At the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit 2007 three speakers offered insight into new avenues for advertising and what it takes to create a successful next-generation campaign. These “next generation” marketers included:
- Mich Matthews, Senior Vice President, Central Marketing Group, Microsoft
- Michael A. Jackson, Vice President of Marketing and Advertising, General Motors North America
- Omar Hamoui, Founder & CEO, AdMob
Ms. Mathews discussed the changes in message delivery and their effects on the next generation marketer. Previously marketers focused on how to deliver the maximum number of ad exposures to a target customer. “Today, interaction is more valuable than exposure,” Ms. Mathews said. “Therefore, you need experiences that create interaction with the brand and shorten the funnel from awareness to action.”
Mr. Jackson approached the topic from a similar point of view: that today’s advertising model wasn’t built for the next-generation consumer. He discussed today’s “disconvergence”—the proliferation of devices and ways that consumers access and control media. Because of disconvergence, the consumer’s attention span has decreased, and now there are many new, non-traditional ways for advertisers to reach consumers.
Looking at recent GM advertising successes, Mr. Jackson asserted that agencies and media partners must embrace a sense of urgency and create a new model to succeed in this new environment. He touted several campaigns, such as GM’s 100K Warranty campaign of last year, to illustrate a new advertising model that requires deep coordination between client and agency, face-to-face interaction, and use of new media. GM’s success shows that this new model can work in today’s environment.
An example of the new media environment is mobile advertising. Omar Hamoui, Founder & CEO, AdMob, pointed out some common misconceptions about mobile advertising and demonstrated his company’s mobile advertising platform. According to Mr. Hamoui, active mobile Internet use is growing quickly, with the 35 to 54 age bracket using it most. The mobile ad offerings today include text ads, small banners, targeting capabilities, and landing pages for marketers who do not yet have a mobile Web site.
Following the close of SAS 2007, the next step for marketers may be to deepen their knowledge of the new strategies, new advertising model, and new advertising outlets and combine them to create a truly next-generation advertising campaign.
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