How to do traditional advertising right

April 27, 2009
miproconsulting
Blog

These days, almost all ‘traditional’ advertising equates to voluntary contributions to the ocean of ad noise out there that nobody pays attention to. It’s boring, wordsmithed into the ground, filed so that every possible catchy edge has been worn into dust. It’s been reviewed by legal and boundary-cased so that no possible negative impression can be formed of the advertiser.

It’s safe. Boring and invisible, but by gum, safe.

This is why the great majority of advertising is ignored outright. People’s attention is limited and taxed, and there’s this strange, resultant Darwinism: if you don’t engage people in an interesting way, your ad will die, as will your company branding ROI.

Nevertheless, there are examples of smart and creative traditional advertising out there. Companies that are brave and willing to Purple Cow their efforts can do some pretty interesting things.

To wit:

In early 2009, Audi posts a billboard for its A4 sedan challenging, “Your move, BMW.” Not too long thereafter, Santa Monica BMW responds with an M3 billboard that says, “Checkmate.”

Going on and on about how much I love stuff like this would be embarrassing. But I will say that this stuff is so rare because most companies aren’t brave. Most companies get caught up in what negative things could come to them instead of being creative and fun and having a sense of confidence about their intentions, character and marketing.

So yes, you can do traditional media placements right. But you can’t play it safe at the same time. Choose one.

(Via Signal vs. Noise)