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My Final ClickZ Column: Online Advertising’s Stunted Growth
Sure. Online advertising spending is going up, up, up. But I want to ensure that if we’re going to continue to ascend, that we excel as well.
I’ll no longer be writing for ClickZ — hey, I’m a busy guy — but I will ALWAYS be passionately blogging right here, and chances are, you’ll be hearing from me occasionally in some other publications here and there. Taking my spot at ClickZ will be someone I know and love, so stay tuned for his musings…
In the meantime, here’s an excerpt and a link to my final column on ClickZ:
This is my last column for ClickZ, and it’s been a great couple of years.
A lot has happened since my first column in June 2005. Video advertising continues to blossom, and rich media is a standard part of nearly every media plan. Online advertising spending continues its ascent, with nary a sign of letting up. Consumer habits are evolving, and social media is a daily part of their lives.
A rosy picture, isn’t it?
Not so fast.
This industry, including publishers, agencies, and marketers, is stunting its growth and limiting its potential. You wouldn’t know it by all the M&A activity surrounding these captains of industry, but, trust me, it’s a big problem. It’s like the interactive industry is an advanced second grader the school doesn’t know how to handle, so he’s placed in third grade for half the day. The student may be recognized as intelligent, but he’ll have a difficult time being socially accepted.
If we are to advance on our own merits, we must make some fundamental changes to the way we strategize, sell, buy, and provide online advertising. The following are but a few items we must address before we can be officially labeled “mature”…
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>>A move toward using engagement metrics and away from direct response metrics is a step in the right direction>>
Agreed. But there’s also the unmeasurable metric: long-term branding. That’s something that I don’t think can ever be effectively measured since people tend not to be aware of the effect an ad has on them. But given the utilitarian way that most people use the web (e.g. checking the weather, looking up a flight schedule, getting an address) advertising that more closely resembles outdoor billboards is in order. Because if I’m online to check the weather, I may see and appreciate the message of your ad, but not have the time to engage with it.
Selling that notion to clients is a different story.