Hi all: I’ve been running my own ad agency for the last 27 years. My training is in consumer packaged goods (General Foods, Campbell Soup, Reynolds Tobacco).
This stuff is making the hairs on my arms stand straight up. Does anyone have any conception of what is happening with the ad industry? I just did a TV and Radio buy in a major West Coast market. In talking with my client (a financial institution), it turns out they haven’t seen the TV yet because they “Tivo” everything and they haven’t heard the radio because they have satellite in their cars. And these are the people who paid for these ads!! Mass media just isn't cutting it anymore.
Forget newspapers and magazines…no one has time to read them. Billboards are limited to 7 words of communication. Online ads are really tough…too much waste (reaching people who can’t buy what you’re selling). Direct mail is limited in its reach and is becoming cost-prohibitive due to rising postal rates.
“Permission Marketing” is what the ad world absolutely MUST turn to in the future. Consumers will seek out what they want to know about and then “give permission” for advertisers to contact them with information, promotions, etc. And mobile phones are the ideal medium for this interaction.
The couponing tests that we’re seeing with Starbucks and McDonalds are just the beginning. From an ad woman’s perspective, a sea change is about to engulf my industry, similar to the sea change that the PC revolution and Internet brought about. The way the ad industry does biz today doesn’t come close to resembling the way we did biz 30 years ago, and I suspect it won't be recognizable just 10 years from now either.
Sometimes, age and experience bring a unique perspective to opportunity. I have been buying NEOM all along (since it was 7 cents/share) and will continue to do so as it climbs. From my standpoint, we all have a giant tiger by its tail. We each have our "feelings" about this company--but I'm in the trenches seeing the need unfold a little more every single day!
P.S. Has anyone seen GE’s one-second theater? Within a 30-secomd GE commercial is a one-second module that, when slowed down, expands to a commercial within a commercial. Made specifically for Tivo-ers (can only be seen during slo-mo playback). Another indication that advertisers are desperate for new ways to reach their markets…
