Is Online Advertising Dying?

A better question would be is there a better alternative to creating and delivering advertising online in the coming future? Some experts believe that advertising needs to go social. Online marketing is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of the advertising world. Although advertising to the masses effectively is nearly impossible, most of the existing models are less effective and annoying for consumers. For instance online banner ads and repetitive repurposed TV ads on the web. Scholars and experts in online media realize the importance of advertising but at the same time, are cynical about its success in the coming years. Advertising online is lucrative and essential yet consumers shy away from it. Is there a solution, perhaps a new way to look at advertising completely?

With those questions in mind I ask you to consider who fuels the internet? The answer is simple, the users of the general public. Not some mega corporation or government agency but the users. Also, you might like to consider the growing popularity of social networking online. It is everywhere, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Forums for everything you can imagine, Craigslist; the majority of the time people spend on the internet is most likely on one of these social networking sites.

Why not leverage the rapidly increasing popularity of sites like this and apply it to advertising? Let’s face it, although online ads get viewed thousands of times more than any other form of advertising because of the traffic on the internet they are rather ineffective at boosting sales. How many times have you seen a banner ad on Facebook and decided that you needed that product? Most likely your answer is never. Let’s create a new type of online advertisement generated by the users, the same people who fuel the internet.

User Generated Ads is still at its infant stages but it is a brilliant idea. Have the consumer create the ads to their likes; no more market research to discover what will appeal to the most people, no more teams consisting of hundreds of marketing experts to create your catchy ads, no more million dollar marketing budgets, with the final result being more effective advertisement. Sounds like a no brainer to me. Even hold competitions between creators offering a small prize to the winner that would normally only a fraction of a company’s advertising budget. Although User Generated Ads are unknown to most of the general public now, I feel like this idea could explode into a completely new way to advertise.

Google’s Goggles

Imagine a universe where you do not even have to get up from bed to complete any of your daily tasks. This is what our lives are coming to. Our lifestyles now are far more lavishing than what they once were.

In a world full of luxury, where elevators replace stairs and universal remotes prevent us from ever having to leave the couch, there exists an increasing correlation between new products and our laziness. New York Times recently came out with an article discussing Google’s new application: Google’s Goggle App. Before, smart phones allowed one to Google anything simply by going to the website and typing your desired topic into the search bar. Now, with the new app, if you happen to come across a picture of something, you take a picture of it with your phone and Google automatically searches for it. After this app came out, recent studies show that mobile searches on Google have grown 500%. This shows people’s reliance on these new products and their excitement about something that will keep them form doing just a little extra work. Is it really that awful to just type in what you want into Google? I found that to be fairly simple and easy. This is just one example delineating our indolence.

We are wasting our money on items we do not need. People complain about going into debt, but if they just took one look around their house they would see that they could have saved themselves so much. Personally, I believe that living well means spending wisely.

“Creative Capitalism” and Entrepreneurship

In his lecture on entrepreneurship, Cameron makes several good points about what it takes to be an entrepreneur. What stuck out most to me was the first step in being able to sell a product is first finding resources for which to make your product. Many of the examples he gave, involved taking some sort of “waste” as others had classified it, and transforming it into a desirable profit. Two specific examples that he gave were the extra copper automotive parts that he accumulated and sold to a recycler and secondly the excess coat hangers from among his neighbors.

The second step is perhaps the most difficult and important aspect of the process. That is creating a product and advertising it well enough that someone wants to buy it. An excellent example of simple but skilled advertising came with the close pin pin cushions that were painted two colors. Instead of asking, “Would you like to buy one?” He asked, “Which color would you like?” I could go on and on with the examples but the point is that what sells a product is not always its quality, its origin, or even its maker, but rather the advertising is the key.

Perhaps the hyperconsumption is not the problem, maybe we just need to make use of hyperconsumption and capitalism to reduce our waste and recycle what has already been produced. Bill Gates makes use of his term “creative capitalism” that involves using the market forces to cater to the uncatered. Entrepreneurs need to focus on untapped markets of the developing world to improve them, and perhaps if not there then entrepreneurs can find uses for present “waste,” like the leftovers of coal power plants, or more efficient recycling of concrete and metal, vast use of alternative energy and so on. The list could go on. The point is that there are profits to be made by entrepreneurs, all they have to do is find the waste and advertise it; hyperconsumption will take care of the rest.
Hyperconsumption is just the way of life of the developed world, and it is based off of one of the strongest forces of human nature that fuels the free market. Rather than change the unchangeable, use the unchangeable to erase the need for change. Use hyperconsumption and the free market to counter the problems that people have blamed on hyperconsumption.

