Smarter Primate

It wasn’t many years ago that advertising followed a very predictable plan. The use of the newspapers, magazines, phone book, radio, or TV handled most advertising. They were confident that, depending on the business, most of America would see their ad in one or more of these media.

This is certainly changing. Polling reveals that people are reading newspapers and magazines much less than before. Many magazines and newspapers are struggling to continue. Others are published only electronically now. People are turning to pay TV because they are disenchanted with the free television programs. If people do watch the ad-saturated networks, many surf during the advertisements or simply leave the room. One reason is that advertising now takes up almost as much time as the movie or program itself.

This fact means that companies are less likely to use these mediums to advertise. Since advertising is often a major source of income, this only further cripples the business. Check out these recent statistics: TV ads have declined 10.1%; newspaper advertising has dropped 18.7%; magazine advertising has fallen off 14.8%, and radio advertising has decreased 11.7%. These are major drops and reflect the shift in our source of information.

Where then are companies investing their advertising dollars? Computer advertising, in the same period, has risen 9.2% and phone ads 18.1%. Many find phone ads invasive, irritating, and personally ineffective. Yet, as long as people are willing to call for a living, they will probably continue. Over 200 billion emails race around the globe every day and not surprisingly 90% of these are useless spam advertising. Yet, with the innovative ways companies like Google have provided focused ads, aimed at target audiences, it is no wonder that successful Internet advertising is on the rise.

Companies are still using billboards effectively. Local papers and mail ads are also used for location exposure. But for national exposure, a company will need to use innovative ideas to get their message across to an ad-saturated society.

The secret of advertising is to have the important information about your goods or services before the people either to get them interested or readily available because they are interested. After all, if the newspapers, magazines, and TV are not attracting customers, then the ads are not cost effective. After all, they can’t afford to be a good ol’ Joe to keep the media going.

New York Aerial Advertising or airplane banner advertising remains strong because it exposes a message to a large group of people. The message is flown over sports events or beaches. They demand to be noticed and the repeated passes inscribe the message into the people’s minds. Banner ads are especially effective when the product or service appeals to a wide range of people who would be at these events.

Good, effective advertising will have to keep one finger on the pulse of our rapidly changing society. Innovation will be demanded. Yet, nothing will every replace the best ad of all, a satisfied customer.