Attention-Deficit Advertising
Burt Helm
Business Week
April 24, 2008
It's the catch-22
of today's advertising world. Marketers, only too aware
that consumers are ignoring traditional ads, have
adopted the "more is more" approach and have begun
advertising everywhere—in taxis, fitness clubs, hospital
waiting rooms. But the clutter is numbing consumers to
all the messages. When they're not fast-forwarding
through TV commercials or clicking away from ads online,
people are getting pretty good at tuning them out.
That fact is challenging admakers worldwide, forcing
them to look for new ways to capture consumers'
attention. One trick you will start seeing a lot more
of: messages that, in and of themselves, provide a
service. Nick Law, chief creative officer of the agency
R/GA, has been doing this kind of thing for years, most
notably with Nike+, a site that helps runners track
their performance. "You have to ask, why would anyone
care about this [ad]?" says Law. "In the traditional
advertising world, that was never a question asked with
much rigor."
Taking a cue from the socialnetworking and texting
crazes, marketers are rolling out services that help
people connect with one another. A pioneer in this area
is the Chicago-based mobile ad firm Vibes Media. At a
series of outdoor concerts during the Final Four weekend
of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, Vibes displayed
viewers' text messages on screens above and next to the
stage. Messages rooting for teams, shouting out to
friends, and sending birthday wishes appeared below
prominent AT&T (T) or Coca-Cola (KO) logos. Some 5,000
people sent in 11,000 messages, according to Vibes. The
firm also has been offering bar patrons in Chicago, Los
Angeles, New York, and Atlanta the chance to send text
messages to the television screens at their local
watering holes. Alex Campbell, Vibes' CEO, says pick-up
lines typically abound, from "The blonde at the bar is
smoking hot!" to "Turn around, I'm right behind you." As
patrons stare at the screen waiting for their messages
to pop up, they can't miss the Bud Light ads placed
between them.
PASSING IT ON
Some of these newfangled ads don't just cut through the
clutter, they inspire consumers to spread the message
themselves. At the Hong Kong International Airport last
year, travelers saw a familiar, if unexpected, sight
when they checked into the gate area: photos of the
friends and family who had just dropped them off.
Through a special promotion, Motorola (MOT) enabled
loved ones to "Say Goodbye" via photos and messages sent
from their phones to digital billboards in the departure
area. The photos appeared there inside the image of a
giant Motorola mobile phone. Motorola got thousands of
Hong Kong's ad-inundated consumers to stare at a
billboard longer than usual. It also invited departing
travelers, via special instructions displayed on the
billboard, to use their phones to send a
Motorola-branded goodbye video featuring soccer star
David Beckham and Asian pop star Jay Chou to their
friends and families. As travelers sent the videos out,
Motorola ads proliferated throughout the world.
In an age when widgets—small, Web-based programs—are all
the rage, companies are increasingly creating online
tools that offer to help their customers. Clorox (CLX),
for instance, wanted homemakers to know that it sells a
range of cleaning products beyond bleach. It introduced
TimeWise, a Web program where consumers could schedule
reminders for cleaning tasks and kids' chores. The brand
name was prominent on the site, naturally, as were
offers for complementary products. Clorox won't discuss
the promotion's efficacy, but it has been discontinued.
Appearing useful is of particular interest to marketers
keen to place ads on mobile phones, a tricky prospect
since the potential annoyance factor is so high. Hoping
to sell more of its Johnnie Walker whisky in Singapore,
liquor giant Diageo, (DEO) with the help of OgilvyOne
Worldwide (WPPGY), created a "digital personal
assistant" for drinkers' mobile phones. An avatar named
"Jennie" sends out VIP invitations, information about
hot night spots, and Johnnie Walker promotions. For the
inebriated, the service includes a "take me home" button
that, when pressed, uses GPS to call a cab.
Companies are even wrapping ads around community
outreach. Eager to reinvigorate its image as a
basketball brand, Converse this fall began organizing
games for Miami's inner-city youth. Kids got to try out
new shoes and meet Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who
signed autographs and refereed. The program is moving to
more cities and, to get kids interested, Converse (NKE)
created an application on Facebook that allows people to
sign up friends to play an online basketball game.
Converse says it now has more than 40,000 people to add
to its database of potential customers, as well as
information on where they live. Now that's useful.