Advertisers are all set to woo their consumers with communications that are innovative in their use of media. Anyone will tell you how irritating it is to have an advertisement pop up while he or she is attempting to quickly access information about weather or traffic. As if this were not enough, agencies are now experimenting with mobile advertising.
But wait—things are not so bleak! More than anything else, the focus is now on how to blend into your target consumers' lists of favorites. And this relates to the type of media conveying the communication. Forget plain vanilla advertising in print, on television, and outdoors. Advertisers are more aware than ever that the medium is the message and are accordingly adjusting their strategies.
Beep! You've Got a Message.
Mobile advertising has been surrounded by buzz lately—and rightly so. With legions of cell-phone users signing up with Cingular and Verizon every day, marketers are eagerly considering how best to use mobile devices to promote products.
There is a catch here, though: advertising cannot come at the cost of the mobile-device user's convenience. Earlier this year, in January, Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint were thinking about testing advertising on mobile-phone screens. Other carriers offered to lower customers' bills in return for viewing ads.
It will be some time before the use of this medium for advertising really takes off. One reason for this is that ads will need to be created in a format compatible with multiple carriers.
The Movie-Theater Experience
We're all familiar with movie previews. While some people find these loud, wide-screen ads entertaining, there are those who fidget and fume while the commercial reels roll.
However, marketers are aware that they need to add value to people's moviegoing experiences. It is a well-known fact that if advertising is forced or comes at an inconvenient time, people view the advertised brands negatively. Your child may sing a particular jingle happily, but you won't buy the brand of sweets it advertises for her because incessantly hearing the tune irritates you.
It is the latter category of preview watchers that advertisers are thinking about now. With many leading brands making cinema advertising part of their media plans, the production of film previews was a nearly $600 million business in 2006. However, the onus is now on agencies, which must figure out how to integrate advertisements more effectively. If those in the industry have their way, ads will no longer be called "irritating" or "intrusive."
