The strongest drive is not sex or greed.

My Xmas Card from British Subject Reg Starkey:

Scroll a few:

Reg Starkey has been writing copy since the Dead Sea was only poorly.

For the last umpteen years, he has focused primarily on the ‘mature market’ where he perceived the need to fill the yawning gap between technically ‘clever’ advertising and effective communication.

As sooth is said, eld has great advantage;
In eld is both wisdom and usage;
Men may the old outrun but not outred.– Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

The New Millennium Tales
This book is ahead of its time in its recognition and understanding of the importance of the mature market. Whilst others waste time obsessing about youth, this collection sheds all the light you need on reaching Baby Boomers.

What is Digital Advertising?

I wanted to follow my previous post by posing a tongue-in-cheek question: What is Digital Advertising?  I’ll do that in a scroll or two. 

Merely researching the subject made my head spin.  So many buzzwords, catchphrases, and twaddle to slog through…

Thanks to The Ad Contrarian (I should’ve just gone there first), here’s a video that sums up everything:

December 05, 2012
Truth Is Stranger Than Satire
I have watched this thing three times and I am convinced that these people are serious.

And there’s this chestnut:

23 June 2010
Where people already aren’t.

The newest buzz-phrase has me completely baffled: Native Advertising.  One social media guru described it as advertising that is ‘baked into’ the content. I guess it’s sort of like the old Burns & Allen Show where  one episode had Gracie baking a cake using Betty Crocker Cake Mix, a sponsor.

Or was that product placement?  Madison & Vine?  I’m still confused.  Whatever it was, I know it doesn’t work anymore, is old school, and nowadays native advertising is the future, and all advertisers should be all over it or their businesses will fail.

So what is Digital Advertising? 

Television is now digital, commercials are shot with digital cameras – so are commercials digital advertising?  Are digital spots on digital radio digital advertising?  Print ads are created on computers, usually rendered as PDFs, delivered digitally. Digital advertising?  Magazines, both editorial and ads, are digitally produced.  Digital advertising?

I read an odd piece the other day.   A fellow instrumental in the development of  banner ads (#epicfail)  now doesn’t like them:

“There's a way to make web advertising a better experience, like an ad in between every pageview that you can simply flick away if you don't want to see it. I'm a big fan of full-page ads, especially on tablets.”

Hmmm.  Reading a magazine on a big tablet, immersing yourself in a passive experience with no distractions…

Sounds familiar:

27 April 2009
Is roiling ether the best place for advertising?

23 October 2012
The Future Of Consumer Doodad Technology
Tablets/Smartphones will be big, small, thin, simple, complex, active, passive, out the door in your purse or pocket, lost in your couch cushions…

15 April 2007
Positioning Magazines for Baby Boomers
… This (digital) nest is here to stay – but for a big part of their day Baby Boomers are happy to fly far from all the chaos and into another nest – one that is warm and nourishing. That’s where they will find, among other delectable items, your magazine.

01 May 2010
Foretellings
That silly retronym “traditional advertising” will remain the premiere force for introducing people to a product or service, along with sustaining its shelf life. Television, print, radio, and billboard ads will continue to have the visceral power they’ve always had – if only for their sheer size, simplicity, and cutting-edge audio/visual qualities.

06 March 2012
Digital Distractions
Digital interruptions are headache-inducing. Not so with magazines. Advertisements are welcomed and appreciated. They are integral, seamless extensions of the magazine experience.

So are full-page ads in a magazine you’re accessing on a tablet digital advertising?

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday Surpass One Billion Press Releases

A fleck of flack confetti just flew into my inbox:

Subject: Expert Available for Cyber Monday Recap Stories
 
Chuck,
For any Cyber Monday wrap up stories you’re working on, **** CEO & Co-Founder ***** is available to comment.

Who needs experts when we have famed Soothsayer and advertising gadfly NostraChuckus, who’s been startling the world for years with his mundane prognostications?

