Comments on: Is There Any Value Left in Advertising?

By: Corey Kossack

Corey Kossack — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:54:49 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this issue quite a bit, given the start-up nature of everything I’ve been involved in thus far. In particular, I’ve been thinking a lot about Kevin Pringles’ company, Chill Factor Clothing (www.ChillFactorClothing.com). He just barely hit the market this summer, tried to do a series of tv ads (first with an infomercial company that didn’t produce the commercial in time and second with ShoppingAtoZTV, which he doesn’t know the results of yet). Kevin seemed to be focusing all his attention on these ways to “go big quickly”, and ignored the grassroots options of taking his hats to Camelback Mountain, the Salt River, etc. where people are REALLY hot and miserable, and maybe would buy a hat to cool themselves down.

As a startup, these decisions are tough, and you’re always looking for the quick way to “blow up” your sales, but I think we’re all learning that it isn’t that simple…

By: Shannon Seery

Shannon Seery — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:18:04 +0000

I agree that much of advertising does not produce the ROI that could be realized through authentically communicating and making real connections with individuals through social media.

I focus on ‘employer branding’ and help companies market themselves as a desirable employer, mainly through their corporate career site currently. Few corporations are enabling 2 way communication on their sites, and yet there is no message more influential to a job candidate than being able to have a discussion with a real “current employee” and to get a “peer endorsement” – “hey this is a great place to work, and here’s why”.

We are in a time when we have Google at our fingertips to help us gather information that can be used to help make any decision. We don’t have to buy a book, see a movie, or stay in just about any hotel room without first getting getting some information from our online “peers”.

The greatest ROI will be seen from engaging in discussions with and truly understanding your users and community members.

By: francine

francine — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:44:10 +0000

Ahhhh…don’t get me started on Second Life advertising! That, to me, is almost totally ridiculous. Coldwell Banker in SL? They must have nothing to do with their advertising dollars. Thanks for the comments; you are as experienced as I am, and if it passes your scrutiny, I must have something to say.

By: Mickeleh

Mickeleh — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:24:13 +0000

Much wisdom here. In my experience there’s a lot of money funneled through TV, print, and billboards — and Second Life—just to please the vanity of founders or CEOs.

Wannamaker’s dictum still applies. Metrics are overrated. We can measure the click that produced the inquiry or the transaction. But we have no idea how many prior impressions from what media lead up to that final click. It’s like a sculptor working a rock. Tap-tap-tap-tap-PLINK. Just because the rock breaks on that final tap, you can’t imagine that the first seven taps were wasted.