The death (& rebirth) of Advertising

(originally published as AdAsia special for Business Recorder, link: https://www.brecorder.com/pdf/adasia2013.pdf) 

In May 2008, I read an interesting article in Harvard Business Review on Advertising while waiting for my flight in the departure lounge. “Advertising is now universally acknowledged to be broken, but the need for it obviously still exists. Making it effective again will require radically altering our perspective…”. The author, Jeffrey F. Rayport, wasn’t the only internationally acclaimed marketing expert stressing the need for change. Ironically, I was on my way to Colombo for a training workshop to get acquainted with my agency’s new approach to advertising, a new way of life that will radically change our perspective of the advertising business and our individual roles in it. Did it?

Yes! But while the concept and terminology of this approach were new, they reflected an emerging theory of advertising evolving in practice ever since the entire debate about the death of advertising started. It stemmed from a simple truth, “The Marketer who understands his audience best, wins!”.

I am sure everyone with anything to do with advertising (and marketing) has heard of (if not read) the infamous best seller from Al Ries “The fall of Advertising and the rise of PR”. This book shook the advertising industry to the bone, caused an outrage amongst advertising professional. Ries, like many others from the scholastic circles argued how advertising just wasn’t working, simply not changing with the times. But I bet have you haven’t read the book titled “The fall of PR and the rise of Advertising” by Stefan Engeseth (foreword by Al Ries). As one of the most creative business thinkers of his time, Stefan captures how things have come a full circle as PR is now finding its credibility in the intensive care unit. And as he analyses the changes in media landscape, PR, advertising and everything in between; it becomes obvious that many of these changes have happened as a result of the digitally charged, social media powered consumer.

The great thing about social media is that it gives everyone a voice. The problem with it is also that it gives everyone a voice. The gentleman who introduced me to Stefan in a marketing conference was a PR expert himself, and a victim of a these voices. It isn’t about the change alone that hit him. Change is always happening around us; technological, social, economic, environmental and political change... all happening at the same time. This isn’t even surprising because this is nothing new. The world has always been changing… from the invention of the wheel to the invention of the iPad. What is different though... and what represents a bigger transformation, is not that things are changing… but that they are changing so fast.

Many would argue that the advertising industry in Pakistan is still under-developed.  And that a lot of these challenges we talk and read about the advertising world don’t apply to Pakistan as yet. The compressing speed of change has hit our industry nonetheless.

Here’s a list of the top ‘changes’ that I believe, are driving our industry’s future:

#1: The Consumer is not ‘Dumb’ anymore!

To be honest, the consumer was never dumb. But marketers and advertising people both seemed to think otherwise. Until recently, it was ok to say “The consumer won’t be able to understand this”. You would even have a few nodding heads and it would be business as usual. However, a growing number of marketers have learned to respect the consumer now. Truth is, today’s consumer has actually gotten smarter than most of their predecessors, especially as human lie-detectors. We have empirical proof that today’s consumer sees through hidden messages in the advertising communication. This growing realization is actually responsible for the quality improvement in our product.

#2: Research is not just a ‘Safety Net’ anymore!

For an industry still struggling to recognize the importance of research, the statement above might seem inappropriate. While multinationals were always heavy on using research, the real treat for most of us in advertising was to see so many local brands make use of research. The problem however, was intention. Most marketers were looking at research as a safety net to protect their reputation, their jobs and have a ready escape goat at all times. The primary purpose of research has always been and always will be Insights. Sadly, the way research was being used failed this purpose. I am happy to report that things are changing, for the better. A growing number of marketers are learning to give research the due respect.

#3: Strategy is not limited to ‘a slide before the concept’ anymore!

Ten years ago when I started my career you could count the agencies with a strategy department on the fingertips of one hand only, while leaving the thumb alone. And even within these few agencies, the department normally comprised two to three people at max… no matter how big the agency’s business was. Over the years though, more and more advertising agencies have realized the importance of strategists in communication planning. While all the multinational agency brands have brand / communication planning as an integral function, most (if not all) successful local agency brands have developed a better understanding of the planning function and its importance if producing more creative, relevant and strategically sound advertising.

#4: Accountability and Effectiveness are not ‘misunderstood’ anymore!

Accountability sounds good doesn’t it? You require people to measure the value of their actions, and you incentivize them to ensure that they meet pre-defined targets. Occasionally raising the bar drives continuous improvement, and the businesses prosper. The trouble with applying accountability to marketing is that the evaluation is widely flawed, the targets are usually the wrong ones and the result too often leads to the destruction of shareholder value.

So accountability is not the problem, the accountability systems are. If you look at actual business success, you’d realize it not only reveals some of the factors that make marketing more profitable, but also exposes some of the common practices that lead to waste and inefficiency. Many of these relate to the tension between effectiveness (doing the right thing) and accountability (being seen to do the right thing). This in turn is closely related to how you measure success. 

#5: Specialization is not just a ‘buzz word’ anymore!

Ever heard of the ‘infinite monkey theorem’? It states that “given an infinite amount of time (and bananas), a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard will almost surely eventually type every book in France’s Bibliothèque Nationale de France. In the restatement of the theorem most popular among English speakers, the monkeys eventually type out the collected works of William Shakespeare.

Many of us in advertising have until infinity to prove the theory as most marketers come pre-programmed to apply this theorem to their advertising agency. I always say that lack of respect for professionalism is one of the biggest national problems of our time. Much like politics, advertising was thought of as everyone’s business. Don’t get too excited though, this particular change is happening a lot slower then everything else I’ve discussed in this piece. But the good thing is that it is happening.

David Oglivy once said to advertisers: "Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?”  While a lot of marketers have learned to control their temptation and let their agencies bark, a lot of agencies have also understood the importance of co-creativity, the magic of collaboration instead of working in silos… we’ve learnt that sometimes it helps to bark together.

As the advertising value chain reconfigures, marketers, advertising agencies and media distributors and broadcasters have little choice but to adapt and innovate. There is no question that the future of advertising in Pakistan will look radically different from its past. The push for control of attention, creativity, measurements and specialization will reshape the advertising value chain and shift the balance of power. For both marketers and advertising agencies, it is imperative to plan for multiple consumer futures, craft agile strategies and build new capabilities.

Increasingly empowered consumers, more self-reliant advertisers and ever-evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is sold, created, consumed and tracked. Everything is all sped up. Because of that, it is creating new windows of opportunity; for new businesses for overnight success, fame and fortune... and, opportunities for those who are able to change alongside or even ahead of it. So change can be good. But with such rapid change can also come great chaos and risk. For all the companies that have been able to navigate these changes, the world is made up of many more that didn't.

Credits

Image
roddchant.tumblr.com

Where is Advertising Going by Jeffrey F. Rayport, Harvard Business Review
https://hbr.org/2008/05/where-is-advertising-going-into-stitials/ar/1

The end of advertising as we know it by IBM Business Consulting
https://www.huddleproductions.com/2011/02/24/major-changes-for-advertising/
https://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/consulting/

The fall of advertising, the rise of PR by Al Ries
https://www.amazon.com/The-Fall-Advertising-Rise-PR/dp/0060081996

The fall of PR and the rise of Advertising by Stefan Engeseth, Foreword by Al Ries
www.detectivemarketing.com/uploads/