The Social Scene - Part 2

Where’s the Beef?

Remember back in the day, there always seemed to be a commercial everyone was talking about?

Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.
I totally double-dutched to that one.

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Mr. Owl did it in three. I tried so many times to do that as a kid! It was totally impossible and I was crushed.

I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.
I found this on YouTube and it instantly took me back to my living room with the green shag carpet and wood paneling. It gave me chills. I know it’s crazy that a commercial can have such an impact. But the time was so tumultuous and that commercial gave a little bit of comfort and hope to the world. (And I’m a sucker for nostalgia; Coca-Cola especially.)

Plus, I know people who cried during Hallmark commercials. My mom included. MCI long distance ones too.

Commercials became as much a part of our television entertainment experience as the shows we were watching. It was a mad competition to see who would have the funniest, catchiest and most innovative approach. Huge multimillion dollar campaigns would launch in hopes to have the next catch phrase.

It’s not really like that anymore. Sure, there are a few companies I can think of that still go above and beyond in the TV campaign area. Geico’s Gecko and Cavemen come to mind. But, really, when was the last time you sang a TV jingle? I haven’t since Chili’s made me “want my baby back ribs.”

The face of advertising is changing, my friends. Aside from the big push at Superbowl, big budget TV campaigns are on the decline. The invention of DVR and the insanely vast amount of broadcast TV and cable networks make it near impossible to pay attention to the commercials. Companies are turning to more cost effective approaches via the Internet - specifically social networking sites.

Do you know of any national retail corporation that doesn’t have a Web site? I don’t. I’m sure you’d be hard pressed to find one. Take that as a challenge, if you like! It’s now common practice to include Internet and online activities in any marketing and advertising plan.

Many companies have gone way beyond simply having their own Web sites. They’ve ventured into the social networking scene, creating MySpace pages and blogs and using email campaigns to drive traffic to these sites. And why wouldn’t they? It’s the Internet version of pollination.

A busy little Internet bee stumbles upon a blog or new Web site. They take that information and link to their own blog or post it on a message board. They use it to pass along information and foster discussion. Then along comes another little busy Internet bee that takes the link and posts it in various other places and so on and so forth. Voila! Pixel pollination. I can’t really think of a much easier way to spread your message than having someone else do it for you.

For some, these practices are still brand new. People are just testing the waters. As we start to see more success with this sort of “grass-roots” marketing, the entire way we implement advertising and promotions will change.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see where we are a year from now. With the ever-changing face of the Internet, new marketing and advertising opportunities will always be on the horizon. It’s an exciting time to be part of such prevalent change in this still-budding new medium. No one has really jumped out as a leader in innovation for this new age of Web-based marketing. Having the opportunity to be a player rather than just a spectator is making the evolution all the more fun.

Up next - The Social Scene 3: Web based communities - top sites, key features and why they’re so addictive.

Stay tuned!

- Ali

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 7:38 am and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.