Attention in a fragmented media space
Luke Aviet, managing director Advertising UK, AOL & Goviral, says a 30-second TV ad or a display banner is no longer enough, users want and expect a richer and more meaningful story, driven by audiovisual and interactive content…
“We’re not in the business of keeping media companies alive, we’re in the business of connecting with consumers.”
This is a quote from Trevor Edwards, the vice president, global brand & category management at Nike (and the guy behind Nike+) and I believe that it not only outlines some of the biggest challenges our industry faces in the ever expanding digital media landscape but that it also demonstrates the greatest opportunity we’ve had as advertisers and marketers – the ability to speak directly with our consumers.
The challenge consists mainly of attention in a fragmented media space. Today’s media landscape has a constant attention deficit and this will only grow in the coming years as both more and better content finds its way online. As advertisers we are competing head-to-head with games, apps, music, video and IM for the users attention – our hope of mass bombarding them with messages dwindles further every day.
However, the quote also proves that forward thinking clients (of which there are more and more every day) are becoming increasingly switched on to the plethora of channels and content possibilities they can now exploit in their bid to reach their consumer base, and the opportunity it is giving them that they are no longer confined to a 30-second message or a full page ad. We say at goviral, that “every company will be more like a media company” – most just don’t realise it yet.
In the first wave of the internet up to 2001, the desired outcome of digital advertising was reach, the main driver being access and the format of choice, display. Then we started talking about performance, Google championed that model with paid search. With broadband reaching a critical tipping point, we are moving in to the third phase of the internet – as a content medium – and this is a world where experience dominates.
To communicate meaningfully to consumers in a world of experience we need stories. Branding has, at its core, always been about great storytelling, and it still is. What’s changing is the way we activate and engage. A 30-second TV ad or a display banner is no longer enough, users want and expect a richer and more meaningful story, driven by audiovisual and interactive content.
Look at Edwards’ company through the lens of this backdrop.
During the last decade Nike has moved 55% of its TV budgets in to what they call “experiences”. Stefan Olander, global director for brand connections, explains: “We want to find a way to enhance the experience and services we offer, rather than looking for a way to interrupt people from getting where they want to go.”
As a result Nike now owns and operates hundreds of platforms, websites, Youtube channels, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, to name but a few. They have essentially completed the transformation from brand business to a media company. This move is perhaps best explained by Nike’s “The chance” campaign.
This was a reality show based around a real football academy where hundreds of hopefuls vied for a space in the academy, which saw hours of video footage created online with the users choosing the eventual winner. I invite you to have a look at this and some of the other stuff Nike football is doing with video that caters to all parts of the marketing funnel from awareness to loyalty. In the future, marketing will be much more like this and a lot less like the traditional 30-second ad.