When Online Advertising Goes Wrong

More and more, when advertising products, we have to think of new ways to grab people's attention. The logical move is to 'be where the people are'. This has led to an increasing amount of digital media replacing more traditional print and TV media over the past decade. It's how Google made and continues to make its money. The next step will be a sweeping digital convergence of those more 'traditional' mass channels...that will lead to a resurgence in those spaces. That's really the motivation behind Google launching into the TV space. As Google says, 'Not only are TVs the center of our living rooms, but 5 billion of us use them. That's more than the number of people who use cell phones or computers.' We will see digital advertising pick up more cues from its better looking TV advertising brother...but now those good-looking ads will be trackable and measurable. Hmm...I wonder how that will affect creativity when clients can justifiably say that the funniest commercials don't always convert into the most sales. Uh oh.

Anyway, we have some time before this is all figured out. The algorithms, for example, that serve up digital advertising based on what is relevant to the web site or page you're viewing is not yet a perfect science. Actually, as we can see in the examples below, it's anything but. Enjoy the laugh. Unless you've just pumped most of your budget into online ads...then I'd be calling my media planner to check EXACTLY where they're going to appear. ~ p

Mini-break in Greece

Evian baby...mmm...

Dad, what would happen...

Toyota!

We've got you under our wing

Samsung Blast (for real)

Free Food Poisoning for Two

Hooray Beer!

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Pepsi to Show Consumer-Made Ads during the Super Bowl

PepsiCo announced today that they are going to once again put the power of persuasion into the hands of the consumer for both its Doritos brand and its Pepsi MAX brand. This year, through their 'Crash the Super Bowl' contest, Pepsi is going to offer an unprecedented amount of six 30-second Super Bowl spots to be created by Average Joes. Not only will winners have their commercial aired during the biggest football game of the year, if these ads sweep the top three rankings on the USA Today ad meter, the winning creator will win an ad contract and a $5 million payout! The re-born actress Betty White, whose Super Bowl ad for Snickers (below) topped the Ad Meter chart earlier this year, will also be involved in the contest to help inspire ad creators.

Lauren Hobart of PepsiCo Beverages America said, “We are excited to return to the Super Bowl this year to drive mass awareness that Pepsi MAX has Zero Calories and maximum taste through a consumer engagement program like Crash the Super Bowl. We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere and we're excited to give Pepsi MAX fans the chance to showcase their creative talents on one of the world's biggest stages. With our colleagues at Doritos, we're confident fans of both brands will put it all on the line this year and that the experience will help catapult their careers in many new and exciting ways.” PepsiCo stock has risen 3.6% in the past 3 months.

As I mentioned in a portereport this week, we are increasingly seeing consumer-generated material takeover the mainstream media space. And, as Mashable reports, brands are forgoing high-budget, agency-created TV commercials to pursue more interactive opportunities with consumers. Last year, Pepsi decided against airing a Super Bowl ad in favor of a $20 million social media campaign, dubbed Pepsi Refresh. Pepsico brand Mountain Dew has similarly forgone more traditional routes with its social media-heavy Dewmocracy project as well. Amazon has also jumped on the consumer-created ad trend with its “Your Kindle” commercial contest it launched for the second time this year. The bigger trend here is the Integration of Consumers and Brands. We are just not being asked for feedback from companies, we are getting a chance to represent those companies in the public eye. ~ p