Past, Present and Future: Some Thoughts About Advertising and Media

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Past, Present and Future Some Thoughts About
Advertising and Media

• Presented By
• Professor Neal M. Burns
• The University of Texas at Austin
• at
• Escuela de Ciencias de la Comunicación
• Universidad de Costa Rica
• 15 Febrero 2008

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Advertising Agencies Their Practice and Belief

• Some observations from a recovering advertising
  man - and dont tell them I spoke with you and
  discussed these secrets or theyll drum me out of
  the corps.

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The Way It Was . . .
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None of us Remember This . . .
But we know its old (1920?). Most ads have
short shelf lives.
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The Ads Said Use Modern Technology and Treasure
Your Values
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And Then Things began To Change.
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BernbachThe Introduction of Irony
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Magritte . . . And Bernbach

• Its not a pipe - its a picture of a pipe its
  not about sunny-side up eggs -
• they both ask the viewer to work it out, to
  interact.

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And, This Is Now . . .
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Brands Became Icons
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Agencies Love Breaking Rules!
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Brand Building
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Cause Related Ads Appeared
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Feel Good
Nothing is more endearing Than kittens -- and
Animal Care keeps Diners Club Customers.
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Awareness
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And The Ads Said What?

• Generally talked about lifestyle more than
  product
• Talked to the user - more personal relevancy
  and generally less emphasis on product features
• Less (constructed) reality - disposed to irony
  and quite cynical - especially of advertising -
  filled with expectancy surprise
• Emphasis on building the brand
• Social and cause related work appeared
• Often entertained more than informed Fought
  the clutter

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BTW - Sometimes Agencies make Huge Mistakes
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Consider Advertising As a Cultural Expression -
And As a Knowledge Producing Industry.

• Advertising reflects contemporary values
• It utilizes the imagery and sounds of the time
• It can stimulate behavioral change
• It gives things meaning

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How Did The Contemporary Look in Advertising Come
About?

• Think Postmodernism
• The Bernbach Revolution
• Being noticed amidst growing clutter
• Market/segment likes changed
• Agencies grew to be financially capable

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In 1984 the Relationship Between Postmodernism
and Advertising Was Made Forcefully and
Unforgettably.

• The developing philosophy was against the
  established order - against shirts and ties,
  against the lack of minority representation -
  even against the 8 note octave as the 3 Bs knew
  it -- and lots more.

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This Was The Blockbuster . . .

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What Were The Big Changes In Ad Agencies From The
Past?

• Moving from commission based compensation to
  fee structure
• Establishing client centered teams
• Becoming brand builders
• Establishing the creative strategy as their
  purview.

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Lets Look a Bit Closely At The Way Current
Advertising Agencies Function
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Agencies Developed A Process - With Great
Similarity Across Agencies

• The professional agency employee is almost an
  itinerant worker
• Word and secrets spread
• The work is widely celebrated
• Agencies offered the promise of managing the
  creative process

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Importance of Relevance
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Video
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So, Why Does This Stuff Work?

• It is culturally resonant - it is part of our
  time.
• It speaks to what the brand delivers.
• Because it is relevant to the target(s).
• Intelligence is paralleled in products voice
  and respect for the customer.
• It reinforces the character of the Brand
  building off leverageable equity.

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But This Is Really Now!
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The Old Agency Business Model
Initially gave away the creative and lived off
the media commission Hourly rates
established, contract Monthly fee based on the
scope of the project. (Clients feel costs are
better controlled - agencies enjoy security of
fixed monthly income) The idea RULES ! Agency
does brand building cross platforms (print,
TV, online, events and experiential) Agency
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A New Agency Business Model
Hourly rates seem passe Monthly fee based on
the scope of the project. (Clients feel costs
are better controlled - agencies enjoy security
of fixed monthly income) The idea RULES !
Agency does brand building cross platforms
(print, TV, online, events and experiential)
Agency asks for an equity stake and a
percentage of sales
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Within the Agency The Traditional Management
Pyramid Got Squashed and New Roles Established
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Why Must The Agency Business Model Change?

• There is a disconnect between believing in award
  winning creative, and a comprehensive brand
  strategy . . . and managing multiple
  communication channels (not to mention the
  insertion of consumer generated content) in a
  financially rewarding fashion.

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The Network TV Ratings Decline

• In 1988 networks had 67 of all TV viewers.
• In the early 90s, Network cume share dropped to
  53 percent.
• In 2003, 38 percent and a network needed a
  minimum rating of 12 to keep a show on the air. ?
• In 2008 a major network wins the primetime
  ratings war with an 8 rating (17 mil. viewers).

WHY
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One ReasonConsumer Generated Content

• User Generated Video (UGV) growing rapidly
• Year Views
• 2005 3,250,000,000
• 2006 13,156,655,241
• 2007 22,368,960,636
• 2008 34,000,681,857 (est.)
• Source AccuStream iMedia Research, January 2009

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Cultural/Societal Impact ?

• We have little understanding or intuition for the
  cultural impact that will occur when the top 40
  of US households (based on income) have half a
  dozen computers, all of them connected to the
  Net, all of them with "instant on." They just
  dont know how important a part of our daily life
  the online world will be!
• Jeff Bezos interview with Chip Bayers, Business
  2.0 September, 2002

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Another ReasonRetail Practice on Internet

• Increased effectiveness integrating message
  across multiple channels
• Multi-channel marketing strategy became the rule
• Permission marketing and the Internet
• works -- very well
• Social networks are but one manifestation

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Some Possible Whys ???

• Video gaming is preferred equally by males age
  8-34 to TV
• Older males play video games at expense of TV
  viewing
• Developments like Wii change purpose of the
  TV set
• Consumer generated content is preferred by
  many as opposed to client generated material

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Perhaps Another Reason Blogs

• Weblog users rate blogs as highly credible.
• In tests blogs are rated almost 3X ads.
• A higher level of trust exists for User Generated
  Content (UGC) . . . Blogs.
• 39 Million Europeans report not buying product or
  services based upon advice from blogs!

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And So . . .

• The advent and access broadband presents and the
  rising importance of mobile and in-place digital
  communication are major changes in message
  delivery.
• The language of media CPM, CPP, CPI and the
  rest - needs to be modified to embrace the new
  delivery systems currently in place and those
  being developed.
• Revisions in our thinking about cost and
  effectiveness of media delivery are needed.
• And, in a muti-channel, media agnostic
  environment -- the rule of break-through creative
  has ended and a new agency model is already here.

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Questions or Comments ?