July 31, 2005
this the new advertising
Here’s a personal example of why I like blogs so much. My business partner, Thomas Mahon, is one of the best tailors in the world. We sell suits around the $4000 mark (and we consider that cheap).
In a recent post, he wrote:
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. For the money, the British high street retailer, Marks & Spencer’s makes as good a suit as anyone. I rate them highly.
M&S suits cost about one tenth of ours. They’re like the British equivalent of Sears or JC Penny. Naturally, not everyone who reads his blog has a spare four grand to blow on a suit, so he was giving some advice about what to look for at a more modest budget.
Could you imagine a similar piece of good, solid information appearing in an ad for Armani or Brook’s Brother’s?
Of course not.
This the new advertising. A world where dinosaurspeak has nowhere to live comfortably.
Of course, not everybody wants to live in this new world of ours. When Tom and I launched English Cut back in January, we sent the link to a fashion journalist that he knew well. The journalist wrote back, saying (A) he hated the concept and (B) he didn’t think it was going to work.
I love watching the gatekeepers getting it wrong.
[UPDATE:] Another nail in the coffin of dinosaurspeak: “Stormhoek, Kittens and Gay Live Aid Performers”. Thanks, Gia.
Again, can you imagine the words “Kittens and Gay Live Aid Performers” appearing in a Jacob’s Creek wine commercial? Again, of course not.
Just one “e” in “wholesaling” according to my dictionary.
Exactly.
Blogs (video, pod, or regular-flavor) are an excellent (perhaps the best) way, currently, to deliver extra bits of information about the product, or, well, about anything that might help incline somebody to think more, or better, of the product. The nature of blogs, and the people who read them, encourages truth-telling. Truth telling is good. People like it.
The mindset that makes an advertiser decide to tell the truth, though, isn’t about the medium. It’s about the advertiser.
Again, people like it when it happens. People like the fact that they can get every major insurance company’s quote by calling Progressive. Progressive does it, knowing they won’t always be the lowest.
It’s not just about understanding how to communicate anymore.
It’s also about understanding what to communicate.
Any form an advertiser’s communication takes is advertising. Any form.
Most advertisers (and agencies) are barely able to comprehend this. Eventually, more than some will get at least that far.
But for most, asking them to understand that their message also has to be more useful, personal, relevant, and less blatantly self-serving, I’m afraid, is a very tall order. At least, soon.
This is the new advertising
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Take a look at the most recent entry from English Cut.
Go all the way down to the bottom and read this:
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