JonathanLarson

Marketing’s goal is to get people to remember a product or brand. This has evolved from newspaper ads and flyers to commercials and internet based marketing. A problem rises between the transition between medias. Here is an extreme example of this type of problem: Let’s say cingular wants to promote a new series of phones and they decided to make a commercial. In past experience they have made page layouts for magazines so they decide to that that layout and put it on television and just hold it there for 30 seconds with not motion or sound. This clearly isn’t the best solution because you have more engaging tools to work with for TV.

This problem of cross media advertising techniques is not the fault of the companies that are being advertised. The fault lies with the ad agencies that are working for those companies. Why don’t we see the problem where there is a static image on a TV commercial? It is because the heads of the ad agencies all watch tv and movies and can see the potential in advertising in this media. They are exposed to it so they can say how to enhance their marketing plans. But what if the agencies didn’t watch TV? They would be a lot more hesitant to change their original marketing methods which in the past have been a success. But look at what has come with marketing on television. How many people have you heard say they watch the superball for the commercials. Isn’t this the type of marketing we should be striving for with all of the types of media?

The newest and in my opinion greatest potential for marketing media source is the Internet. It has the ability to let the user see video and everything that is successful in television and allows for human interaction. The problem however is that leaders in the ad agencies are inexperienced with the internet’s potential and sticking with what has worked for them in the past; taking their static layouts and putting them on the screen: banner ads. Company leaders aren’t willing to risk new methods of advertising when they don’t know what’s possible because of fear, fear that they will loose business. I have personally experienced one of the largest ad agencies not willing to change because i feel they are afraid of losing clients. This fear will give too much power to the clients where they will be able to control deadlines and the quality of work will suffer. Engaging advertising will end.

Fortunately, smaller companies are willing to take the risks and propose new ideas. These companies are usually lead by designers who live on the internet to have fun. They are actually saving us and showing us experiences that we can say wow, that is amazing and i want to send this to my friends. It is these companies that will hopefully save the older and larger agencies so they can show clients the potential. The larger and more powerful the company though the longer it will take to change and bad design will continue to haunt the new forms of media.