Boosting Consumer Confidence in Interest-Based Advertising

With the increasing use of social networks, particularly Facebook, interest-based advertising is growing rapidly. By analyzing consumers’ online conversations and consumption habits, advertisers can customize their messages to specific audiences. Done right, it increases an ad’s effectiveness and can enhance consumer satisfaction.

But we must be careful, whenever tapping into info about people’s web activity, to earn and maintain their trust (a topic that can be read in more detail here).

To that end, the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Program – endorsed earlier this year by the White House, Department of Commerce and Federal Trade Commission – provides a good framework for improving consumer confidence and ensuring best practices. Building on the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, the nation's largest media and marketing associations have collaborated to launch this program to give consumers a better understanding of and greater control over ads that are customized based on their online behavior.

How can you get involved?

•  Learn about the program by reading the principles, and find out more about the participating associations. To learn how your company can implement the principles, review the Implementation Guides.
• Register to start using the Advertising Option Icon as a means for providing enhanced notice of online behavioral advertising practices. To register to use the icon, click here.
• Inform consumers about data practices through clear, meaningful and prominent notices.
• Register to receive information about how to be listed on the Consumer Opt-Out Page, where consumers will be able to easily opt out of receiving online behavioral advertising from some or all participating companies.
• Report a complaint if you believe that you have witnessed a practice or ad that may violate the Principles. You can report the incident to either the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) or the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Complaints may be filed by consumers, business entities or other stakeholders. 

Thanks to http://www.aboutads.info for the above information on how companies can participate in the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Program.

Manufacturers Must Capitalize on Current Momentum

While the rest of the economy rides the roller coaster, American manufacturers have been on a strong, steady climb.

Here’s some of the latest evidence that manufacturers are leading the way out of the recession.

It’s been a long time since our country’s factories have been at the forefront of positive economic trends. And we hope the public is taking notice. But the reality is, manufacturers can’t simply hope that people are aware of their successes.

No, the manufacturing industry has spent too many years burdened by bad news and perceptions of impending doom to suddenly expect opinions to change. Meanwhile, many of these companies have been too busy just trying to stay afloat to bother with branding, marketing, advertising, PR and all the other pursuits that could help turn the tide.

But now we arrive at this crossroads. It’s a perfect opening for manufacturers to use their momentum to their advantage, and get out in the marketplace with a forceful message about what makes them unique—the exciting work they do and the extraordinary value they provide to customers every day.

Manufacturers have proven themselves up to the challenge of an incredibly difficult economic environment. Now is the time to leave all that behind.

News Flash: Adobe ♥ Apple

The escalating Apple-Adobe feud is fascinating and fun to follow.

But it isn’t really a fair fight.

The Adobe team must recognize that they have little chance of cajoling Steve Jobs into changing his mind about shutting Adobe’s Flash software out of Apple product development.

So if you can’t beat ‘em, and you can’t join ‘em, what’s Adobe to do?

The answer is a new ad that proclaims the company’s love for Apple. And creativity. And innovation. And so on. Kind of a kill-them-with-kindness approach.

It’s also a less direct message for the thousands of professionals who use Adobe software on Apple products every day (web developers, graphic designers, etc.).

OK, so Adobe isn’t going to win this battle. But the ad and its connected landing page are a good way to score some points by playing nice—or at least appearing to—in contrast with the scathing critiques of the big, bad bully.

Who Cares If Domino’s Pizza Is Any Good?

I wouldn’t normally put “Domino’s Pizza” and “bold” in the same sentence.

But now there’s this ad campaign hyping the pizza chain’s supposedly bold new taste.

Haven’t tried the overhauled pie yet, so I can’t comment on that. But the ads? Most certainly bold and unorthodox.

Instead of focusing on the company’s reformulated pizza, the spots surprise by dwelling on blunt customer criticisms of the previous product—“cardboard” crust, “ketchup” sauce, etc.

By breaking the unwritten “don’t admit you stink” rule, the campaign is getting a lot of attention. It may or may not surprise you that creator of this saucy campaign is Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, an agency famous/infamous for jarring and at times annoying advertising.

So, certainly, the spots have some stopping power. And they’ve got some integrated online goodness, too. Pizza Turnaround does a nice job reinforcing the company’s earnestness toward improving their product by posting tweats about the new pizza—and not filtering out the critics. It’s all very effective and memorable.

But wait a second here. Quick: What do you think of when you think Domino’s?

