The internet (as it relates to the Advertising and Marketing Industry) did a few things. It:
– mesmerized
– made folks afraid they were missing out on something
– made questioning its dominance border on an act of heresy (this last point is most remarkable and warrants it’s own post to explore cult mentality – for another time)
But the chickens have come home to roost and the monsters of advertising that once touted an “optimized marketing mix lead by digital media” are done futzing around. P+G for example just announced it’s pulling back some of its Social Media spend (when it comes to the largest worldwide spender, “some” = a ton). For the 2016-2017 Network TV upfront, Madison Ave stopped playing hard to get and all but admitted that some ad dollars are better than others.
There can be no other logical conclusion for why this narrow obsession with Digital Advertising went on for so long and at such a high cost; there was never a broad enough understanding of how advertising worked in the first place. The many competing theories, such as Showmanship, Salesmanship, Signaling Theory, Social Proof Theory, Rational, Emotional, Art, Science, etc.. all expressed different views, but in the end were not grasped thoroughly enough by most and perhaps more importantly, were just loose enough to be retrofitted to whatever AdTech was spawn by the net.
And perhaps in what might be the greatest irony of all, the hucksters’ fate would ultimately be to educate; never before has there been such a large scale sense of what matters when it comes to advertising. Conflating DR with Branding, Demography with Destiny, and Delivery Systems with the Ads, has resulted in an industry wide audit that has illuminated some rock solid and enduring truths about the biz.
It’s always been complicated to Reach, Resonate and get a Reaction from people. It’s been even more difficult to tie the 3 R’s back to sales. THEN, as fate would have it, the internet came along and smashed head on into the already wacky world of marketing. Like 2 Galaxies that collide, there was chaos, upheaval and total disorder. Like gravity that eventually instills order to the newly formed galaxy, consumers have been the stabilizing force in an industry that for a while there, was spinning utterly out of control…
