From our friend Sean at WoodruffDirect, following our post earlier about gas ads:
While I tend to agree with most of everything posted here (Hey, that's a first with me!), I have to disagree with this type of advertising. It only clutters brains.
I point you back to a quote by Seth Godin in your interview...
"Actually, it would be just one. Permission. The ability to deliver anticipated, personal and relevant messages to prospects that choose to hear them. This takes planning, and an investment of time and effort."
The ability to deliver ANTICIPATED, PERSONAL and RELEVANT messages to prospects that CHOOSE to hear them.
I don't believe this type of advertising fits any of the four criteria for permission.
Discovering or inventing new channels is a great idea but I think one should frame it in a general belief about doing business the right way. This idea is great for the Gas TV guys because the novelty of the idea will suck money out of the pockets of business owners who don't know squat about EFFECTIVE, permission based advertising. However, it is a very short-term strategy for the salesperson because once the novelty is gone, so are the sales.
Thanks for the comments, Sean. You make several valid points. One "but" I will throw in is that "interruption" advertising works well in certain instances, and can be very creative if done correctly. One of my ventures is handling franchise sales for a really cool "interruption marketing" company called Gotcha Mobile Media. Our franchisees are seeing incredible results - and making a lot of money - from people being caught off-guard in traffic by these eye catching ads. I kind of look at the Gas TV medium as the same kind of thing. Frankly, I'd rather look at anything else while I'm pumping gas than the whirling of the dollars and cents read-out filling up my car!
I have no doubt that the franchisees of Gotcha Mobile Media are experiencing great results selling interuption advertising. I don't think there is a relationship between your franchisees seeing results and making money and the audience being caught off guard. The franchisee isn't selling to the people being caught off guard. The success lies within the fact that most business owners buying the advertising wouldn't know permission advertising if it walked up to them and asked if they would like help growing their business. (pun intended. :-))
Ultimately, this becomes a question of which side of the fence you are greening the grass. Your grass or your customer's grass? Permission marketing starts the fertilizing on the customer's side of the fence and, in theory, spreads the green to your side of the fence.
Ok, I could go on with this metaphor but here is what I am trying to say...
If you are selling advertising you can be very successful selling interuption advertising because business owners don't know what they are doing in this area of business. They have been conditioned to buy interuption advertising. They may never know and you'll continue to realize sales. If there is some novelty idea in the delivery of the advertising you can realize GREAT sales.
That said, these ads are going to be less and less effective for the business owner over time. When everything becomes a back drop for an ad, nothing is an ad.
The funny thing about this, from my perspective as a business owner, is that I KNOW the difference and have a great amount of cognitive dissonance about sticking to my belief. Ad salespeople can be very persuasive.
Posted by: Sean Woodruff | June 8, 2006 8:36 AM | Permalink to Comment