If you’re like me, you think “quick delivery.” That, after all, has long been the strength of the brand. And Domino’s seemed to be doing pretty well with that reputation, regardless of what people thought about the taste.

So why mess with a good brand? That shift in focus, not the admission of past failures, may be the real risk of an otherwise impressive campaign.

2009: The Year in Badvertising

Compulsory year-in-review content is reaching a climax on the web right now, but at least there are plenty of entertaining reads, including our favorite genre: “worst ads of the year” articles.

Wired takes a look at “Outrageously Annoying” tech-centered ads, with embedded videos for each. Certainly, the Microsoft spots are an easy target of scorn. The success of Windows has never been driven by compelling TV ads (some of the Windows 7 launch notwithstanding).

However, as for the rest of the Wired list, we’d classify about half of it as closer to amusing—and actually pretty effective. For example, the Wired crew kind of missed the point of the GE locomotive piece, a lighthearted complement to GE’s strong imagination at work brand.

Meanwhile, Slate.com has its own rundown of 2009 “badvertising” encompassing a broader array of consumer products. This one has more thumbs-down that we agree with, especially complaints about the Audi Q5 “Identity Theft at School” spot. There, the supposedly “unmistakable” Audi actually looks just like all the other crossover SUVs, but with black paint and some chrome trim. Come on, Audi, if you’re going to claim a real product differentiation, it’s got to be more than a paint job.

Bonus points go to this current, creepy Palm Pre campaign for making both the Wired and Slate lists:



Interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, we haven’t seen any “worst of 2009 web advertising” pieces. It could be because so many of them are so irritating and invasive that critics don’t know where to start.

This is a key challenge to keep in mind, as online advertising continues to grab a bigger share of marketing budgets. Web ads may be a cheaper and more targeted way of getting in front of more people, but it isn’t easy to find a balance between producing an effective ad and driving people away.

If all you’re doing is aggravating Internet surfers, then you may be better off making a mildly annoying TV spot—even one that makes one of these lists.

Lucky 7? Microsoft Marketing Better with New Windows

Jaded techies around the world are grudgingly admitting that, whaddya know, Windows 7 is actually pretty good. 

It’s not at all clear whether the launch can help Microsoft fully recover from the expensive failures of Vista. But the strong initial buzz suggests they’re doing a lot more things right this time around.

 Things like:

n      Much closer collaboration with PC makers in developing the new product

n      Going for a more evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, advancement

n      Emphasizing Windows 7’s user-inspired improvements

 

The customer focus is also carried through in a push for “launch parties” at users’ houses (which was noticed in the marketplace at least enough to spur its own parody video). And there’s a nice, cohesive theme going throughout, around the number 7. Read a fairly glowing overview of all the moves over at Business Week.

Looks like the MS team has determined that, if they’re going to get a cynical, stingy public to buy in this time around, they’d better involve those customers from the start, give them a product they’re looking for and tell them about it every way they can.

The result is that, for once, Microsoft seems to be setting a good marketing example.

Branding is back, baby!

For many B2B companies, the whole idea of brand building has taken a back seat in today’s economy. Everybody’s cautious with their investments, limiting their spending to price promotions and the like.

It’s understandable, but it’s also ill-advised. Why? Because in a shrinking market, you have to aggressively protect and grow your share. And you can’t do that by focusing on your products and services alone. Doing so only plays into the trap of commoditization.

We think it’s time to give brand building a little love again. Good thing we have this powerful tool nowadays that can help you build your brand directly and cost-effectively with customers. Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s called social media.

Check out this decent primer in The New York Times on managing your reputation online (or, in other words, building brand equity).

Opportunities abound to connect with customers, solve their problems, anticipate new ones and cultivate trust every step of the way—exactly the vibe customers are seeking in these uncertain times. Social media is an excellent path to reinforce your brand and build the confidence your customers need to have for you to win their business. Yes, branding is back, baby! It’s online, it’s every day, and it’s here to stay.

Harley-Davidson Talks Tough in the New York Times

Here’s an update on the recent struggles at Harley-Davidson, an American icon based in our hometown. Harley’s sales may have tumbled lately—and whose haven’t?—but the brand is still showing some mettle, as a recent dustup with The New York Times demonstrates.

A week or so ago, the NYT ran a piece headlined “Harley, You’re Not Getting Any Older.” It wasn’t a hatchet job by any stretch. But it did paint the future in dark colors, emphasizing the usual criticism that Harley’s core customers, baby boomers, won’t be in the market forever, and so the company needs to find a way to lure new blood.

