Let's Talk About Ads

Know Your Audience

An advertisement is only seen as intrusive if the audience members haven't given the ad permission to disrupt their lives. However, there are plenty of ads that are actively sought. As a student of advertising, I will look for advertisements and actually enjoy finding new creative pieces. Of course I still get annoyed at ads, but I think I'm more tolerant than the average person because my love and passion still exists. I haven't been in the industry for long at all, and thus I have yet to become jaded and disillusioned by the glamor of ads.

However, I still haven't figured out where the line is between ads that seem invasive and ads that people actually enjoy. The threshold for tolerance is different for every person, but some ads are just easier to accept than others. On a scale, I'm sure most people can agree that on a scale of one to annoying, popup ads (which most people no longer see thanks to some very effective popup blockers) rank off the charts. But the Mini Coopers in the remake of The Italian Job are applauded almost as if they themselves were characters in the movie.

What brought about this post is this need that advertisers seem to have to get involved with Web 2.0. Sure, it's new and exciting and very 2006, but not all products need or even fit into the Web 2.0 environment. I've worked on communities for products that not enough people cared about. I've seen MySpace profiles, blogs, Facebook updates, what have you for products and companies. I understand everyone has spent the past year trying to figure out how to engage the consumer, but the more advertisers do so, the more we become desensitized to their efforts. We know a blatant advertising scheme when we see one, and we're not impressed.

I like relevant information. I love that Yahoo's Launch will play artists that are similar to what I like, which in turn lets me discover new music. It's about the act of discovery. I don't like things pushed onto me, but if I discover something myself, I'll be sure to talk it up and initiate that word of mouth chain that's also the hot new catchphrase these days. I 'discovered' a BMW print ad that I loved so much, I used it as my desktop profile for a while. I got many comments on that. I've 'discovered' interesting company microsites that I've shared with my friends. I've also 'discovered' new products, new music, and new ways of doing things. And you can be sure that my friends knew about it.

I can't conclude this post with an epiphany of any sort because I haven't had one yet, but I can reiterate something that I'm sure all marketers know by now. Relevance is key. Know your audience. Move beyond demographics and even psychographics. Imagine how I live my life. Marketers are very similar to actors and writers. We all need to do research to get to know the characters we create, become, and sell to. As creepy as it may be, a successful marketer can imagine me and know exactly what I like to do and when I like to do it. Then he'll also know how I'll change as I grow older. Now that should bring about success.

posted by Sarah @ 12:33 AM