AdAge’s Editor Made Me Power Puke

If you’re interested in online advertising and video, this is a must-hear 10-minute podcast by Hoag Levins in the AdAge “Why It Matters” audio show. Levins interviews Advertising Age Editor Jonah Bloom and addresses the following:

• Why will ad agencies be forced to further trim their staffs?
• Why will media companiesl be “required to prove their real worth” as never before during the coming year?
• What are the most likely disruptions awaiting marketers, ad agencies and media companies in the coming year?
• What scares the editor of a national publication (Bloom) grappling with the often-unnevering new realities of the ongoing digital communications revolution?

I found most of the piece interesting, but some of it dangerous. I agree that agencies have overstaffed television departments, and account/planning people that need justify their pay. I also agree that digital agencies are likely to act as the larger agencies (or at least sit at the same table). And I think Bloom is spot on in the importance of advertiser/consumer co-creation of content (watch for the popularity of Superbowl commercials created by consumers).

The most dangerous portion of the conversation, however, occured when Bloom posed whether advertisers needed media companies. Some brands have tight relationships with consumers, he said, and don’t want to adjust their approach through media aggregators. He cited BudTV, and Burger King’s creation of video games and a film. Proctor & Gamble is drawing in more visitors, says Bloom, than many websites designed for entertainment.

Many marketers are realizing “they can be the media owner.”

This is where I needed to power puke. Marketers (with maybe a few exceptions) will not create media on their terms. Consumers will. And the media sites will address consumers needs first, then arrive at the terms with advertisers.

Like any stupid statement, it’s not without some truth. HP can and should be Flickr. But that’s an exception, and may lead other marketers down a dark, deep, expensive money piss hole trying to create their own communities. Sigh. Didn’t brand portals die in 1999?

By the way, there’s great irony that the Advertising Age podcast: a) couldn’t get through my pop-up protector, b) wasn’t able to rewind/fast forward, and c) included clip art instead of a video of the two speaking.