Well, some people at Harley didn’t think they got a fair shake in the article. So, a few days later, they ran a big ad in an American flag design, with the provocative headline “You can file our obituary where the sun don’t shine.” You can read more about Harley’s advertising response here.

Now, you can say what you want about the logic of responding to a piece of journalism you disagree with by buying ad space in the publication that ran it. You also might take issue with the ad’s tone. Something about the in-your-face, red-white-and-blue attitude plays like 1987. In other words, the ad may appeal mostly to the baby boomer audience Harley needs to reach beyond.

Nevertheless, our local bike maker has a good point. As we’ve noted before, the company has been making moves and trying new things to cultivate new fans. These things take time, especially for a brand as well established as Harley’s is.

In the meantime, this playful advertising volley has earned plenty of additional coverage and conversation. And at its heart, the message is true to the rebellious, resilient image. On balance, that’s surely a win.

There’s Room to Grow in the Global Economy

Wisconsin manufacturers may be lagging the world’s best companies in doing the things they need to do to thrive in the 21st century.

But therein lies opportunity.

Take, for example, expanding overseas operations. That’s one area for improvement cited in the “Next Generation Manufacturing Study,” an extensive new survey released by the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

The study shows, as highlighted by The Business Journal of Milwaukee, that many Wiscoinsin companies simply aren’t yet doing much international business. Just 7 percent of the 500-plus firms in the survey reported non-U.S. sales growth of 51 percent or higher. Nearly two-thirds of (63 percent) said that they have no sales or distribution facilities beyond the United States.

So there’s plenty of room to grow globally for Wisconsin manufacturers. “Global engagement” is one of the six key tenets of so-called Next Generation Manufacturing, a set of forward-looking strategies to drive growth and profitability in the 21st century (per the WMEP).

Of course, international business is rife with challenges. Whether from an operations or a marketing communications perspective, success overseas takes a strong commitment to consistency, balanced with flexibility for local customization. You’ve got to make the effort to understand and respond to what customers really want in each market.

That’s a tall task to undertake on a limited budget, but a few good strategic alliances can help. For example, our agency helps ensure consistent, relevant messaging around the world for global clients through IPREX, one of the world’s largest networks of independent public relations agencies. Read more about our relationship with IPREX.

In the meantime, read the full WMEP report for many more fascinating insights on Wisconsin manufacturing. An executive summary and the full report are available for download at WMEP’s website.

Walking the Talk of Brand Evolution

We talked a couple of weeks ago about the importance of evolving your brand. But if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Well, it’s like home maintenance. Better to reinforce the roof before it caves in. Or think of it like a romance: You’ve got to keep it fresh.

Never get too comfortable with your brand, because the marketplace in which your brand lives is always changing—and besides, there’s always room for improvement. We aren’t just saying that. Right now, we’re launching a new Scheibel Halaska website, with an updated, refocused brand message.

We took some time to look deeper into what our clients care about and what we do that accelerates their success. That gave rise to a new tagline and a complete redesign of InsideSH.com.

The new site was a long time coming … but it won’t be long before you see more changes. That’s because we’re determined to keep our public face lively and up to date, just as we’re working every day to keep our services relevant and valuable to our clients. After all, it’s what we tell our clients (and blog readers) to do all the time.

Li Ning Marketing Coup: Classic Brains over Brawn

Via the Olympics, here’s a great case study into how a company with a much smaller marketing budget can upstage a rival.

Li Ning, a former Olympic medalist who owns the sportswear company that bears his name, did so to Adidas in the opening ceremonies last week in Beijing. Maybe you saw it: Li was the guy who “ran” around the top edge of the stadium and lit the torch.

Some are calling it the ultimate ambush marketing. Adidas paid the big money to be the sole sportswear sponsor, and then Li snuck in and grabbed the spotlight basically for free.

The prospect of taking on competitors the world over can seem pretty overwhelming for smaller to midsize companies. You have to work hard to be more creative. More consistent. More cost-effective. More with less.

But the Li story just goes to show that, even if you don’t have the marketing muscle of the competition, brains can beat brawn on the world stage.

Even CPAs Agree: Marketing Investments Still Make Good Business Sense

CPAs can be very stingy people—even more so when the economic seas are churning, as they are now.

But even some of the most conservative accountants recognize that now isn’t the time to shut down marketing efforts. Here’s an article from a firm called Vrakas/Blum suggesting that this is a critical time to invest in your future through marketing.