More from the flack fleck:

Move Over Black Friday: Last year it was Cyber Monday, rather than Black Friday, that saw numbers surpassing $1 billion in revenue.

Hmmm.  Could that be because Black Friday revenue was $11.4 Billion last year? Why would you use $1 Billion as any sort of comparable barometer?  You might as well use one dollar.

Flack fleck:

Top Shopper-Targeting Tactics: The number of potential touch-points to reach consumers is rapidly increasing, especially with more shoppers turning toward tablet devices and smartphones.

Add these:

Mobile Boosts Cyber Monday; Facebook and Twitter Not So Much
By Christopher Heine
… The proliferation of smartphones and tablets are impacting the way holidays shoppers go about their business.

…On the other hand, IBM found that social media-driven sales were down 35 percent year over year for Black Friday.

Social Media Has A Black Friday #Fail
Traffic from Twitter to retail websites was especially grim: down from 0.02% of total traffic on Black Friday in 2011 to 0.00% this year…

The numbers will need some serious spinning by social media gurus invested in the idea of social commerce being the future for online retail.

This all sounds vaguely familiar…

01 May 2010
Foretellings
… Advertising on smartphones will be considered an annoyance, invasive, and rather dinky – while marketing/search (coupons on steroids, and more) will flourish and dominate.

22 August 2011
5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5
Time To Duct-Tape WOMM?
A recent ad posted by “Katmoney” … offered to write convincing negative reviews posted to a Yelp page of your choosing.

25 September 2012
Twitter & Advertising
The mobile/social media soothsayers will have you believe that there is this unknown, magical mode of persuasion that has never been thought of before – and will reveal itself any day now.

The Lesson:  Use (silly retronym ahead) Traditional Advertising – television, newspaper inserts, magazines, outdoor, direct mail – to advertise, use smartphones for marketing while consumers are shopping. (Although the percentage of people using  smartphones to shop isn’t that impressive.)

And what did NostraChuckus predict almost six years ago?

15 December 2006
The Brouhaha Over WOMM
…When it all comes out in the wash, WOMM will be the best thing to happen to traditional advertising. Pretty soon, consumers won't believe anybody - even their best friends.

---

What is and is not ‘digital’ advertising?  That’ll be the next post.

There’s a lot of bad advice out there. And old advice. And old bad advice.

Every few years a menagerie of marketing mavens, with no knowledge of history, have epiphanies:

“Hey, we should target Baby Boomers!”

All sorts of revelatory recommendations are bandied about.  The problem: bad advice is often mixed with the parroting.

From a major media outlet:

This market is outpacing younger cohorts when it comes to adopting new technologies and online media, so don’t discount digital advertising, social media and mobile content.

The first part is true.  I’ve been screaming about it for years.  But that doesn’t mean the second part follows:

The Social Media - WOMM - Web Advertising Posts

• 02 May 2011
  Click this ad. 0.051% do.
• 06 March 2012
  Digital Distractions
• 12 March 2012
  Digital Distractions II
• 17 July 2012
  Banner Ads = Happy Meal Toys…???

From a major business magazine (online article):

The marketing business is obsessed with youth, and figures the Baby Boomers (who do like to consider themselves still 25 years old) will respond, too.

Again, the first part is true.  You can read the Intro and 1st chapter of my book ©2005/2007 for that info.  But the second part…

Culled from the book:

Contrary to popular myth, Baby Boomers do not believe that they are still teenagers or young adults. (Some probably do, but they need therapy.) Boomers are slyly redefining what it means to be the ages they are. Included in this new definition are some youthful attitudes - but the real change is that instead of winding down, many are winding up. We're not 'looking forward to retirement,' we're looking forward to new lives, new challenges.

Posts from 2008:

Most Inane Commercial of The Year Award
Category: Targeting Baby Boomers
… I bet it'll also make a lot of people from other generations cringe. (Or thrilled that we're being portrayed as such nincompoops.)

