Monday, July 14, 2008

Advertising Interuptus

Advertising Interuptus. Advertising Disruptus. Mecca…

You know, the kind of communication that breaks the flow of everyday, normal, business-as-usual discourse. And, if you really want to be philosophical about it:  communication that creates contradictions in the inherent vehicle presenting the argument that only can be resolved by the addressee acting in a manner that leads directly to some action – notably a purchase.

Now, as big a mouthful as that is, and as trite and full of ST as it sounds, I am the first to admit that at one time there was something to it. Advertising did interrupt – in a way. It made us read; or listen or watch because it interrupted the everyday flow; it was interesting or entertaining or sad, emotive or comedic. It taught. It created.  It connected.  What it didn’t do was bother or intrude or butt in on activities.

Now having said that, it’s not 100 percent true. Newspaper articles have been divided by ads forever; magazines have lived on page sales; radio and TV have been monetized by commercial breaks (until cable and PPV) – you get the picture. BUT – and there is a big BUT – too many advertisements and commercial breaks that are too long or too many piss people off and over the years led to new forms of broadcast – commercial free – and print.

So we seem to have a best practice here. People will put up with some interruption as long as it’s understood and doesn’t kill the flow of the activity.

Yet, here we are in the “New Era” and we are re-inventing wheels that based on human behavior – not technology imperatives – we know don’t work – that is obnoxious (sometimes called contextual) advertising.:

Contextual advertising is not new. What is new is the disdain for human interaction.

Take a lesson from one of the greats of the past century:

It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. Rod Serling

Think about that – even if it’s contextual…

And remember – Digital Is Direct

Posted by David on 07/14 at 08:27 AM
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