Why? For the same reason it’s good to invest in quality stocks when the market is down: The bull will be back, and you’ll be able to take advantage. Right now, while many of your competitors are cutting back on marketing, it’s a great opportunity for you to gain an edge. When the economy picks up again, you’ll be better positioned to pounce on new business.

Now, we don’t recommend throwing more money around indiscriminately (although we’d sure benefit from that, if you insist). You should invest as wisely as possible. The Vrakas/Blum article offers four tips to approach marketing in a tough economy. (Never mind that the author actually promises six suggestions.)

For further reading, you can review a similarly helpful post we offered back in February with five tips on marketing during the downturn.

Ramp up Your Customer Retention Efforts

Is customer service dead? You’d better hope not.

Customer service is, of course, the key to satisfied customers. Scratch that—not just satisfied, but loyal customers.

Even in bullish economic times, customer retention costs a lot less than customer acquisition. And in the current iffy economy, retention is even more important.

But many B2B marketers remain more focused on attracting new customers, according to a new report.

The Chief Marketing Officer Council’s study, highlighted in BtoB Magazine, found that only one-third of global marketers have strategies in place to win back dormant or lost customers, and only half have strategies to further profit from key account relationships.

That’s too bad, because a host of new media and technologies offer us all kinds of fresh opportunities to understand, inform and interact with customers. For example, Scheibel Halaska works with several clients on email newsletters aimed at keeping customers in the loop.

Current customers, after all, are your most crucial target audience. Sure, you’ve got to be out there selling. But it’s a whole lot easier to sell to the folks who are already sold on your company.

Advertising and the Internet: Time to Rethink the Relationship?

As a follow-up to our two recent posts on the obsession with ROI and the way information moves on the Internet, a new Advertising Age column dovetails nicely: Matthew Creamer’s “Think Different: Maybe the Web's Not a Place to Stick Your Ads” (subscription needed).

For marketers and agencies, says Creamer, big changes are happening in the way we do business—or at least they should be happening. He quotes Trevor Kaufman, CEO of Schematic, the interactive agency recently purchased by WPP Group:

"It's easy for clients and agencies to think about banners and email because buying banners is like buying outdoor and email is like direct. That is very different than nurturing the community of your customers, providing great content or executing transactions."

Lessons to mull over:

• We can’t simply jump into the digital game with a traditional-media approach that isn’t suited for the social dynamics of the digital environment. Banners can work well on niche websites, but don’t overlook the countless other opportunities to connect with customers in new ways.
• We shouldn’t obsess over tactical metrics like click-through rates that track how many people we’re reaching instead of how well we’re getting through to them.

The biggest lesson, however, is that we have many lessons to learn. The digital media landscape is rapidly maturing, and there’s a real need for serious reflection on what we’re doing there.

Meanwhile, many marketers and advertisers haven’t even gotten past the “brochureware” stage of Internet content—literature conceived for print, converted to digital. So it seems that we’ve got a lot of thinking to do …

Why ROI isn’t everything (but it still matters a lot)

In an interesting take on the current obsession with ROI in marketing, blogger Justin Cooper laments that the phrase “ROI” was the top marketing buzz phrase of 2007:

For a marketing executive to say "This sounds great, but what's the ROI?" demonstrates that they are missing the point. The person that asks this question is caught up in the evaluation of their tactics and not thinking about the content of their customer's experience. It's like focusing on the buttons of the phone, rather than the conversation.

Now, for us marketers, this is a hairy argument—especially in B2B, and especially especially in uncertain economic times. Clients pay for our services, so we need ways we can demonstrate the impact of what we do. We even recommended using ROI-measurable tactics in a recent post.

But true marketing ROI can’t be determined by the handy numbers you can claim from an assortment of tactics. It’s got to be part of a larger strategy aimed at meeting big-picture goals like entering new markets, gaining market share, etc.

As Cooper points out, customers must be involved in shaping that strategy. They’re the ones whose interests will make or break your company’s success. So ask yourself: Are your customers full collaborators in your marketing conversation? If not, you’re just talking at them, not with them. And they probably aren’t listening much.

That’s why, absent a marketing strategy based on what customers actually want, reader impressions or basic response levels don’t count for much. But integrated with a comprehensive strategy to advance business goals, ROI-measurable tactics can still help you understand how well you’re supporting the cause.

Better Latte than Never: Starbucks Strives to Reclaim the Old Brand Magic

So, Starbucks shut its doors for three hours on Tuesday. Oh, the tragedy for its loyal customers!

