Ad 2.0 or Advertising 101?

My Take...


David Polinchock of Brand Experience Lab asks a Soflow forum "Are we spending too much time trying to come up with cool ways for people to talk about a mediocre product rather then developing cool products that people actually want to talk about?"

My take - if by "we" you mean ad agencies, then the answer is 'yes'. And I think that traditional media outlets from Yellow Pages through television networks are going along for the ride.

Cool products are developed through the genius of entrepreneurs. Then buzz happens. Great products and services create their own buzz organically and unstoppably. As long as the supply exists, buzz will keep selling it.

The best ad campaigns can only achieve short-term results when they create buzz around 'un-buzz-worthy' products. A different approach is needed that recognizes the potential for Web 2.0 - one that utilizes and depends on the continual input of satisfied customers.

This revolutionary approach would ignore traditional advertising. It would harness and encourage the organic excitement consumers feel when they experience something truly satisfying. This happens everywhere every day. "My back feels great - you gotta call my chiropractor!.. You have got to stay at this inn!.. You have got to call my landscaper!.. Oh - you are getting a new car? You gotta call my dealer¿"

This approach would exploit the forces that spawned each of marketing's recent evolutionary steps - multi-level, big-box, affiliate, viral, participatory - and marry them to word-of-mouth seamlessly and naturally. This is the potential of Web 2.0. If advertisers' aims fall short they'll end up with AOL instead of Google.

Wednesday August 30, 2006 - 02:30pm (EDT)