This Blood's For You

That's the headline I wrote for my advertising copywriting professor at The University of Oregon back in 1989 while working on some campaign ideas for our local blood drive.  I absolutely LOVED writing advertising, which of course led me to career choices that were the total opposite end of the creativity spectrum.

Lately I am thankful I did not enter the advertising agency world, since advertising as we know it (or knew it) once again finds itself in position to change or be replaced.

With new terms such as "permission marketing", technologies such as Tivo, and markets being divided, and divided again, the mass advertising techniques (now known as interruptions) are no longer effective.

I listened to a web seminar today by Seth Godin promoting his new book Meatball Sundae and during the question and answer session he said something that is key to planning todays marketing strategy.  You can no longer use a "mega-phone" you must now use a "magnet".

I picked up a local real estate listing magazine at lunch and as I turned through the pages all I could see was one company after another using "mega-phones" to tell me how great they were.  Imagine if I was currently looking for real estate and actually came across an ad that discussed a free e-book about buying or selling homes that I could get by going to a website.  Magnetic.

Advertising is not going away as there is always the need for business to sell products, but it is changing quickly from what it was just a few years back.

Comments

[Bianca]

Great post, John. I definitely agree that advertising must be magnetic. The industry is constantly changing so using the same methods over and over again won't be enough (and in most cases, it won't be as effective anymore).

I look forward to reading your future entries and thanks for stopping by my blog.

- Bianca

[Shama Hyder]

Great post John. Dugg!

[Christine O'Kelly]

Excellent post John! I love the irony of timing. I just launched a business based around address this very same problem for ecommerce businesses.

Real estate is another very challenging market - especially on the web. When you find that golden nugget that gives real estate agents the permission marketing advantage, you will be a very successful man!