In our industry, it is important to always be moving forward. Marketing without progression makes a company, brand, or product antiquated in so many ways. However, as the landscape changes and marketers are constantly learning of new ways to communicate with the audience, we sometimes forget to get back to the basics and make those new again.

Consumers are so inundated with advertising messages we have a very small window of time in which to accomplish our objectives. It becomes increasingly difficult to find new and different ways to get their attention. Web 2.0 has provided those new and different attention-grabbing ways, so it’s not surprising how easy it is to get caught up in the latest and greatest ways to get brand messages out there. But what about old tactics?

This article from Fast Company got me thinking about a marketing technique that’s been used since the 1920’s. The Jingle! For some reason many people seem to view the jingle as an antiquated strategy. And while yes, many jingles we know may be pretty old school – that doesn’t mean it’s not still an effective way to connect with the consumer. One thing that stood out to me most from this article was this little tid bit:
“There’s no doubt about it, sound is immensely powerful. And yet 83% of all the advertising communication we’re exposed to daily focuses, almost exclusively, on the sense of sight”.

The real key is to apply the same marketing 101 principles in today’s advertising environment. We don’t have to create spots with a doe eyed kid, sitting in his 1960’s kitchen singing to the camera. Jingles aren’t just voice overs anymore. Think State Farm – they do a really great job of integrating a jingle within their ad message to create stronger recall of their tagline: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

It’s not so much about whether or not to use “old school” marketing techniques like the jingle. It’s more about HOW you use them. The landscape may have changed but the principles haven’t. Our challenge is still to get (and keep) the attention of the target audience. And sound is an amazing way to do that.

The decision of where to place your marketing message used to be a no-brainer. Your choices included broadcast, print or in store media placements. It was simple and the media was simple. As the use of the “world-wide-web” became mainstream, online advertising was born. Marketers were able to add banner ads, email marketing campaigns and more to their arsenal of media options. Then just as marketers became comfortable with the options in online advertising, we have seen the emergence of Social Media and Mobile Marketing. And these platforms are evolving at pace never seen before.

It is more important then ever to understand your target audience and where they are spending their time consuming media. It is becoming more and more about the user experience everyday.

First Changes

Mobile marketing in its simplest form appears as SMS messaging: the user sends a text message to a short code and receives a pre-programmed response from the advertiser. Advertisers have seen the marketing benefits of Mobile Marketing at the point-of-sale influencing purchasing decisions, building consumer relationships, and providing increased consumer intelligence. It is pretty obvious why technology is evolving at such a rapid pace.

Evolution

Already, Mobile Marketing has evolved from standard SMS messaging techniques to Image Recognition technology. We are also quickly seeing the potential of Augmented Reality in the consumer experience. Take for instance Stella Artois’ Le Bar Guide, where using augmented reality allows a mobile application to overlay the profile of bars surrounding your current location. The recent launch of Apple’s iPad has even further exposed potential Mobile Marketing and its effects on how we look at the very definition of “mobile”, and how advertisers choose to spend marketing dollars. Time, Inc. recently released this video demonstration of how tablets are changing their advertising model.

Mix It Up

And while the world of marketing is ever changing, traditional methods still have a place (Apple’s iPad is advertised on the back cover of my latest issue of National Geographic, after all). Traditional marketing still has relevancy, but it might sit next to some new, technologically savvy neighbors in your annual marketing plan. Proper use and integration of new technologies with older ones will be the key to success.

Our reputation is based on our creativity. That doesn’t sound very unique for an ad agency to say but it’s all about how you define creativity. Many creatives lean towards a dramatic visual as the definition of creative. Others lean toward provocative copy. Very few put the two together. Even fewer support the visual or copy to show the advantage of the product. One of the ad giants of the industry once said: an interesting image would be a man standing on his head. I agree it would catch the eye but then what? Unless you’re selling a product that keeps things from falling out of that man’s pocket, it’s just an image that has no meaning.

Take a look at the ad campaigns out there. Whether it be a billboard or a banner ad, I ask you to look for this: Can you identify the unexpected, dramatic element in each ad and determine if it passes the test for relevance? Does the entertainment overshadow or fail to deliver the sales message?

In this list of  “50 extraordinary and attractive billboards,” we could only find a few ads that are entertaining AND relate that image to the product and/or message (see below).

Here are a few of our ads from our Flickr Photostream. We are confident in our ability to use eye-catching creative that means something to your audience.

All ad agencies can claim creativity. Unfortunately for some, creativity simply means entertainment. Open your mind.

Yesterday, as I walked into work with our creative director, my attention was brought to a pile of phone books lying on the ground beneath our mailbox. Darren, our CD, noted that they were for our office complex to use, but that they had been sitting there for about a year. A YEAR!

The nearly untouched pile of phone books got our minds turning. How long ago was it that EVERYONE wanted a spot in the Yellow Pages? It was one of the best tools to use in any print campaign.

We don’t mean to continually beat it into the ground, but times are changing. Web 2.0 is happening. It’s no longer the way of the future. Need a number? Google it. Need to find a company? Google it. Advertisers need to step up and embrace new mediums to really meet their customers.

We also don’t mean for you or your company to jump the metaphorical traditional advertising ship. Not at all. Print media is still relevant and can have a place in an advertising campaign. We’re just saying that it can’t be the only weapon in your arsenal. And more than anything, we believe in integration: using the right tools for the right audience, mixing necessary mediums.

So if you are one of those people or companies that is stuck in that traditional mindset of only using print advertising, you better step up your game and embrace new ways of communication. Because if you don’t, you’ll get left behind, just like the pile of untouched phone books sitting on the cold, hard ground outside of our office.