Why Marketers, Agencies, and YouTube are on the Wrong Side of History with the Six-Second Ad Format
August 14, 2017
Ground Control to Major Tom.
We have a major problem.
It seems that Marketers, Agencies, and Platforms are only thinking about themselves.
They haven’t learned that consumers now control when, where, and how they interact with brands. Brands no longer control the medium, the message, or the consumer.
Even the data that marketers love so much shows them that consumers hate ads. They probably believe it themselves, but everyone is hanging on to outdated business models, marketing scorecards designed in back when consumers had no choice but to watch ads, and frankly, some of them are just to lazy.
86% of people skip TV ads.
90% of people skip pre-roll ads.
Adblock usage grew 30% globally in 2016
They don’t seem to understand that marketing as interruption is over.
Major Tom, here’s even more proof that they think consumers want to be interrupted.
This recent headline in AdWeek:
The article is filled with quotes from agencies and advertisers elated about the new ad format and how excited to roll out yet another interruptive format:
“The format allows us to continue on our quest to reach a younger demographic. What’s so unique about this format is the way you distribute it. You have to think about these six second videos in succession. It’s a frequency play”
“They force you to be more focused”
“You can really get to a level of poignance and a level of human connection that you cannot get to even in a 15-second spot”
“I think it’s one of the most important ad formats—if not the most important ad format—that we are going to see more of.”
None of these quotes are consumer centric. None of them think about what the consumer wants. Some of them are quite hysterical when you read them twice:
“You can really get to a level of poignance and a level of human connection that you cannot get to even in a 15-second spot”
What? First, when’s the last time you watched a 15-second spot and had a human connection with it? Most likely it annoyed you. Now they believe that the new six second spot is going to give consumers a new “level of poignance.”
Stop breathing your own exhaust and wake up:
“Brands need to stop interrupting what consumers are interested in with ads and start becoming what they’re interested inwith content.“
This is rally cry for the entire industry to start thinking consumer centric and customer first. Stand up and take off your marketing hat and start thinking what the consumer wants. Think about your own experience online.
You need to switch up your thinking.
Most classic marketers were taught to promote features and benefits about products to consumers. Yes, that worked when consumers couldn’t skip ads. It worked when it was the only way for consumers to learn about new products. But that was along time ago.
Here’s what you need to do. Stop coming up with new ways to interrupt consumers and start creating ads and content that provide value first.
If interruptive ads are going to be part of your overall marketing mix, they better not be about you and they better provide value. They need to inform, entertain, and evoke an emotion from the consumer (after you’ve already interrupted them). They better be relevant and served at just the right time and right place.
Content Marketing can do all of this. It shouldn’t be your only strategy, but at least content marketing is consumer first. It gives consumers what they want, on their terms.
A few years ago Kevin Spacey said this at Content Marketing World about content marketing:
“Audiences have spoken. They want stories. They’re dying for them. They’re rooting for us to give them the right thing. And they will talk about it, binge on it. Tweet, blog, Facebook about it and engage with it with a passion and intimacy that a blockbuster movie can only dream of. And all we have to do is give it to them.”
I’ve spent over twenty years at the intersection of Hollywood Storytelling and Brand Marketing - creating, producing, and distributing content that wins the hearts, minds, and wallets of consumers.
Content Marketing works. And when done right, it can transform marketing from a cost center into a revenue center.
Call it all content - six seconds or six hours - but it better be damn good because we live in the attention economy. And anything that interrupts us is annoying. Let’s rally together to create content that consumers actually want. They understand that brands need to advertise, but provide value first, and they’ll engage with it and appreciate that you didn’t try to sell them something first. Create a value exchange.
“Marketing is like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second.”
Hopefully I’ve retained your attention and I’m sure I’ve evoked an emotion.