Me vs. We
Last week I read a piece of marketing advice: "Baby boomers have always been considered the 'me-generation,' and that doesn't change with age."  It's this type of reckless gibberish that is useless to marketers, and ultimately harmful to their clients.

In this age of digital ephemera, where things zoom by, just as quickly zoom into oblivion, are forgotten, or even worse, never seen, when these same things zoom by again and again and again, they’re all, all of a sudden, brand new.

More:

21 November 2010
There’s a lot of bad advice out there.
Even a jaded, grizzled fellow like yours truly is often amazed at the poop on the web, along with what passes as cutting-edge thought.

07 February 2012
There’s still a lot of bad advice out there.
Recently I’ve stumbled on more weird opinions and advice.  I’ll share some, but no linking because I’m too nice a guy.

The Latest Miscellany

Golly gee, there’s no one big news story I can find to write about.  Or I’m too frazzled to concentrate, or senescently scatterbrained, or to put a positive spin on it all, expertly multitasking since that’s what people do nowadays because it’s impossible to focus on one thing what with all the tech chattering going on all around you.

Baby Boomers are wonderful:

Baby boomers have lots more to contribute
Baby boomers have earned the right not to be forgotten for their contributions by the new generations…The national conversation will only be a success if it does not forget to engage the baby boomers.

Focus on the right things, and baby boomers are a model.
I would suggest that the perseverance we used to end a war, and to move the country forward using myriad of social, humanitarian and political actions -- could likely be the kind of leadership that is in such short supply today, both here in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Baby Boomers are horrible:

Elderly go from being perceived as capable consumer to ‘old person’
“Abbie,” an 89-year-old woman from Texas, told Barnhart when she went to her doctor with her daughters, the physician would only talk to her children.

“If younger people bring you in, they think it’s because you’re not, I guess, lucid enough to understand what they’re saying,” Abbie said.

That seems to be the Doctor’s fault. But what do I know.

As Entrepreneurs:

The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur
Tech startup founders in their 20s and 30s make all the headlines, but when it comes to entrepreneurship, increasingly it’s baby boomers who are more likely to be in business for themselves — and creating jobs in the process.

Why baby boomers take the entrepreneurship plunge
The end of World War II begot a generation of Americans that’s starting to make waves in the entrepreneurship scene.

This all sounds vaguely familiar:

ADVERTISING TO BABY BOOMERS
Targets Clients and Entrepreneurs
Paramount Market Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.
… Chuck Nyren's egalitarian approach to advertising and the creation of campaigns is all-inclusive. A large section of the book is dedicated to helping Baby Boomer entrepreneurs get their marketing and advertising up and running. The author as well gives advice and guidance to the small businessperson on how to fashion a handmade campaign.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers: Part I
All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers II
I’ve found that there are two mistakes made by almost every entrepreneur targeting this unwieldy, diverse market.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers III
Lessons for entrepreneurs? Due Diligence, of course. But not everybody is out to steal your your money with promises of fortunes with their marketing/advertising prowess.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers IV
It's counter-intuitive, but the forever work life of older Americans may turn out to be a good thing for young workers.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers V
The theme contemplated in this session is the enormous opportunity and challenge created by the aging demographics of the United States and Europe.

Friend Kevin Lavery tweeted this today:

No kidding.  I can’t keep up with them all.  I tried to years ago:

Sleepy Baby Boomer Internet Villages

Invasion of the Baby Boomer Pod People

A Bit Of Social Networking Site Research
Six sites featured were Social Networking sites.  Of those six, four (BoomJ.com, BoomerTowne.com, TeeBeeDee.com, Boomer411.com) failed miserably and no longer exist.  Millions of dollars wasted.
Update: Make that five out of six.

Advertising to Baby Boomers Can Be Tricky Business
“Here are six slogans, corporate tags, mission statements, whatever you want to call them, for six web sites targeting Boomers.”

You’d better start searching for all these new ones Kevin is talking about because they’ll vanish into the unity before long.