When Is This All Going To Make Sense?

I have a lot going on in my world these days and for some reason when my brain is congested with so much traffic, while a helicopter is hovering overhead, I end up fixating on one topic. Problem is the traffic has been beating out the actual time required to put thought to keyboard, yet I just decided to sneak up on my world, put a bag over it’s head and tell it to chill out for a bit while I get this post out.

Maybe this is related to me paying more attention to the matter or being unable to avoid it, but the talk about monetizing content is overwhelming. How many stories have you read or presentations witnessed regarding who is going to save the newspaper business? This week’s savior is Google, who plans on implementing a version of their checkout software to help the newspaper business generate revenue from their content. Earlier this year I saw a presentation by Microsoft on how Seadragon will help the newspaper business and the subsequent advertisements as well. It was very cool and if you see the pattern here it’s about shifting print media to the digital space. Smart move, but we’ve known this for more than a decade now. Think about how costly it is to find paper, ship gigantic rolls of finished paper, get ink and so on and so on. If anything going digital is most likely more environmentally friendly and easier to distribute where your customer base went from regional (most newspapers) to global. The lingering problem though is that the advertising is atrocious and fundamental site design is based off of re-creating a newspaper model online. Why are we re-creating print in a space that allows for so much more flexibility? This leads to a bigger question. Why is television content re-purposed online under the same model as traditional television? It’s even  more frustrating when I see that coupled with banners surrounding the content. Basically our primary revenue generating solution, after 15 years with modern web browsers, is to take two offline models and incorporate them online. Where did we go wrong? We’re content. Why have we settled for this? We’re lazy. Who has the power to incorporate the change? Anybody with the guts to speak up.

I have a DVR so I can watch television programs on my own time in a scenario that I control. I also love that I can fast forward through the majority of ads that lack any creativity. I don’t even care if I’m not the target audience I’ll watch a good ad, but I’ll tell you that I might watch one for every two hundred. It’s great for the publishers that the same pre-roll ad, when played online, cannot be skipped, but who honestly pays attention to them? Who wants to engage them and how many of you know that they are all hyperlinked? On top of that watching a program on my iPhone or laptop does not give me the same feeling as sitting on my comfy couch with a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream as I cozy up to watch “The Office”. When I’m on the Acela and need a quick break my attitude is to get it over and done with asap so I can get back to what I was doing. Why then are you holding me up with re-packaged TV spots? There has to be a better way.

The better way is to leverage your platform and get creative. By creative I mean create original ad content specifically for the web. No, banners, flyovers, etc don’t count. Most are horribly conceptualized and poorly executed. When you’re working with Flash, for example, you have the option to do so much more, such as capture sales leads, make a sale, directly communicate via chat or voice with a customer or send the customer on a choose your own ad adventure experience. I am not buying the “It’s too costly” argument either. For the price agencies charge for simple banners you can get this done with the right people. On top of that if you’re a brand who spent a small fortune on a product placement deal why are you not securing your online spot to have your ads surface the second your product comes on screen?

Many publishers just want the revenue and aren’t going to worry too much about creativity, but if I was running one of those organizations I’d tell the advertisers to get far more creative by creating original ads that speak more directly to my audience. How can you put so much effort into making a great program and yet not apply the same standards to your advertising? Why not create a more positive experience for the viewer? It’s hard to find anybody who hates good advertising.