Grown Up Thinking

Every recession in recent American history has consistently shown ad budgets decline. We’re already seeing evidence of this in the current economic downturn. However, history also shows us that when the economy goes south, those who maintain their budgets or even increase them have far greater results compared to spending levels when the economy is doing well. The lesson here is, when competitors are decreasing ad budgets, pounce.

In the last advertising slowdown, companies like Netflix, Expedia, and Zappos managed to grow over $100 million in revenue by taking advantage of cheap media. The current recession, however, is not only going to lower the cost of media, it will also lower consumer confidence. People will be saving more and buying less so companies will have to step up their game to stay competitive. Many companies have turned solely to online campaigns like Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Optimization and viral campaigns, seeing much better results at a fraction of the cost. Because people are saving money by getting rid of cable, driving less, and spending more time online, people aren’t seeing TV spots, billboards, and print ads like they used to. Today, everyone is online for everything, which is why this recession is the perfect time for traditional companies to try nontraditional advertising.

I’ve lived in the same apt going on 3 years. It’s been nice, but I’ve never been able to get reception on my phone.  It’s always been one of those “dead zones” everyone is talking about. I’ve been through 4 phones in these 3 years–0 bars the whole time.

The other day while surfing the app store on iTunes I came across Fring, an app that among other things allows you to connect your phone to a WiFi network to make free VOIP calls.  ”Wow!” I said to myself, “What a find. I can totally use this in my apt!” I downloaded the free app, but quickly ran into a roadblock. I didn’t want to pay for skype, but the app says “free calls”–was this just another disappointment in the legally ambiguous 2.0 world?

I went to the Fring section on iTunes–no help. I went to the Fring website–no help. WTF. I then googled “free calls fring iPhone.”  Lo and behold–a consumer tutorial on YouTube gave me the exact step by step instructions I needed to solve my problem–legally and easily.

I think we’re seeing now with our plug-and-play, ADD, instrant gratfication culture, people want to solve probelms as they arrive, and look for the authentic voice of fellow consumers to answer their questions. No one is reading instruction manuals anymore–the connectivity of 2.0 world has alowed consumers to reach out and collaborate to solve problems.

I live without a television, insisting instead on watching shows and movies (both old favorites and newer flops I get suckered into viewing) on my trusty desktop. Lamentable, I know, but I am still privvy to the sometimes not-so-wonderful world of traditional advertising.

Namely, the dreaded Saved by Zero campaign for Toyota.

This article in AdAge and blog post on Marketing with Meaning explore how repetition of TV ads are leading to negative shares in the minds of consumers.

Hate to say we told you so, but the extraordinary thing here is the vehemence of the backlash against Saved By Zero that has been swarming 2.0 communities like Facebook and inspiring brilliant parodies like this on Youtube.

All I can say is One Thing Leads to Another.

*note: may all who recognize that blasted jingle bask in my numerous Fixx references. Be on your way.