Making Capitalism More Creative

In the Time Magazine article, “Making Capitalism More Creative,” author Bill Gates discusses creative capitalism. He defines it as “an attempt to stretch the reach of market forces so that more companies can benefit from doing work that makes more people better off.” The idea is for companies to get into new and innovative markets to change the lives of those less fortunate. Gates hopes that creative capitalism will improve the lives of people all around the world in the long run.

However, in order for companies to take part in creative capitalism, they must have some incentive to do so. And since most companies are solely interested in profit, a financial incentive is the most effective. For example, last year a U.S. law was enacted which stated that “any drug company that develops a new treatment for a neglected disease like malaria can get a priority review from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for another product it has made.” In the long run, the company can make millions of more dollars because it will be much easier to get their products into the market at an earlier date.

So, how does all of this relate to advertising and hyper consumption? Advertising is all about getting consumers to know about a company’s product, and if companies get publicity for doing good work, “consumers can reward companies that do their part by buying their products.” In conclusion, creative capitalism can not only improve the lives of many people around the world, it can also generate more profits for a company. Therefore, in the long run, everyone benefits from creative capitalism.

Advertising Success

In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki compares two different ways of thinking. He compares the philosophy of a poor man and a wealthy man. Throughout the article you are not told which man is which until the very end, but the whole time that you are reading each description of the men you are led to believe one is far more successful than the other. He is creative, innovative, driven, value’s wealth, and is solely motivated to obtain as much capital as he can in one lifetime. From first glance one may say that he truly is successful, but what really is “success”?

I would like to assert to you that success is more than just obtaining ridiculous amounts of money and material. I say that a successful life is one defined by its life experiences. Education then is not merely a means to learn how to get paid more, rather it is the pursuit of wisdom. Similarly, one’s job should be a field that one is passionate about rather than continuously looking for ways to “get ahead.” True money can bring happiness to a certain point but it should never consume as as the ultimate goal of our labor in life.

The media seeks to shove its agenda down the public’s throat, so whatever the define as success automatically becomes the standard that the world tries to meet. You see this everywhere. How do you think companies persuade you to buy their products? The answer is by telling you that your possessing their product gives off an appearance of “the good life” or success. Following this line of logic will never lead to satisfaction, it can only lead to despair.

Alternative Advertising

When an individual thinks of advertising they probably think of flashy billboards or clever T.V. commercials. Have you ever considered some other ways people are advertised to on a regular basis? Perhaps most of our ideas about products and services are formed via society by word of mouth.

Consider the University system in America. How will a high school junior decide what University to go to? Most likely that student is going to go to the University with the best reputation that he or she can get accepted to. Not the University with the best commercials or flashiest billboard, the school with the best reputation with employers. That reputation is developed through production of past graduates and word of mouth without that particular university having to spend a cent on advertising.

In chapter one of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the author describes his two dads, one is rich and one is poor, as described by the title. In the first paragraph of the chapter he describes their individual levels of education and with our warped view of the University system, the reader assumes that the dad with the higher level of education from the prestigious schools is the rich dad. The reader does not discover until the end of the chapter that the rich dad is actually the one who did not finish the eighth grade.

Is the equation that the majority of americans believe of graduating from a prestigious University equating wealth wrong? Is it really just an individual’s mind set that matters? I believe the author has a point. I agree that a particular mind-set and way of looking at wealth is the key contributing factor to wealth but I disagree that going to a prestigious university does not make a difference. I believe with the mindset of the rich dad accompanied with the education of the poor dad can lead to a very successful, happy life.

Advertising, Facebook, and Oatmeal Creme Pies

For most companies, the main goal in advertising, and usually only goal, is to sell more of their product. However, this is not always the case. For example, take the brand Little Debbie. According to the New York Times article titled “Campaigning for Friends as Much as Sales,” Little Debbie is using Facebook as a platform to advertise and gain followers and lovers of the brand. According to the article, Little Debbie “has a goal beyond just increasing sales, namely to nearly double the ranks of Facebook followers, to more than one million.”

Facebook is a great way for companies to advertise their products and gain support because Facebook has such a great variety of users, so it is easy to reach all different types of people, all over the world, with the simple click of a mouse. The brand is going on a tour to make consumers feel as though they are an integral part of the brand. And, if people sign up as followers of Little Debbie on Facebook, they enter a contest and have the chance to win the Airstream, a 16-foot-long model valued at $34,000.

When advertising a product, it is important that a company makes their consumers feel as though they are a part of the product and what it represents. It is not enough to create advertisements that make people buy a product. It is equally, or arguably more, important to make the consumers feel that their ideas matter and that they are important to the company, so that they will stay loyal to the brand and advertise it themselves, simply by telling their friends or relatives about it. People should not only be consumers of a product/brand, they should be active followers who love and trust the brand. This way they will continuously buy more of the brand or product.