Advanced Ad Companies Seek to Poach Brand Marketers from Mass Media

Advances in ad technology and Internet connectivity could within years bring more money into targeted advertising from major brand marketers, a category that has kept most of its major outlays with mass media outlets, a panelist said at the Media Summit in New York Thursday. “With everything IP-enabled, everything is addressable,” said Brandon Berger, vice president of digital innovation for MDC Partners, a holding company for marketing firms. “We as marketers will be able to deliver our message to the right customer in the right mindset that will get them to be an advocate and extend the brand’s value."

Already, traditional modes of advertising are failing, as more consumers make their purchasing decisions and seek out information about products online, said Simon Kelly, chief operating officer of Story Worldwide. “Interruption is dead, adjacency doesn’t work anymore and at worst interruption will just piss consumers off,” he said. “Doing nothing is not an option. Conversations are taking place about brands the whole time, and as a brand you really need to jump in and do it."

So far, social and online media have failed to lure major brand marketing money away from traditional media, said Jason Krebs, executive vice president of ScanScout, an online video ad network. All the growth in that area is projected to come at the expense of online display ads, he said. “You're still not drawing brand dollars and until that happens there’s not going to be real growth or acceptance."

Not all companies will succeed engaging with customers and critics online, said Adam Stewart, industry director of media and entertainment for Google. “It’s going to be difficult for some brands to have an engaging conversation with the consumer,” he said. “The consumer has to have some sort of passion for the brand to want to have that social engagement.”