Has Traditional Advertising Stopped Working ?

One of the most curious aspects of the digital / social marketing revolution is seeing silver maned ad men trying to ‘get’ the new paradigm*. Not that there’s anything wrong with being silver maned.

It must be frustrating for experienced masters of the marketing universe that they have to learn – when truth be told, they really don’t want to – an entirely new set of metrics, platforms, strategies and deliverables. Advertising, while certainly not easy is far simpler. If only those pesky consumers had stayed away from that new fangled internet thingy!!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for a minute saying that traditional advertising has been suddenly rendered ineffective. To the contrary, it’s still an important part of most marketing programs. For now.

To that point however, there are two fundamental questions: is traditional advertising still the main piece of the communication puzzle because it delivers the best results? Or is it because the people selling & buying advertising programs don’t know better ways to achieve their respective objectives?

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

What’s clear is that for all the blogs and blather about digital and social media, the biggest issue for people making decisions about where to invest marketing funds is risk reduction. Prove to me that all this exciting digital and social stuff works and I’ll go for it.

It makes complete sense. So what if Facebook has 500 million members; I need to increase my market share by 3 points and volume by 7.3 % MAT this year vs. last year. Advertising has been delivering the numbers for years so why should I change?

Unless it’s done at the end of a bayonet or M1 Abrams tank, changes of epoch happen gradually. No, traditional advertising has not stopped working but the jury is out. As it is for digital marketing and social media . It’s a fascinating moment in time. Many have a foot in one camp and a couple of toes in the other.

In a couple of years – or less – the jury will be back, the proof will be legion and the way most goods and services are marketed will have changed forever.

* Kudos for someone who can come up with a better word than ‘paradigm’.