Ok, this might be an unpopular thing to write on this page.
But the reality is that there always has been an undercurrent of dread for commercial ploys to get the unsuspecting public to buy stuff that they don’t necessarily need.
Promotional marketing gets a little bit more respect among the masses than general advertising because it’s designed to engage or entertain. When done right, the audience takes action because it’s interested in what’s being offered.
I realize that I might have opened a Pandora’s Box last month by running the anti-marketing diatribe by renowned comic book artist R. Crumb (see this month’s letters on page 21 for both pro and con sentiments).
But I also recently encountered several instances of marketing executives admitting that they’re fed up with being bombarded with unsolicited come-ons that they view as a total waste of time.
Going to work last week I rode the subway with the father of one of my daughter’s friends. It turns out that he works a block away from Promo’s office at a marketing agency specializing in health care.
Genuinely interested in the magazine, he confided that — as a consumer — he’s tired of some company trying to get his attention everywhere he turned. “I know that’s a weird thing for me to say, given my job,” he sheepishly admitted.
Later that day I headed over to a panel discussion at the ad:tech convention at the Hilton, a bonanza of all things interactive marketing that has grown by leaps and bounds since I last attended.
The CMO of a major Madison Avenue agency talked about how the leading floral marketer forever lost a customer as the result of him being hit with a relentless bombardment of e-mail. He regretted ever placing an order.
I was reminded of an interview I did last year with G2 Direct & Digital chairman and CEO Larry Kimmel for Direct, Promo’s sister magazine.
As a new parent, he now has less tolerance for marketing spin. “I want to know the facts more quickly and be sure that the information is credibly delivered. It’s a new world, where content is king and consumers are in control.”
Kimmel added, “We’re not really in the advertising business anymore. We’re in the accountable, education and entertainment business because consumers are so empowered to decide what commercial messages they want to receive and what they want to reject. You have to engage consumers differently — it’s incumbent upon us now to add value, to tell them why this product or service suits them, solve the problems they may not know they have, enhance their lives or entertain them. You can’t tell people what to do any more.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
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