What loyal customers, you say? Well, that’s the problem for Starbucks. The gourmet coffee giant has lost customers over the last several years, with an overextended brand that’s taken the company too far away from its roots. Which, ostensibly, is why Starbucks shut down across the land Tuesday afternoon: to give its “baristas” a refresher course on how to do justice to the Mermaid brand.

CEO Howard Schultz has been leading a back-to-gourmet-basics effort since he returned to Starbucks last year. For one, he 86ed the hot breakfasts, whose watery, eggy aromas were stifling the more valuable scent of Starbucks’ daily roasts. More boldly, Schultz also closed hundreds of stores—we’re guessing in those areas where Starbuckses (?) were literally across the street from each other.

How much can the baristas really have learned in Tuesday’s three-hour, one-off training session? That’s not really the point. Now, it may have instilled a little extra pride in employees’ work. And doing it during normal work hours couldn’t have hurt. But the biggest victories in the Starbucks shutdown lie in all the related publicity and the underlying message about refocusing on its coffee and its core customers.

Of course, competitors like Dunkin Donuts took advantage of the opportunity to spin the story their way. Touché!

But if Starbucks is successful in reclaiming the differentiating brand that caffeinated its original success, the company should be able to fend off Dunkin just fine. B2B companies tend to emulate what B2C companies do right. In this case, however, we should learn from what Starbucks did wrong. Stay committed to what sets you apart, and you’ll maintain your competitive edge.

The AMA’s New Definition of Marketing Misses the Mark

What is marketing?

Now, there’s a can of worms. And here comes the American Marketing Association to further confuse the issue with its new definition:

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.

Sounds more like the definition of overkill. Around the office, we had to pass this around and read it 20 times before it made any sense to anyone. First off, isn’t an “offering” something you do at church? …

OK, so maybe this is an academic definition. But really, that’s no excuse. Marketing is a professional service, paid for by clients. We have to be able to explain ourselves in a way that makes sense to “customers, clients, partners and society.” In an era of tight budgets and fierce international competition, clients demand—and deserve—to know exactly what’s in it for them.

Instead, we get the AMA’s new spew of verbiage, and it’s just the sort of toothless, garbled communication-by-committee we warn clients against all the time.

As a BtoB Magazine story points out, we aren’t alone in furrowing our brows. Marketing blogger Mike Smock has been one of the most vocal critics of the new definition. Here’s his version: Marketing is ideas and actions that generate increasingly profitable market share.

Not sure if Smock’s new take is perfect, but it’s got a lot going for it. It’s clear, it’s concise and it takes a stand—like today’s best marketing communications writing. And it also emphasizes an indispensable element of marketing that gets lost in the AMA definition: business results.

When the dust clears on this debate, whatever way we end up defining the activities and audiences of marketing, the focus must be on helping clients achieve their business goals.

How Can We Bring Clarity to a Cluttered Media Picture?

There’s a lot of professional soul-searching going on among media types these days, and people in the public relations realm are joining in.

Whom to pitch to? Where to plug?

A decade or so ago, all you had to do was pick out your strategic targets from a list of trade pubs, major newspapers and TV stations. You nurtured relationships with a few VIPs, and spread your message to large swaths of target audiences through outlets those people generally trusted for credible information.

The game isn’t so simple anymore, mostly due to the Internet—blogs, social networking sites, etc. Today, the media landscape is dramatically more fragmented and commoditized. Meanwhile, the public’s trust in traditional, mainstream media appears to be waning.

This is not to say that traditional media are out of the picture. It’s just that the picture is a lot larger and more cluttered than before. Now, people can go just about anywhere to get their news, and they do. And we can go just about anywhere to share that news, and we must.

But how do we sift through all those blogs and websites and online communities to find the ones that are relevant to our clients’ objectives and credible to the people they need to reach?

The task may be considerably more convoluted, but it’s still all about the same due diligence we’ve always given to each client’s needs. Start with strategy, and keep working from there—because the days of measuring success in column inches in a newspaper, or sound bites in a newscast, are long gone.

Truth in Advertising: A Refreshing Approach

With an enduring perception of consumer advertising as rife with exaggeration and half-truths, the American public has over time been desensitized. We’ve tolerated a certain degree of “dishonesty” because it has become commonplace in TV, radio, print and even electronic ads.

But what has contributed to this situation? Tobacco advertising has certainly had an impact. In the annals of advertising history, smoking was typically depicted as fun or seductive. Cigarette manufacturers continued their glamorous portrayal of smoking even as evidence mounted that it caused numerous ill effects—until, of course, they were forced to change their behavior.

