How Google Killed Advertising

The cartoon by Tom Fishburne summarizes the issues with advertising. Within the mix of these three letter acronyms, three simple letters are missing; A.R.T.

Ok, so maybe I may be a little over-dramatic about Google but the company has certainly thrown a major monkey wrench into the ability for brands to connect through creativity.

My career has been spent marrying creativity and technology to the benefit of marketers. Creativity and technology, at their core are designed to solve complex issues for clients and connect consumers on a visceral level with brands. As efficient as technology has become in targeting consumers, targeting is only as good as the message being delivered. And the leader, Google simply marginalizes creativity.

Today, technology companies such as Google, adtech and media agencies have become very adept at filling spaces without regard for what actually fills the space.

This oversupply of ad spaces has led to a lot of bad advertising. So much so, that good advertising drowns in the sea of space fillers. This has never been more apparent than on the mobile screen where banners, pop-ups, native ads, sliders, etc. etc. bombard consumers to the point they have become white noise.

Google’s primary business is twofold, one akin to the Yellow Pages, the other filing spaces. As the primary engine driving the delivery of ads via the ad server, Google has dictated format. Ultimately Google is dictating the creative palette for brands.

Advertising is about turning something visual into something visceral.

The best Instagram images, Facebook posts or Youtube videos hit a nerve and cause emotions to rise to the surface. A combination of images and words turn something visual into something visceral.

Artists have canvas, clay, paint, stone, words or some medium to craft an experience evoking an emotional response. Marketing is no different. Historically, ad agencies have had a well-defined palette to craft their message. They have had enough space to craft words and images that could effectively communicate a brands’ value.

I had a conversation the other day with someone who disagreed with my position. So I thought further about today’s marketing challenge; If you told Picasso that he could only paint on a canvas the size of a mobile banner would Picasso have been Picasso? Would Bill Bernbachs’ iconic “VW Beatle” ad have worked in a banner as well? My emphatic answer is NO!

The palette marketers have today is extremely broad. Print, radio, out-of-home are still staples of brand building. More importantly a screen is never out of hands’ reach or view. We carry a four-inch screen in our pockets. We have a 30-inch screen on our desk and a 60-inch screen on our wall.

Google has led development of a format and propagated a platform, specifically networks and exchanges that relegates a brand to using less than 20% of the screen to tell their story. Good luck!

The combination of the ad network/exchange, with a publishers’ need to drive revenue has been a toxic mix for consumers and in turn brands. Advertising, by nature is interruptive and a glut of bad advertising has reframed perceptions of brands and communications.

With mobile screens becoming the predominant device, the ad experience must change before it is too late. And Google of all companies must take the lead.

It is time that this industry redefines what “user experience” means for the ad with a consistent full screen standard. Nothing less.

It’s time that the agencies responsible for turning images and words, the visual into the visceral speak up and demand a unified format for digital advertising, especially on the mobile device.

The ad business that has been disrupted needs to be the disruptor and marketers must demand a better “User Experience” for their brands across the entire digital ecosystem.

I continue to look high and low for companies that embrace technology and creativity equally. It’s time to demand use of the whole screen, not just a piece to send your message. It’s time to use technology to build great experiences for consumers in the form of ads. It can be done.