Getting Ahead Of The Advertising Curve | New technology brings new opportunities and challenges to marketing efforts
Image/PepsiCo
Pepsi plans to skip Super Bowl advertising for the first time in 24 years. The decision by the soft drink giant is seen as a sign of the times, as more marketers go online and mobile to reach consumers.
As millions of people gather around television sets to watch the 44th Super Bowl on Feb. 7, one thing will be missing: Pepsi commercials.
This year marks the first time in 24 years that the soft drink company will not have a Super Bowl presence. Instead of producing multiple, 30-second Super Bowl commercials—at $3 million a pop—this year Pepsi will be investing that money in a community service initiative marketed mostly online. And while no small business in Central Massachusetts can compete with Pepsi’s advertising budget or the size of its audience, it can look for new online opportunities just the same. The general consensus among local advertising experts is that new online advertising opportunities do exist; businesses just need to know where to look.
Profile Update
Within the last year and a half, businesses of all sizes have created corporate profiles on social networking web sites like Facebook, but that hardly qualifies as breaking news.
Social networking sites are still at the forefront when it comes to online appeal, with Facebook leading the charge, and there are significant opportunities to cash in on the market.
But, cautions Joe Giacobbe, general manager at Palley Advertising in Worcester, simply creating a Facebook page for a business is not enough.
“If you don’t really have something to say, it just becomes noise to a certain extent and people just tune it out,” he said. “At some point, people are just going to stop looking and that defeats the whole purpose.”
A corporate Facebook page may work for companies with the size and scope of Pepsi or Starbucks, but for many local businesses, it will lead to a dead end. Instead, Giacobbe says businesses should look toward Facebook and other social networking sites as an advertising medium.
“Ads are being served pretty much everywhere on the Internet,” he said. “We have many customers that advertise on Facebook, but it wasn’t an easy sell. It’s become a much easier sell over the last few months.”
Now that Facebook is almost 6 years old and with more than 350 million users, it might seem surprising that companies are only beginning to consider the advantages of advertising on the site, but Giacobbe believes that’s a product of the recession more than it is a representation of corporate understanding.
“I don’t think last year was a question that they didn’t understand it,” he said. “I think they just didn’t want to spend the money on it.”
Locals Only
New technology might create new avenues for advertisers, but it also poses some challenges for marketing via more traditional mass media, such as television and radio spots.
iPods and satellite radio have rendered many of the “old fashioned” music radio stations obsolete; while TIVO and DVR technology have made television commercials a thing of the past, too.
But as Andrew Davis, president of Davis Advertising in Worcester explains, advertisers can’t jump ship altogether.
“Is there any question that it’s harder and harder to reach people? Yes,” he said. “You have to be more selective as to what channels you pick and what programs you pick.”
When it comes to television and radio, Davis said it’s all about focusing on local news and programming.
“People still turn into local radio stations and local sports, and they’re not going to get that from satellite,” he said. “And the ratings will reflect what people are watching. People are not TIVOing the news.”
The Next Big Thing
Of course the next big thing for online marketing could come in the form of an iPhone, a Blackberry or any other variation of a smart phone. With new applications coming online every day, advertising agencies are beginning to tap into mobile applications as a way to create one-on-one marketing.
“When you can customize something to a specific user and their specific habits, that’s where the money is being spent,” said Rich Suitum, president of Exsel Advertising in Spencer.
He says it’s still in the early stages, but there are signs pointing to smart phone applications being a bigger draw for advertisers in the coming months.
“It might not be as far off as we think,” he said. “Marketers are trying to find where the consumer is and the younger demographics live on their phones.”
For advertisers, in the end it comes down to staying up to date with the latest technologies and the possibilities that exist with each of them, while still understanding that at the core, the goal hasn’t changed.
“I’ve been in the advertising agency for 35 years, but I never thought we’d be hiring computer science engineers,” said Dave Monti, senior vice president and manager of the RDW Group’s Worcester office. “It shows you how quickly the technology is changing and how seriously the advertising agency is taking it. It all boils down to reaching target markets in the most efficient, cost-effective way, and that hasn’t changed. That’s what driving the whole thing.”
WBJ Web Partners
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