Chinwag's Old Blog: A Campaign Too Far?
The latest edition of Iconocast, the San Francisco-based trendwatching newsletter asks whether marketing effectiveness, regardless of media, is dropping. Common sense dictates that with the plethora of media opportunities available, we're all being exposed by so many marketing messages that it's not surprising we're ignoring more and more of them.
Maybe that's why there's a strong interest in viral marketing online and street teams 'in the real world'. Iconocast mentioned MindShare's Wow Factory with it's mission to excite and 'music star' P. Diddy getting in on the act with his own street-wise marketing company, Blue Flame whose designers clearly like Flash, a lot! All interesting stuff in the battle for the public's share of mind but can it go too far?
Did you know in the US, you can buy sponsorship on police cars? A handy way for corporates to support law and brand enforcement, or something scary you thought you'd only see in films. Yes, you read that right. Picture the arrest scene now..."You have the right to remain silent, etc, etc." brought to you by Bob's Big Burgers. Consumer awareness group Commercial Alert provides an insight into how the more 'out there' marketing techniques are being received by the public.
This trend seems to be moving online as well, with ISP behemoth AOL talking about banning pop-up ads from their service. Boy, has it taken them a while to suss that people get really irked with these things. I wish the Media Guardian would follow suit and ditch them from their site, too. We live in hope. To my mind the whole pop-up phenomenonm, whilst bolstering revenues for a short while, is the equivalent of letting marketers shout their message very loudly without really having to think about the message itself.
Certainly the rise of people-powered marketing, which I think it's safe to say is one of digital media's strongest marketing tactics is on the rise. The popularity of Lycos' Viral chart reinforces the fact that people will send each other all sorts of marketing materials if they hit the right chord. How many times have you been sent Kylie's Agent Provacteur ad (or downloaded it - you know who you are!).
This'll be one to sit back and watch...but first here's a message from our sponsors...
7 November 2002 by Sam Michel
Sam Michel is the founder of Chinwag and blogs here for work, and more randomly at Toodlepip. He runs Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and tends to focus on murky place where technology, community and marketing collide. You'll find him on twitter @toodlepip.
Sam Michel is the founder of Chinwag and blogs here for work, and more randomly at Toodlepip. He runs Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and tends to focus on murky place where technology, community and marketing collide. You'll find him on twitter @toodlepip.
