I decided to put ink to Mac today and throw out some thoughts about interactive media and a situation that I often see and hear that is specific to online media planning and execution.
Traditional Media is more obviously visible
With Traditional Media, every placement chosen whether it be in TV, radio, billboard or other, is more obviously visible and in a finite position eg. on Channel X at 7:30 pm for 30 seconds, on a billboard at the corner of Streets X and Y for 1 month or on Radio Station Z at 8:05 am for 10 seconds, 5 times a week.
Put simply, a client or a planner can easily be reassured by actually seeing or hearing their brand message in traditional media channels. The reason for this is simple:
- a TV spot is shown to thousands or sometimes millions of people at exactly the same time,
- a radio spot, same thing
- and of course billboards remain permanently in place, exposing every passer-by to the chosen message for a specific period; the busier the location, the greater the potential exposure.
However, the same cannot always be said for Internet as a medium.
The majority of really smart online marketing strategies rely on incredibly, high tech 'backend' targeting to reduce media waste and make the communications as near to the one on one experience that we are all aspiring to as media/advertising and marketing people.
So if a client or an agency person does not see a small Facebook ad, a banner ad or text link, this does not mean at all that the online media objective is not being achieved. Advertising on the Internet exposes one message to one computer at any given time.
So an online ad campaign comprises:
- thousands or millions of ad impressions
- of various ad formats
- delivered at different seconds & minutes during every day of the campaign
- from web sites\ blogs to individual computers in the geographic area chosen by the media planner.
It is 1 online message delivered to 1 online user (computer) at any given time.
If you then factor in to this scenario the notion that we can add further levels of detailed online targeting to reach consumers such as :
- geographic
- demographic
- contextual
- weather
- interests
- behavioural,
this ad campaign then becomes more difficult for a client or agency employee to physically see each of the exact placements since that person may not fall into the target group.
An additional important element is that most online ad budgets do not even scratch the surface in terms of available ad inventory in the market meaning that your ad is going to be in rotation with sometimes as many as 5-10 other advertisers.
This would require you to refresh your visited web page several times to see your ad, if you have a low ad spend on a site with huge ad inventory - most importantly however, this doesn't mean that the message has not been seen or enjoyed by each desired user! It just means that you have not seen it.
Moving to Mass Customization
Internet as a medium (including via mobile, ipad and other new platforms that will be created) will continue to become smarter, more high tech, more effective, more accountable and more relevant to individuals.
We as an industry (particularly interactive media but eventually traditional media) should be moving towards a 'mass customization' scenario where many consumers are able to enjoy a deep engaging, experience, personalized to them and their needs or interests.
Social media is a great example of this - I can create or share pieces of web content with my own friends online in Facebook, 4Square, Google+1, edited with my own personal tone and manner.
With time and the consequent demographic shift, we shall eventually be reaching more and more 'Lean Forward' consumers wanting to engage with our communication, if it is interesting or useful to them, and shall reach less and less 'Massive Passives' who are currently the majority of media consumers in 2011. As a general rule, these 'Passives' don't feel the need to interact and prefer to merely observe. This is generally indicative of the older age groups.
Conclusion
So I'll leave you with these final thoughts :
- I don't see spaceships, but I know that they are effective for helping us find undiscovered worlds
- I don't see nuclear reactors, but I know that they are effective at powering entire cities
- I don't see satellites in Space but, but I know that they are effective at transmitting Pearl Jam's Sirius radio channel into my car
Sometimes you don't see Internet communications, but I guarantee that in the hands of a good online strategist with a black belt in , it is VERY, VERY EFFECTIVE !