All Hail the Little Brothers
In a recent study by a US company PC Tools, 25% of those surveyed said it was OK to be online during sex. Now that’s the news to brighten any advertiser’s day. The incessant complaints we hear about media budgets shrinking, and online advertising never quite getting there – and here you have it in a nutshell: consumers have never been an easier prey.
Was it a decade ago, or less, that one actually had to get the ad in front of the consumer? People did not permanently live in the media world – they had to turn on their radio or TV to watch your advertisement. I mean, no one would see commercials during sex, unless they left the TV on. Now, however, the field is wide open for pre-rolls, overlays and banners.
The same insightful survey shows that 29% of us would stay connected during a wedding, and a whopping 41% thinks it’s OK to be online during family dinners. How can anyone with imagination complain that Internet is destroying commercial media? When we come to grasp the extent to which people are addicted to their own status update, we will understand the true future of the entertainment industry.
Looking back again: in the late 90s, the image of the Big Brother still lurked in the collective psyche. As the World Wide Web first wrapped its tentacles around our personal data, a huge amount of effort was put into developing tools to protect our privacy. But – sorry George Orwell – it’s not the Big Brother that triumphed; it’s lots of Little ones. Consumers just love to put themselves out there and announce to the world who they are and what they like. They are developing a pathological need to stay connected, and don’t seem to care when suddenly ads pop up in Facebook windows, and bear a scary resemblance to the words in their status updates and even personal messages.
At the upcoming TV market in Cannes, I will be quoting the brilliant PC Tools survey to every producer who comes around whining about digital piracy destroying his business. Just be creative, you guys! Yes Joe Blow might not go to Virgin to buy your DVD – dah, have you ever tried to update your status and comment on someone’s pictures , while rolling in the hay? It’s extremely time consuming. But Joe is online all the time, so get your programs in front of his face, or at least his Facebook profile. Follow him on Twitter – and when he follows you back just figure out a way to lure him to your YouTube channel, and you might actually make some money.
We live in an ego-friendly world, obsessed with status updates, profile pictures and social networking. We are drowning in noise, most of it self-congratulory, and, like Emperor’s New Clothes, no one is about to speak up against 2.0. Questioning the impact of social networking is like bashing the cool crowd in high-school – no one is stupid enough to do that. Advertisers, this is your moment, you have billions of people ready for their close-up. Just make sure your ad is somewhere in the picture.
Meanwhile, back to our PC Tools survey – there’s a company that clearly understands the potential of the new market. To quote their general manager: “We listened to our customers and solved their biggest challenges in developing tools that are simple, effective and affordable”. I can’t help but wonder what tools they have developed for effectively staying online while having sex. Mind reels.
