Living In The Echo Chamber
November 30th, 2009 | 
Author: Living In The Echo Chamber
Over the past few weeks quite a number of ad people and press people have turned their attention to the new Volkswagen campaigns being put out by Crispin Porter Bogusky. Since expectations are so high its quite a hot spotlight for any agency or campaign to be in.
The funny thing is I didnt see any part of the campaign on TV or in print first or anything that be considered my normal daily media diet. Just on blogs. Ad blogs. PR blogs business and automotiverelated blogs etc. I consider reading them just keeping up with my job and my industry. Being a contributor to an ad industry blog myself I have to admit Ive lost some perspective with exactly what many consumers actually do see or hear. I mean I see the Ditech.com guy more often on my TV than anyone else but no ad industry blog would give that dude 5 seconds of attention.
Its now becoming quite common to seed ad campaigns or websites through word of mouthsay on marketing industry blogs related websites. And the latest TV spots and print ads get leaked. This often happens before consumers see the work. If this is the new face of viral advertising I suppose Im developing immunity to it.
But a bigger problem looms. The ad industry echo chamber is growing louder and louder. New campaigns get judgedand given praise or scornin just a few days and before any media dollars have been spent. No campaign gets a chance to build momentum. It either comes fully launched or it gets soundly trashed by online pundits. Which gives campaigns bad early wordofmouth that’s hard to overcome.
In addition todays campaigns are more integratedand convoluted. Is that what consumers want? Im inundated with ads designed to lead me to seek out more information or play an advergame or direct me to a site that entices me to give out my email address or other information in exchange for the privilege of being entertained. But are the messages were trying to sendthe advertising messagesreally that complicated or worth that much trouble?
How many people truly want to seek out more advertising? How many people yearn to visit ad campaignrelated websites? All of them attempt to provide a modicum of entertainment value but it seems like there are a few sites that are hits with a lot of hits but a whole bunch of misses. After a while keeping up with all the microsites and viral efforts is mentally exhausting even though its an occupational hazard. What then is it for people who dont care much about these sites in the first place?
Since the Volkswagen work has been hyped quite a bit far less attention is paid to the hundreds of other similar efforts that are cropping up every month. All marketers are exploring them now whether theyre German car makers or Texas salsa makers. Were seeing efforts that are truly integratedbut often very convoluted costing a lot of time and money to create. Are marketers getting their moneys worth from all these sites?
I may indeed make friends with my Fast but Im taking it slow. I generally dont like to express an opinion about an entire ad campaign based on what I read on a blog or a small QuickTime video. For the benefit of Volkswagen and any other marketers campaign I prefer to give it some time to build momentum or fade away if there truly is no momentum. Thats what consumers will do after all. They simply dont care as much about advertising as we wish they would.
Dont get me wrong. Im all for finding new solutions to marketing challenges. But maybe its time I spent more time out of the echo chamber. Because now more than ever the noise is deafening.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Branding. Religion. Censorship. Office politics. Global politics. Sexual politics. And getting drunk during a job interview.
Since 2002 Danny G. a.k.a. Dan Goldgeier has been writing the most provocative advertising columns ever published. They’re all witty thoughtful and probing and a must read for those who want a perspective rarely seen in traditional industry publications.
An Atlantabased copywriter and ad school graduate Dan has worked at shops big and small. He reads incessantly about advertising and is a whiz at rock roll trivia. Learn more about him by visiting his copywriting website or AdColumnist.com the View From The Cheap Seats Archive website. You may also find articles by Danny G at TalentZoo.com.
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