Maybe Advertising Should Become A Team Sport

Imagine a league of advertisers playing a team sport I’d call AdBall. The competition will borrow its nomenclature from football, baseball, golf and other sports. Each team would field a lineup of outstanding creative and market savvy players – like a creative QB, copy pitchers, visual hitters, ad running backs and receivers. Team scores will be based on audience response to team objectives and handicaps.

Why am I suggesting this? To illustrate the need that in an interactive media world we need to look at advertising as an ongoing relationship between stakeholders and enthusiasts, rather than the traditional stimulus-response mechanism developed in the 20th Century. The old ways are dying slowly, but the new ways have yet to manifest the amazing potential for creating major advertising growth engines.

To get to that next stage we need to develop new advertising platforms built on the sports model with fans of players and their accomplishments. What do I mean? A great ad should have more viability than toilet paper. We need to think of ads as longer-term assets and their creation as the work of star creative and marketing teams. Knowing the names and skills of brand builders may be as important some day as the names of sports celebrities. Best of all, it is in the interest of advertisers to connect enthustiasts with brand personalities. It is simply a great way for building goodwill. And goodwill is a monitized asset that adds to the equity value of a business.

Advertising already has its fans. So why not provide advertisers with new vehicles for ad fans to express their involvement.

Joe of Brooklyn calls The FAN radio station in New York to complain about the bonehead move the Yankees manager made in yesterday’s game. Some day, his wife, Mary, may be complaining about the latest Victoria's Secret ad — calling for a trade to bring in another agency.

Interesting developments are taking shape that are changing what advertisers must consider. Here are some of the issues changing the media landscape:

– Serious money is flowing into Internet coffers. Internet advertising revenues in the United States in 2005 totaled $12.5 billion, according to an Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers report. In 2006, Google is expected to get nearly 25 percent and Yahoo! will pick up 20.7 percent of the $15.6 billion for all online advertising in the U.S., according to market research firm eMarketer projections. At the moment online ad spending amounts to only 5 percent of total media spending, but eMarketer says it will grow 24.4 percent this year, while all other ad media, including TV, radio, print, outdoor and direct mail will grow only 4.2 percent.

– Interactivity offers a variety of relationship marketing opportunities so why reduce it all to the simple notion of directing traffic to Websites. Digital advertising could offer advertisers so much more than banner ads and text links through a variety of delivery vehicles. Here come Video iPods, mobile iTV, IPTV and with them interactive ads woven into games, film and commercial programming.

– The role and power of the consumer over ad viewing is changing. The DVR puts time and choice selections in the hands of the television viewer. New research shows that while 75% of the 18-34 age group cannot name the four major broadcast networks, they remember more ads than programs. And, new technology is allowing creative amateurs and students to create great ads. There's already enough talent out there for an advertising minor league and a collegiate circuit.

In response ingenuity is percolating in the ad world as interactive delivery executives are beginning to search for out of the box solutions. How will they connect the dots?

TiVo Inc. is gearing its DVR to help TV viewers not only skip commercials but to search for them as well. Consumers will be able to search for ads that match their interests. TiVo viewers will see a directory of product categories on their television screens and use it to choose a commercial video. This means that commercials will serve not only to motivate, but to give the viewer access to a deeper well of information.

Today the online search platform accounts for 40 percent of the total online ad spending in the U.S., according to JupiterResearch. But that’s just the start of it. Google is now giving advertisers demographic data to help them communicate their messages with greater focus. Google's rivals are right behind. Yahoo! also provides demographic information, but on a limited basis. Microsoft is offering demographic targeting data and an adCenter to help businesses create ads and link them to its MSN search engine.

Advertisers are also experimenting with new ways to relate to consumers. Some have already launched self-branded TV channels on the Internet. For example, Land Rover, the British sport utility vehicle owned by Ford Motor, announced the first broadband TV channel created by a carmaker. They offer 24-hours of multimedia programming peppered with ads for the Land Rover brand.

But where I think its all heading can be found in the head of Bob Greenberg, the R/GA guru. He calls it a “post-mass media approach." It’s all about creating relationships. R/GA designed just such a site -- richerdeeperbroader.com –- for Verizon. Its mission: invite enthusiasts to laud the broadband world. Greenberg also has a software program that lets a bunch of agencies track collaborations on ad projects. Sounds like it could be used to play AdBall,doesn’t it?