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Johnny Rose is right, and that's a major problem for marketers.EVERYONE has an online presence, and EVERYONE is using digital ads, emails, and even texts to try to stay top-of-mind for their target customers.
We're all inundated by ads any time we go online. For brands looking to get attention, what's the best way? Should the up the ante on digital with splashy CGI effects to achieve viral status? Or should they take the opposite track and return to paper images for billboards and catalogs to connect more intimately and concretely with their customers?
Both approaches are currently in use, and the splashy ones are definitely getting more coverage.
Upping the ante for digital
You must have seen the gargantuan Maybelline mascara wands appearing to brush giant lashes no buses and Tube trains:
A similar tactic was used to show a skyscraper-high Barbie stepping out of her box in Dubai.
Both the makeup and Barbie movie promo grabbed a lot of attention because they looked like real custom installations on location. Many people first thought that there really were giant lashes attached to a bus or train. In fact, though, these outsized promos only existed in the digital realm. You could only see the CGI-generated mascara, lashes, and towering doll on a video that blended them with a real background. effects with the real world.
The amount of buzz generated by indicating that digital out-of home (DOOH) AKA faux OOH advertising may be the one to opt for to get the most publicity bang for your advertising bucks. While no one has shared exactly what these headline-grabbing stunts cost, it seems that they may be more economical than traditional OOH advertising setups.
Retreating from digital
Perhaps when the everyone else is zigging toward digital, the way to zag is to go in the opposite direction. That's seems to be the thinking of some brands that are conspicuously embracing good, old-fashioned paper to connect with customers.
It may not be altogether surprising that a bricks-mortar icon would return to its roots of publishing a paper catalog for its anniversary sale, a practice that it had abandoned only four years ago in the case of Nordstrom reintroducing the paper catalogs that it had abandoned in 2019.
But even a brand born in the digital age is turning to paper. Zappos put its 2023 back-to-school catalog in paper format to be mailed out, Digiday reports, Perhaps the Amazon-owned shoe retailer is taking a cue from the ultimate online seller, which has mailed out holiday season toy catalogs since 2018.
Amazon also has found it effective to use mail out paper letters, as I described in Amazon Uses Snail Mail. Amazon invests in the extra cost of printing and postage because when our digital inboxes hold thousands of unread messages, we still tend to open the envelopes that come in the mail.
Reviving traditional OOH
Instead of trying to compete with Maybelline to achieve virality from a faux OOH marketing setup, cosmetic brand Murad is investing in traditional billboards in New York and Los Angeles to promote its products and store.
"The social space has become so competitive, it’s [become more] interesting for us to think about how to advertise differently,” Paul Schiraldi, CEO of Murad told Glossy .“It’s the old-school reach and frequency media advertising strategy, but it works.”
While traditional may resonate more with the viewers who see the actual billboards in strategic locations, including Times Square, instead of having to view the effect on a screen, it certainly doesn't raise the same level of buzz as the CGI-enabled promotions.
But, at the end of the day, the goal is not just to have people talk about your promotions but to incentivize them to actually buy your products. So this may play out well for the company's revenue goals if it brings in their target market around that location.
"The social space has become so competitive, it’s [become more] interesting for us to think about how to advertise differently,” Paul Schiraldi, CEO of Murad told Glossy .“It’s the old-school reach and frequency media advertising strategy, but it works.”
While traditional may resonate more with the viewers who see the actual billboards in strategic locations, including Times Square, instead of having to view the effect on a screen, it certainly doesn't raise the same level of buzz as the CGI-enabled promotions.
But, at the end of the day, the goal is not just to have people talk about your promotions but to incentivize them to actually buy your products. So this may play out well for the company's revenue goals if it brings in their target market around that location.
There's good data to back that assumption: The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) recently reported that its popular has been increasing and accounted for $1.82 billion in spending in just the first quarter of 2023. Businesses don't usually spend that kind of money unless they expect to achieve substantial ROI.
If you were faced with the choice of investing in paper or digital promotions, which would you choose?
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