7 Key Trends In Advertising and Lead Generation for 2007

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The other day I was chatting with colleagues about some of the implications of a recent happening in Australian media: Electronics maker LG was barred by all commercial and Pay TV stations from televising an ad for a TV recorder that specifically promoted the benefits of skipping ads.

From the original article:

The original ad featured a line that would have had universal appeal to TV viewers: “When you replay, you can skip the ads.”

But after the commercial and pay TV networks refused to run it LG recut it to include the considerably less catchy line: “And when you replay, you can skip straight back to the action.”

While the networks may have won this time, it’s obvious that TV recording technology is here to stay and that the power balance, at least ostensibly, will shift in favour of consumers.

This article sparked off some thoughts that I’ve written up into my…

7 Key Trends In Advertising and Lead Generation 2007

1. Greater use of product placement, sponsorship and ads that aren’t ads.I’ve recently been watching HBO Drama The Wire (best drama on TV?) and one thing that caught my eye is the omnipresence of Heineken beer, usually featured with the label nicely facing the camera. Obviously some moolah is changing hands there.I also lived in Japan for 4 years, where I swear almost everything on TV is an ad. Whenever a product, place or event is favourably reviewed, you can bet dollars to doughnuts (or if you’re from the US, “donuts” ) that money is involved (a fact that is almost never disclosed). Me, I prefer journalistic impartiality, but that’s clearly on the way out.
2. More precise targeting of messages, even mass media onesFollowing the inevitable rise of TV recording technology, some industry experts have commented that advertising is not dead, but that advertisers will be forced to target their ads more precisely at viewers to make them want to watch the ads.It’s also fairly easy to conceive of a system that serves ads according to individual viewer habits and preferences, perhaps on a “pay per impression” or pay per action” model (mmmm… the Google Adwords of TV marketing?)While this concept would obviously be many times more effective than current mass-broadcast technology, it’s still “push” marketing. While there’s some mileage in this concept, search-based marketing is likely to return higher conversion rates and ROI (cf. Google Adwords Search conversion rates vs Content conversion rates – search is almost always higher).
3. The rise of education-based lead generation and marketing Reports, White Papers, DVDs, Audio Programs, software etc. will be given away (or sold) with the aim of enticing prospects to “self-select” and allow advertisers to focus their energies and promotional dollars on high-probability prospects rather than anyone and everyone. I’m now currently conducting lead generation campaigns for companies who traditionally wouldn’t have touched this “direct marketing” stuff with a bargepole.
4. Accountable, by-the-metrics marketing will become an imperative If you don’t do it, you’ll be eaten alive (or at the very least, have a few limbs savaged by hungry corporate alligators). The web obviously facilitates accountable marketing like no other medium, but “offline” direct marketing will also experience a boost at the expense of above the line advertising.
5. PR and spin will trump orchestrated brand-building and marketing efforts. Making products and services into news will be a skill for which companies will pay handsomely.
6. Tighter niches and greater specialisation Gaining greater “share of mind” will become even more difficult, and we can expect more focus on more highly-specialised niche markets as opposed to line-extension or diversification strategies. (See Al Ries’ magnificent book, Focus)
7. Blue Ocean Strategies The rewards of value innovation will become even greater as smart companies refuse to mash themselves to a pulp butting heads with their competitors in hyper-crowded markets. Instead, the most successful companies and brands will strive to create uncontested market space – easier said than done.

So there are my 7 key trends. Do you have any more you think deserve a mention? Leave a comment!

** By the way, a recent blog post by Yaro Starak touched on a related subject to this post, Should Bloggers Accept Money For Reviews?

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