Why is traditional advertising dead?

By Jim Boulton, Deputy MD, Story Worldwide

Advertising spending is plummeting, the recession has led to a re-evaluation of frivolous spending on the part of brands and consumers alike, and messages conveyed through traditional advertising no longer have any value. Consumers will no longer idly sit through static, one-way advertising and brands will no longer pay for it. The only way brands can connect with customers is by genuinely adding value to their lives, either by providing them with useful tools or telling them informative and entertaining stories that audiences actually want to hear. Imagine that.

The trend is clear: smart brands have recognised traditional advertising only works when it’s not advertising. Wieden & Kennedy’s brilliant ads for Honda work because they are genuinely engaging. Rather than being mere sign-posts towards products, they have value in their own right. People (let’s not call them consumers) no longer passively accept products being relentlessly rammed down their throat and then dutifully nip off down the shops. Brands need to create brand experiences that are a positive use of peoples’ time so that when they decide to buy, the brand in question is thought of favourably.

Those brands that survive in the post-advertising era recognise that the age of persuasion is over and instead invest their advertising budgets in great content, as Honda are doing with W&K and Stella Artois is doing with Mother. However, those brands that not only survive but thrive in the post-advertising era, will be the ones that are not only interesting to their audiences but are interested in their audiences, which is where traditional advertising, even if it is great advertising, falls down.

The purpose of a piece of branded content, of which an advert is one example, is not only to grab the audience’s attention but critically to stimulate a positive conversation about the brand. It is no longer enough for a brand to tell people it’s great, it has to encourage its customers to do so. This leads us to a potentially counter-intuitive conclusion and a premise that sits at the centre of post-advertising – longer acquisition cycles are a good thing!

Traditional advertising tries to convert a customer at every touch point, taking them from brand awareness to customer in one foul swoop. Post-advertising purposefully extends the customer acquisition cycle, believing that the more times a brand and a customer engage before purchase, the more likely the customer is to be loyal. Not only are loyal customers marketing nirvana, with low costs to service and high chances of advocacy, they are repeatedly given opportunities to endorse during the course of the acquisition process. Every time a brand stimulates a positive response, it has a ripple effect, which encourages more branded conversations and greater advocacy.

Post-advertising turns marketing on its head. It’s not about selling, it’s about caring. It’s not about conversions, it’s about engagement. And crucially, it’s not about short-term profits, it’s about long-term revenues.