Consumers are downloading Ad Block software in droves and more and more TV viewers are time shifting rather than sit through commercials yet the ad industry, with trade magazines like Adweek and Ad Age, still talk about the most buzzworthy spots as if that buzz is going to translate into sales.
Advertising is meant to sell your product not to get people talking about it because that doesn’t mean shit when it comes to the balance sheet. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=”null”]Awareness does not translate into sales.[/inlinetweet] Insurance companies really believe that the more we see Flo and the Gekko, the more we will be likely to purchase insurance without first doing research (Google any brands name with sucks and you will find out what consumers really think).
Later this year the ad industry will go to Cannes to applaud each other and give themselves awards while key marketing executives are left to explain why sales are still declining.
There are some facts which every marketer should know about the ad industry..
1ne: Their job is to get you, the client, to spend money.
2wo: You’re paying for large agency overhead.
3hree: Very few agencies actually have a stake in your sales.
4our: They don’t understand digital and for the most part apply mass advertising metrics to digital.
5ive: With more brands adding in-house digital talent there is very little use for agencies except the small agencies who offer a level of expertise within certain industries.
6ix: Most senior marketing executives have huge ego’s and it’s more often, more about them, and their careers, than the brand.
7even: They don’t understand new consumers and still insist that they want to be interrupted with bad ads.
8ight: Their philosophy of “go where the eyeballs are” is myopic.
9ine: Too many ad industry exec’s earn way too much money.
10en: The “business” of getting clients to spend money still exists with stroke jobs.
Is this true for all agencies? No, of course not, but the ad industry continues to shoot themselves in the foot rather than focus on selling products.
