New Media and Advertising

 New Media and Advertising

In a world where consumers are increasingly growing more fragmented, distracted and disinterested ,advertisers have had to adapt to these changing conditions (Spurgeon: 2008: p- 27). Where once “old media” such as TV, newspapers and radios were used to showcase advertisements to the “passive” masses this no longer works as well. This has resulted in advertising agencies having to become more creative as well innovative in order to attract businesses to advertise with them. New media is seen as the step forward and this includes technologies such as the internet which encompasses a wide range of advertisements including Youtube promotions, product placements, viral videos, iphone apps and more.

What has become the biggest challenge for the advertising industry is whether, in the new age of commercial media advertising, agencies will be able to survive and if so which ones will. An increasing problem for agencies is that search media such as Google and other forms of internet advertising have caused businesses to simply bypass advertising agencies. Sometimes they create their own content like viral videos and showcase these straight to the consumer. “The autonomous productivity of consumers as it unfolds naturally” in effect becomes a commodity to the businesses.

It is becoming apparent that power in the advertising world has shifted away from agencies to advertisers and consumers in the global area. While air time and ad space in TV, newspapers and radios were once precious and highly sought after, their value has decreased significantly through the rise of the internet (Appadurai: 2003 pp 322- 330.) Businesses now choose to take advantage of consumer wants and needs through search media and what they seek out. This makes their ads relevant to the consumer, resulting in a higher chance of a sale. Advertisers also only have to pay per click as is the case for Google, contrasting to old media where it is a lucky draw whether the consumer is relevant relevant for the business. TV advertisements are also quite costly in contrast to search media.

This has become a major issue for agencies as their core business was traditionally selling mass media to advertisers and making commissions from these sales (Spurgeon: 2008: p. 44). While mass media still holds relevance it has certainly lost money with the advent of the internet and advertisers have had to adapt in a relatively short period of time. One way they have done this is by becoming confluent in their approach to new media. Agency employees are required to constantly refine a changing skill set to adapt with the unpredictable nature and flow of digital media. It is no longer “black box” advertising where everything is pre-packaged and ready for the masses (Sheehan: 2009). Convergence culture, Participatory culture and Collective intelligence are the three most important aspects of digital advertising as described by Jenkins (2006).

So what does this mean? Advertising agencies must converge on many levels from traditional elements such as TV ad concepts and strong brand slogans to newer ones such as Iphone apps, Facebook pages, promotions, product placements and websites. There is a wide range of possibilities a business can adopt to improve its image and relationship with consumers. The strategy becomes much like bricolage where it is created from a diverse range of available things at hand. Collective intelligence is one important way to gain notoreity. It is formed through word of mouth between consumers friends and family.

The “refer a friend” approach to advertising is an example of utilizing consumers collective intelligence as a commodity. This is an ad from sports bet and is confluent in that it uses many aspects of digital culture (A website and collective intelligence as well as traditional advertising such as advertisements on TV) .

 

Brand stories are particularly good at creating a convergent culture, participatory culture and collective intelligence for consumers. They connect with consumers on an emotional level and recognises that they are social beings. The tongue in cheek ad by Virgin Mobile Australia is an example of this.

The story for Virgin’s ad campaign goes:

"unlike his famous bro, Doug Pitt has never been the star of anything. We at Virgin Mobile have decided to make things fairer in the Pitt family, and so have made Doug Pitt the star of our campaign.. Fairness is good and you can experience fairness too through our fairgo Plan"

 

Doug’s personality is endearing to the viewer and the message is simple: fairness. Virgin also has a website for this campaign http://fairgobro.com.au/#fair-go and is liked on Facebook by over 31100. He also recently toured Australia. So as we can see from Virgin’s perspective they have used traditional media such as the TV and newspaper ads and new media such as the internet and facebook. The inclusion of a promotional tour also creates publicity and face-to-face contact with consumers. All four components work seamlessly together through the same content, story line, character and colour scheme. The story is extended into real life and Doug Pitt has since become so famous that he is travelling to Australia for his “celebrity tour” reflecting the idea of fairness for the common man that is Virgin’s slogan.

Another example of integrating the internet into advertisement use is the "Evian: Roller babies ad." Contrasting with the traditional top down approach this ad actually worked from the bottom up. The ad was tested on the internet first where it soon became viral and was then released on to TV nationally and then internationally.

Viral videos become so successful as ads because they are part of what Walmsey (2007) calls a Trialogue “a three–way exchange between consumers themselves, other consumers, and brands”. Consumers can create discussion on Youtube comments and even do parody videos, feeding back to the marketers and advertisers the verdict of whether this ad will be successful for further coverage. In this way the consumer develops a relationship with the brand instead of just being informed about it. This creates more public knowledge surrounding the brand and they will remember resulting in them more likely to buy that product.

For an advertising agency to be successful they must employ people who are creative strategists and have an understanding of all levels of the advertising process. They must embrace and utilize all people in the communication process - clients, media audiences, and agency personnel. So are advertising agencies in a state of crisis? No I would say they are in a state of transformation in which the creative and multi skilled will flourish.

Reference list.

Spurgeon, c, 2008, Advertising and New Media, Oxon: Routledge, pp 24-45

Jenkins, H, 2006. Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press.

Appadurai, A, 2003, “disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”, Public Culture, Vol. 2, No.2, pp. 322- 330

Sheehan, k, Morrison, D, 2009, Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world, http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2239/2121 (Accessed 25 August, 2012)

Andrew Walmsley, 2007. “Andrew Walmsley on digital: Smart brands heed social impulse,” Marketing (20 June), at http://www.brandrepublic.com/InDepth/Opinion/665708/Andrew-Walmsley-digital-Smart-brands-heed-social-impulse/, (accessed 25 August 2012)

Case study links.

VirginMobileAus, 2012, Doug Pitt, the face of Virgin Mobile | Virgin Mobile Australia | Fair Go Bro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd-W-o67jfI (Date accessed 25 August)

VirginMobileAus, 2012, Doug reaches cele-bro-ty status | Virgin Mobile Australia | Fair Go Bro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3o9VW5TeQU (Date Accessed 24 August)

EvianBabies, 2009, Evian Roller Babies international version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs (Date accessed 23 August)

Sportsbet, 2012, http://www.sportsbet.com.au/content/offers/refer-a-friend (Date accessed 26 August)