Summary

  • Traditional advertising was a shotgun business, many bullets missed their target
  • Web 2.0 allows companies to better serve and market to their consumers
  • The technology can be either in house or outsourced

Analysis

I am a huge fan of Mad Men. The 1960’s, when the advertising agencies sat in smoky conference rooms and concocted ways to drive consumer behavior directly into their client’s bottom lines. Subliminal advertising intrigued me, purchasing products because of hidden images in magazine pages. Consumers were like zombies, controlled by advertising masters. Turns out, the advertisers mostly sold their clients on that marketing fantasy. 
 
Consumers want facts, something that Consumer Reports discovered in 1936  They claim to have more paid subscribers than any other publication-based Web site, in a market where publishers vanish from print and the web weekly. Consumers want to know if the company is reliable and is giving them the best deal. Developing a direct relationship with the customer via Web 2.0 allows corporations to listen, responded and engage in direct marketing campaigns with consumers interested in their products and services v.s.. interested TV viewers or interested magazine readers.
 
As businesses develop a means of listening and responding to their customers by implementing either in-house or outsourced customer engagement software (such as the products offered by companies such as RightNow) they should expect to see better product acceptance, better inventory management and greater customer loyalty. Everything those Mad Men promised, but with less cost than traditional advertising and a much improved ability to gage effectiveness.  How sublime.

Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.