The cosmetic industry has been even more blatant with their claims. Even with constant exposés on ineffective products and less than remarkable results, purchasers continue to view these products as the equivalent to the fountain of youth. So, while we know we are being tricked, we continue to buy and use these products thinking we’ll find the one that does work.

The pharmaceutical industry is another case and point. We continue to look for a magic pill, a panacea for what ails us. Many over-the-counter and prescription drug ads have come under fire for false or misleading claims. But the nearly $3 billion spent each year on prescription drug campaigns says that people are being influenced by this advertising. Truth in Advertising: Rx Drug Ads Come of Age

Earlier this month, we witnessed a new approach to product advertising. With the release of the much heralded, first FDA-approved, over the counter diet pill, Alli™ , consumers were given a harsh dose of reality instead of smoke and mirrors. They were told that this pill could prevent the body from absorbing fat in some foods if, and only if, they became active participants in the diet process.

In an advertising campaign that is expected to cost more than $150 million in the first year alone, GlaxoSmithKline’s ad agency says, “The campaign is aimed at a jaded consumer.” It doesn’t offer a magic bullet, or in this case, a magic pill. It encourages lifestyle changes. In order for the pill to be effective, people need to eat right and exercise more. A unique solution? No. But certainly an honest, refreshing approach to promoting the product!

On the mini-site created in conjunction with the product launch http://www.myalli.com/, GlaxoSmithKline boldly states, “It’s time for an honest voice. A promise kept.” Is this the beginning of a new era in advertising? We hope so.

Obviously, the best advertising advice is to tell the truth. Honesty is indeed the best policy. It creates a trust relationship with your target audience that outlives any immediate gain realized by quick-hit ads relying on half-truths and exaggeration. And while it may take some time for this approach to catch on, if you follow this bit of advice, you’ll at least enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a clear conscience.

A New Study Shows Many Are Beginning to Embrace Emerging Media Opportunities. Are You?

“Never before in history has innovation offered the promise of so much to so many in so short a time.” - Bill Gates

Although Mr. Microsoft’s words referred to today’s pace of technological innovation in general, they’re especially relevant in the specific context of new media opportunities. No other period in history has seen the emergence of as many distinctly new media options as the one we find ourselves in today.

But most major advertisers have been reluctant to leave the comfortable embrace of traditional media (TV, radio, newspaper, magazines, etc.). Sure… they’ve talked about and dabbled in new media, but their budgets have remained firmly entrenched in the old stand-bys. However, recent survey data shows that the major players may finally be ready to “put their money where their mouths are.”

According to the 2007 Media Investment Survey conducted by the American Advertising Federation (AAF)—on whose national board I serve—nearly three-quarters of respondents are reserving up to 20% of their media investment budgets for experimentation in the new media ecosystem. In fact, 52% say… “I am more likely to anticipate, prepare for, and get out in front of changes in the media landscape.”

Many recent developments in new media were long-anticipated (TV programs on the internet, text messaging, social media). However, the pace of innovation is such that there several also caught the industry by surprise, including:

• The rush to Second Life-type virtual community space
• The rise of YouTube
• The popularity of mash-ups or Web applications that have more than one source

"Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement."
- William Pollard

All these new options are a boon for the creative output of the advertising industry. In fact, a full 87.4% of respondents believe that media innovations inspire creativity, and they’re willing to invest their budgets to harness that creativity.

When asked about approaches to media planning in the coming year, respondents ranked “I am always open to new ways to use traditional media” highest (at 78 percent), followed by “the right media mix almost always includes a balance of traditional and nontraditional media” (at 75.5 percent), and “the search for new media properties to grow my brand never stops” (at 57.7 percent).

The AAF survey makes it abundantly clear that there will never again be “business as usual” regarding media options available to the advertising and marketing industry. The pace of change is such that those that are not in a constant state of experimentation and will fast find themselves at a severe competitive disadvantage.

The AAF Media Investment Survey 2007 included nearly 1,000 advertising industry leaders, spread across agency (38 percent), media (26.9 percent), advertiser/client (13.6 percent) and other (21.4 percent, composed mostly of suppliers and academics) sectors, with the majority being at the director (19 percent), owner (18 percent) or manager (17.6 percent) level. Nearly 31 percent of participants are part of a team that makes the final media investment decision for their company. A full summary of the survey results can be found here (PowerPoint document, 891k).

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