption in households while commercials are on TV, as an indicator of mass visits to the toilet? Gone are the days! Anyone who now visits the toilet every time the interrupter commercial comes on should urgently seek a conversation with a very well-credentialed urologist. And do it now!
What is being practised today is not advertising, but adverstalking. Everyone loves their children, no one can stand it when they constantly chatter away, even though they have long since understood that it doesn't work like that at home. And then at some point someone says the annoying "Buy me! Buy me! Buy me!" quibblers: "That's enough! That's it!"
And at some point, you no longer watch the blockbuster of the week where there are far more advertisements flying around your ears than the exploded stuff in a film by Michael Bay. At some point, you stop reading the online magazine online because - even if you pay for it - you're constantly being shoved in front of your nose with something you can buy. At some point you install an ad blocker.
No more unfunny.
Recently, the Munich Higher Regional Court declared the use of AdBlock-Plus permissible, and one is tempted to think of the self-defence paragraph.
On the other hand, the argument that ad blockers destroy freedom of expression because advertising finances free media, and without advertising you wouldn't get the content, at least not for the relatively low price, is of course true. Almost true. Because:
- AdBlockers do not only work on the pages of the so-called free media.
- Why does information have to cost so little when, on the other hand, we see that people are quite prepared to spend money so that they no longer see advertising?
- Have you ever heard the expression "throwing the baby out with the bathwater"?
Whereby I consider the option offered by AdBlock-Plus to the media to buy their way out of the blockade via a whitelist to be rather perfidious.
That website operators reflexively want to ban the use of ad blockers and block access to those users who use them is understandable. But stupid. "Right serves my mum, if my fingers freeze, then maybe she'll buy me gloves ..."
A gift to humanity.
AdBlockers are a blessing for online humanity and especially for marketing communication. And this in that twisted sense in which it is said that the election of Donald Trump as US president would have prevented the shift to the right in the Netherlands and France.
Because hopefully sooner rather than later - at least the intelligent ones - marketing communications professionals will understand that there is only one way past ad blockers. It's not humour, or volume, or emotion. It is relevance.
Push creates counterpressure.
Without massive pressure from all sides, nothing will change in this annoying pushing of advertising stuff. Chronic troublemakers must stay outside. Guests, even random guests who bring something interesting to the party, are most welcome.
Of course there is wailing and howling on the part of those affected. Just think of the times of the CFC ban. At that time, the entire refrigerator and air-conditioning industry proved without a shadow of a doubt that this would seal the doom of mankind. What happened? Exactly.
Or smoking bans. In Austria, the gastronomy still assumes the end of gastronomy and thus of the world as soon as smoking is no longer allowed in pubs. Italy was one of the first countries to ban smoking, and this at a time when an Italiano could be recognised without a doubt by a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and a regular corrective grip on his privates. What happened? Exactly.
A similar thing will happen in the matter of troublemaker push-push-push buy me! advertising. The advertising stalkers may continue to grab their own privates, but no longer ours. But we will eat with them all the more willingly if they have something we like. Relevance on the plate. Otherwise we stay at home.
Howard Gossage is still right.
The good news at the end: in principle, people do not hate advertising. Howard L. Gossage's sentence from the 1950s is still true: "Nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them, and sometimes it's an ad."
Advertising no longer has to look like advertising to be advertising. On the contrary. And I don't mean surreptitious advertising. On the contrary. There is advertising that is even eagerly awaited and warmly welcomed. The Ikea catalogue, for example. The new Lego movie. The Red Bulletin. These are examples of advertising in the best sense. Not loud, but clear. Made more for the benefit of the audience than for the superficial advantage-praise of the respective brand. And therefore - above all - effective.
It's about relationships.
Marketing communication as a sales tool? Once upon a time ... Today it's no longer about products. Today, relationships are entered into and meaning is bought. The most important task of marketing communication is thus meaning and relationship management.
Things get really interesting for everyone involved when the ever-popular ROI - Return On Investment turns into Return Of Involvement. This happens when communication radically changes its perspective. The brand story indirectly tells the story of the brand, but directly it tells the story of the audience. Because people's own story is the only one that interests them.
Once again I bring Always #likeagirl before the curtain. Another chapter of this excellent campaign has just been opened. The #likeagirl movement is now in its fourth year, and that alone indicates success. Otherwise, P&G would have turned it off long ago.
The brand understands where it is relevant to its female customers, where the shared desires and values are, so where relevance, meaning and therefore a relationship is created. With Always, you understand that although they make feminine hygiene products, they are in the confidence business, because that's where the relevant meaning comes from.
That's what it's all about for anyone who has something to sell - themselves as an individual solopreneur service provider, an idea, a product, big brands... it's always about the same thing. That's your business:
- Where do the longings of your audience lie?
- Where are your common values.
- What can you do to help your audience live these aspirations and values?
Relevance generates pull.
Those who manage this no longer notice ad blockers because the message is not pushed and blocked, but the audience is magnetically attracted by relevance. Pull is created because people want to get into the conversation and participate. They see personal benefits for themselves, relevance.
If we inspire our audience with things that are beneficial in their lives, then we don't have to pursue it desperately, people will come to us. The prerequisite for this is that every brand understands and activates three simple principles. So - once again - ask yourself:
- Which core value do I address in a sustainable way, i.e.: which longing of people do I share?
- How can I satisfy and nourish this longing in equal measure?
- What can I stimulate, distribute or initiate that is so important to people that they continue to distribute it because it tells them more about themselves than about me?
I don't think advertising is dead. But I am firmly convinced that the content of advertising should have changed long ago, because advertising as it is generally practised today is dead. Like a mouldy apple in the fruit basket, it also contaminates everything around it that would still be edible.
So if you want to engage respectfully with your audience, engage people with an authentic story that is relevant to both of you. Because, as my grandmother used to say, the old story dudette:
No Story. No Glory.
Image reference:
Cover image: Scream - Melissa O'Donohue, Flickr | Licence