Ad blocking calls for a new, modern digital etiquette

Simply blocking the ad blockers is not a sustainable approach, writes MC&C’s Mike Colling. There is another way, however…

This week almost all of Sweden’s publishers announced they are pulling together to block the ad blockers during August. During this period consumers will be able to choose to either disable their ad blocker, pay a micro payment or view the content at a lower quality. So presumably it should act as a good test for somewhat short-term fixes to the ad blocking problem.

Apparently the IAB Sweden first started considering the move a year ago when the rate of ad blocking reached 20% – a milestone we reached in the UK last month according to the IAB UK.

Ad blocking rates have now reached 30% in Sweden, a sharp upward trajectory. If it continues to grow at a rate of 50% per year, we could see almost half of Sweden’s population blocking ads by this time next year – so it’s easy to see why publishers are feeling the pressure.

However, blocking the ad blockers isn’t a sustainable approach. If we go back a few years, we saw a very similar situation in direct mail.

In the early 90s, companies like Capital One effectively carpet bombed householders with unsolicited mail, taking what had been an incredibly effective marketing channel and ensuring all good advertising was lost in the noise – with consumers rightly enraged at the same time. In response, the Direct Marketing Association set-up the Mailing Preference Service: the first analogue equivalent of our current ad blockers.

As a result the direct mail industry reinvented itself to be more consumer friendly. Advertisers started to ask what formats and messages would add value to their audiences lives, rather than constantly bombarding them with the cheapest paper they could find. The volume of irritating direct mail fell.

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A decade or so on and most consumers now only receive about 10 letters a week. They value the majority of mail they receive, even if its unsolicited. They read it, and spend time with it: according to TouchPoints, about 18 minutes a day reading it on average.

So we now have a channel that is less irritating from a consumer perspective, and more effective in generating long term sustainable returns. The industry has found the correct “etiquette” in what is otherwise an intrusive and irritating medium.

The parallels with online advertising are stark. At present it feels like a gold rush is in play, with every space that can hold an advertising message receiving one. We have rushed head first into programmatic placements, divorcing the execution from the planning. The core focus is on cost reduction and not on value creation for our consumers.

I’m not a Luddite. I’m not advocating that we retreat from using digital content to create engagement and advertising opportunities. But to start a cold war with consumers where we try to trump their technology instead of listening to their frustration is lunacy.

In the analogue world, advertising has a value niche in a stable ecosystem of content and commerce. The message that the ad blocking phenomenon sends is that we have yet to achieve that stability in the digital world.

To my mind we have two choices: ask ourselves what formats and what volumes consumers will find valuable, or face the risk of extinction as the ad blocking rates rise ever upwards.

Mike Colling is CEO and Founder at MC&C