Get in touch

+44 (0) 28 9099 2882
deeper@fathom.pro

Fathom

Forget Mad Men, this is better than Madison Avenue in the 1960s

Forget Mad Men, this is better than Madison Avenue in the 1960s

They were halcyon days, were they not? The birth of a communications industry dominated by massive advertising agencies, run by tyrannical bosses and bohemian creative directors, managing huge budgets, in full control of the marketing messages to the masses through a small number of powerfully dominant media platforms. Throw in some rampant sexism, regular boozy lunches, endless indoor–smoking and a few bosses with an eye for the ladies and you’d have the bones of a good TV series.

In the intervening half century since Don Draper was ruling the roost everything has changed in marketing, and yet, nothing has changed at all.

The media landscape into which communications are driven could not be more different. Personal media consumption in the 60s was dominated by big press, big TV, big radio and big outdoor. Consumers constructed their media landscape based on a small number of enormously powerful publishing platforms.

Today we have a bewildering range of choices enabling us to construct our own media world, based on our politics, sporting interests, hobbies, professions and personal life. It isn’t uncommon to have a view of the world based on the news from one source, sport from another, and professional commentary from yet another.

Personally, I get my rugby news from Irish Times and RTE, my professional updates from Econsultancy and Gerry McGovern, news from BBC and RTE, and opinion from Irish Times and the Independent. I construct this news environment with RSS feeds direct to my reader and back it up with my bookmarks on my browser. Research would suggest that it’s not just me who consumes media in this manner. Increasingly consumers construct their own media world based on their personal values, lifestyles and priorities; thus earned media continues to place enormous pressure on paid media as the most effective means of influencing opinion. More and more web users are spending their online time on fewer and fewer websites.

Fragmentation means that marketers can no longer rely on paid media to get their messages to their target audiences, a situation further exacerbated by the fact that many consume this already–fragmented media across a range of devices and platforms, often disconnected to an “official” platform. Thus it is entirely possible that a user may read their sports news on a mobile RSS reader application, or an opinion piece in an email, which may have little or no corporate branding and little or no space for paid media above–the–line advertising.

This environment has also caused the second major shift in the media landscape, which is that because big brands can no longer dominate the communication channels, they are in much less control of the message than they have ever been. Previously used to controlling the message with might and money, now they must settle for merely influencing the message with dialogue and discourse. Media fragmentation means consumers have access to a myriad of information sources upon which they will base their ultimate view on a business, a brand, a product or a service. Brands used to papering over the cracks with bombastic advertising campaigns have nowhere to run because they cannot earn the media they have been so used to paying for.

Just ask McDonalds how their #Mcdstories campaign went earlier this year when they went on to Twitter to ask customers to share their positive experiences of the Golden Arches. Check with Qantas how their #QantasLuxury competition went during their involvement in the longest running employment dispute in Australian history. Or Chevrolet’s attempts to market their Tahoe SUV in the US? Or Honda getting their employees to say nice things about a car in the North American market which consumers hated. And so on.

What hasn’t changed is that innovation and pioneering in marketing and communications remains as breathlessly exciting as it did in those early days on Madison Avenue. As consumers we are constantly evolving new ways of buying smarter, new means of learning, new techniques by which we make decisions. As marketers we remain committed to using the internet to help us grow sales, by learning to survive in this new world where the customer is more in control of the message than they have been in centuries. This tug–of–war game doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon.

Sure, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, but there’s no doubt about it, in 50 years from now when they are making a series about the digital marketing revolution 1995 – 2012 and beyond, they will look back at this time as a very special time to be involved in marketing, and frankly, a pretty brilliant period in human history to be alive.

By Gareth Dunlop

Gareth formed Fathom in 2011 and has been in the business of design performance for over two decades.

View more insights by Gareth

Like to read more of our insights regularly?

Receive our monthly insights newsletter straight to your inbox.

To prove you’re a human please rewrite the following into the box below.
swuq860j

Latest from the blog

Our latest views and ideas

Our Cookie Policy

Find out more I accept

Like most websites, ours uses cookies to make sure you receive the best experience possible. These cookies are safe and secure and do not store any sensitive information. To continue, please accept the use of cookies.