The Mystery of Content

Content is a tricky thing. The thing that's tricky is content.(?) The point is "No" there is no straight up strategy that will answer all of our advertising questions about content and placing ads in relation to it. Unfortunately, for all of us advertisers out there even if we think we've done everything right any ad we place on line is still a roll of the dice and there is always a chance of losing. On a more positive note, why don't we try to up our chances of winning? We have the tools and the tools are getting better and better to help us in making the best decisions possible about where and when to place our ads. Let's take people who advertised on 2nd life because it was hot stuff at the time. These advertisements were at one point in a prime spot and then things fizzled for 2nd life and so did the ads. The thing that would help avoid someone's ads failing in this situation is definitely spreading the ads over a series of networks because it is stupid to bet it all in one place (2nd life? virtual people? c'mon guys!). Also, with all the information we are able to get on consumers and our specific target audience there is no reason to completely misplace your ad. In a world where a vast amount of knowledge is at our finger tips we need to make sure we know about important upcoming events that might effect where our audiences are going to be browsing. Examples of an event would be the MTV awards. Everyone knows Britney's comeback was not exactly what we expected to say the least, but either way the day after the awards advertisers should of had a little forethought into the fact that You Tube( http://www.youtube.com/) was going to be bombarded with people looking up clips from the awards, thus explaining the recent interest in the crazy person making a scene for brit in their video. I mean no one could have expected such an outburst, but when something is that ridiculous whether it's disgusting, unneccessary, out of line, etc people will be intrigued. And as advertising majors we should make note of this because knowing the behavior of people is beyond important to our future jobs. Look at Chanel's online campaign.( http://uma.chanel.com/home.php) The company knows it is time to join the online world because that's the world people are evolving into. Chanel is a very popular and well-known company and they would probably be fine without the online campaign, but they'll be alot better off with it. It's knowing or trying to foresee what people want and will be looking for that will keep a company and it's ads ahead of the game. I would tell clients to use all of the information that they have with all of the different targeting techniques out there. Find as much out about the targeting audience as you can and use that information to make the best educated decision you could make. I wouldn't be afraid to test out different sights. Find out what works best and then buy more impressions if something works out well on a particular sight. I think on-line ads are evolving and matching up context is getting easier. Just keep your eyes and ears open, stay on your toes, and know your audience.