I started off in advertising working with the great John Salmon at CDP in England. He always reminded us that we were guests in people’s homes and that we should reward them for the time and attention they gave us. The result of that belief was the great CDP campaigns for Heineken, Benson and Hedges, Hovis and Hamlet amongst many others. (1. Plus they’re all on You Tube see 2 as one example). It is why many people believe that British advertising is among the best in the world.
So when I read Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant’s book – “The Age of Persuasion” – it felt like I was coming home.
For me the whole book is worth it for just one concept – “The Contract”.
This is the unwritten contract that exists between advertisers and consumers. In the book’s words this contract “promises that advertisers must give you something in exchange for their imposition on your time, attention and space. An ad might offer useful information, an insight, or a solution to a problem. It might help pay for the TV show you’re watching or the magazine you’re reading. It might simply entertain you. The key is that it offers some tangible benefit.”
The authors have managed to say something I believe passionately way better than I ever could and for that I’m grateful.
Too often I’ve come across marketers, media owners, and advertisers who ignore this contract, seeking to force themselves on consumers with no regard to this Contract. Too often the Contact is being ignored. That is one reason why we find ad avoidance on the rise, no call lists so popular, and there are moves to tax or restrict advertising.
Many advertisers and media see the solution to ad avoidance to be to make it harder for people to avoid us. By being everywhere; by blurring the line between advertising and editorial/programmes; by having increasingly intrusive formats e.g. pop-up ads that block my reading of a web page.
But this is like the spurned lover who stalks their ex and tries to force themselves on them.
The real answer it to return to the Contract. To ensure we offer people something in return.
I see some hope. Permission marketing, if done right should mean I get messages I want. Viral marketing demands that there something people want in the ad – usually its sheer entertainment value. Spotify, the European free music service, shows that the old model from radio and TV where content is paid for by advertising still works in a new medium.
But I fear for the traditional media. Every year we seem to see more advertising minutage on our TV programs; more blurring of advertising and content; more concentration on “persuasion” despite the fact we know likeability is more important; more emphasis on intrusion rather than being invited in.
And I haven’t even mentioned spam, telemarketing, the proliferation of outdoor media and bad cinema ads.
Rather than honour the Contract we seem intent on assuming we are unwelcome guests and barging in anyway.
Maybe if Mr O’Reilly and Tennant’s book gets widely read we might see a change.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collett_Dickenson_Pearce
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYMID5qCdE
