The Sales Department at The Economist publishes an impressive argument for investing energy, resources and strategy in marketing through the recession
due to severe hypotension that may ensue following this viagra pills which may benefit selected patients to various degrees..
. Maybe the most comprehensive and thoughtful argument I have seen. All the way to slide 36..
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View slideshow on Slideshare.net. (via MIT Advertising Lab)
At slide 37 some thoughts on online marketing appear, although not flattering. The slideshow demonstrates both a very limited view on digital regarding richer marketing opportunities, and manages to claim that print publishing, and especially The Economist is a better media for reaching and activating influencers (Not fans of Herd thinking either I see :o).
If they had only stopped on slide 36 my thoughts of The Economist would have been so much higher. If they only trusted me to fill in the last part of the story myself, I would have added my own version of it, and loved it. Now I’ve read their limited worldview and every investment they made was wasted.
To me this is a lesson in how smart some people are when it comes to exploring new marketing opportunities online, and secondly, how different and advantageous the marketing would be, if they only put a little more faith in the participants to finish the stories themselves.
As Dan Ariely put it in this video on Online Dating. The less we now about the dating partner, the more positive our impression is.
I too was a bit disappointed at the Economists point-of-view on digital. At the end of the day, the thinking (if it can be called that) from a publisher perspective will always tend to be skewed towards positioning itself as a vehicle for brands to communicate their messages, either online or offline. For the Economist to provide an short-sighted example of how a simple tactic such as contextual search listings are not building brands really was missing the point.
That’s why digital relies on other touchpoints to effectively create a sound strategy. Is digital really relying on other mediums in order to work? I guess we don’t need to bring up the Fortune 500 companies that don’t advertise offline.
Those who are digital planners and strategists in the industry will need to continue to educate the media industry if we are to create great partnerships and even greater solutions for clients.
Great post :)
Thanks for the comment David.
And of course I do agree. Especially appreciate the last paragraph were you write about the need for us to ad our opinions and knowledge to the flow of information in an attempt to enrich participants across industries.
That is why we blog, and hopefully this exchange of information will be even more crucial in the coming weeks and months. Supplying those who want to listen, either clients or colleagues in advertising or media. With accessible, free, easy to understand and focused comments on the stuff that is important when moving forward into a richer digital landscape.
Reminds me of this quote:
“Because the world is filled with minds that can contribute, and when that information is shared things just move faster”.
Thanks again for participating :o)