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Web smarts turning clients into ad agencies

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Gerry McCusker runs EngageORM a PR, communications and training consultancy helping brands, organisations and individuals monitor and maximise their online presence.

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News outta the US says that a new clutch of internet players are giving potential advertisers the low-cost opportunity of buying, creating and monitoring their own online ad campaigns. Just like online car sales ads have caused a shrink in newspaper classifieds, should ad agencies be even more fearful that their days are numbered, and that PR is better placed to help clients reach technologically-equipped audiences?

Take the case of Chicago-based Bonobos Pants; using Facebook's new self-serve ad system, Bonobos CEO created ads for a total of US63 bucks, the ads were viewed a quarter of a million times and Bonobos shifted its entire stock of trousers.

Ad guys will bullishly counter that clients can't replicate creativity or engineer clever strategies, yet consider this: Bonobos ads allegedly had no-brainer, low creative taglines and the simplest of product pics. Then there's also the wave of sometimes stellar consumer-generated-content that's being uploaded to soc media sites. And a few of the other CGA (Consumer Generated Ads) providers are also auto-calculating ROI between spending and results. Check out AdReady Inc, AdBrite Inc and AdItAll.

As to my point of why online plus traditional PR may be a better way to achieve cut-through? I didn't learn of this development via an ad; it came via an article (I'll wager placed by a media relations gun) in the Wall Street Journal.

What do you think? Will PR start to eclipse the ad agency as the choice for tech-equipped audiences?

1 Comments

brandmusic
  • Wrote on 1 Jun, at 11:45AM
There's no doubt the online ability to book your own ads will become an important part of many brands marketing strategy. My fear is that DIY, cottage style advertising will clutter the market and do alot more damage to serious brands who have previously invested in owning consumers emotion and mindsets. Just look at the way real estate ads(location, location, location) written by sales agents look compared to a real estate copywriter who knows how to make the property sound emotional to the prospective buyer. Once the border between mega brand and backyard dental services collide on the same playing field, we will be in serious trouble and anything and everything will be pushed forward for promotion. How can you lose, spending 63 cents for a campaign? Hopefully once every marketer and their dogs have advertised something online, they will come back to the traditional methods of utilising an agency or PR firm to develop a solid campaign that's more about the long term strategy than the one off click and buy.

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