Please read this brief article before proceeding:
OK. Wow, huh? No wonder newspapers are failing.
First, the insulated corporate-think is breath-taking. Look, the term “free content” means content is free for consumers. If your newspaper doesn’t charge for online access, then your content is free. It doesn’t matter that advertisers pay you to run ads online. Are you trying to tell me that a Google search isn’t free since advertisers pay Google to display ads? Please. The search is free to consumers even if advertisers pay Google billions. NBC provides free TV content to viewers. The fact that advertisers pay NBC doesn’t mean the content isn’t free.
Second, I want to talk to these phantom newspaper readers who believe ads are content, readers who buy the newspaper for the ads. Sure, I know some people who buy the Sunday edition for the coupons, but not for the ads themselves, and certainly not to see what’s on sale at Macy’s.
Third, please explain to me how having ads on the iPad will create a better user experience. No consumer is excited about the iPad because it will display ads! Excessive ads when browsing online, when watching TV and when listening to the radio create a terrible user experience.
Can you imagine anyone telling their friends, “I can’t wait to get an iPad because it’s the perfect platform for me to interact with ads.”
Are some marketers excited about getting ads on iPads? Yes, of course, just as marketers are desperately trying to deliver ads to all mobile devices.
However, consumers don’t want ads on their mobile devices, or their iPads, netbooks, laptops, computers, TVs, radios, highways, high-rises, buses, taxis, etc.
And that’s exactly the problem facing today’s marketers. How does a brand engage with consumers in a welcomed and valued way? How do brands create marketing and advertising that consumers seek out, enjoy and share, rather than continue to use a one-way, heavy-handed, corporate-speak approach?
Marketing is no longer about media saturation and scripted communications.
Now it’s about quality conversation. It’s about getting real.
