In Advertising Age’s annual digital issue published last month, Simon Dumenco, media columnist and new-media pundit, talked about “why most consumers will never engage with brands or content, and why it doesn’t matter.” In his article, The brutal truth about social media: It’s OK to be a little antisocial, Simon cites his colleague Matt Creamer’s report that “slightly more than 1% of fans of the biggest brands on Facebook are actually engaging brands.” He goes on to argue that while social media has certainly made it easier to engage a brand, consumers always “had plenty of ways of engaging with brands and content” prior to Twitter and Facebook. These included “toll-free numbers on the back of cake boxes, letters to the editor at print publications, and call-in shows on TV & radio,” but only a minority of consumers embraced such dialogue. We agree with Dumenco that “passively consuming content is just the way that most people choose to engage.” In fact, over the last two months Amie Ley, our Director of Public Relations & Social Media, and I have been using a sports analogy to explain this truth to our clients. We tell them that most of their fans are not Face Painters.
Recently, one of our CPG clients asked us straight up why they should continue to do digital banner advertising. This was not an unexpected question given an almost universal client frustration with the medium due to low click-through rates. But click-through rates are hardly the sole measure by which brand managers should judge their digital display campaigns. Below are five reasons why CPG marketers should maintain – if not increase – their digital display advertising efforts.
What does it take to make a successful viral video? The answer to this question is debated by agencies, analysts, journalists and brand managers alike. And, from our perspective, the deliberation is absolutely warranted.
Earlier this year, I made note of an interesting statistic from one of Simon Dimenco’s Trendrr Chart of the Week Ad Age articles that tackles the latest talk on TV and its future:
Netflix comprises 20% of download traffic during peak times in North America, as Slate technology columnist Farhad Manjoo reported in November, citing data from network management company Sandvine. “That’s an amazing share — it beats that of YouTube, iTunes, Hulu, and, perhaps most tellingly, the peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol BitTorrent, which accounts for a mere 8 percent of bandwidth during peak hours,” Manjoo wrote.
About the Author
George Potts
Director, Digital Strategy
@georgepotts
As part of the Smith Brothers Agency’s Touch-point Planning team, George oversees digital strategy formulation, aiding account teams in the identification and execution of the most efficient and powerful digital strategies and tactics to reach and engage consumers. His experience in digital and social media marketing is substantial. For more than a decade, George has provided digital marketing counsel to consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, restaurant chains, healthcare concerns, technology enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, and issue/political campaigns. Prior to SBA, George helped create and then lead a top digital agency’s social media marketing practice. He is engrossed in digital, social and emerging media and its impact on advertising and marketing.
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