New Wine in Old Wineskins

Back in the day before glass bottles and the use of corks, wine was carried around and transported in skins made from various different kinds of animals, namely goat skins. As you can imagine, people back then went through a good amount of wine and tangentially through a good amount of wine skins (How many wine bottles a month do you go through?).

This was not the problem, obviously. The problems arose when people who lacked understanding of what they were doing tried to put new wine into old wineskins. Because the old wineskins were weathered and inflexible, when faced with the fermenting new wine, they would expand, explode and the wine would be wasted.

See any parallels with antiquated forms of advertising and the interactive marketplace?

Interactive is a completely new and different ballgame and I see too much use of old wineskins. We are dealing with a medium that contains within its fibers elements of connection, response, instant communication and interactivity. Our marketing and advertising solutions must have these same elements weaved into our fibers.

We are dealing with an explosive and dynamic medium and because advertisers are still using antiquated techniques users are doing everything they can to run away - look at the explosion of Mozilla's Firefox browser. Why is this?

In my opinion, it is because most of the time advertisers are trying to get people to look at content solely for the sake of force feeding them advertising. The majority of the effort is spent chasing people down rather than have them come to us.

Internet users generally know what they want and know where to go. If they do not, they use search engines. Search based advertising has worked to some extent because advertisers are catching people when they are in an inquisitive state of mind.

The rest of the time, the majority of web advertising attmepts to distract eyeballs and lead individuals down an unintended path.

We must look to solutions that take advantage of the inherent properties of the web (personalization, interactivity, communication, dialogue) in order to more effectively connect with our users. All of our efforts must be focused around these very simple, yet powerful concepts. Doing this we begin to put new wine in new wineskins.

"The customer's always right"

I believe it was coined before the turn of the Century, but true wisdom rings eternal. This piece of wisdom will certainly live on until the end of time...

So how does this nugget of wisdom apply to us as web users. If we as customers on the web are always right, why is it that we are consistently fighting with advertising that intrudes on our experience?

We have not invited this advertising into our experience, so why are we contending with messages that do not meet our individual preferences? Especially within a medium that should be and can be sculpted around the preferences of the individual very easily.

Now paid search is getting there and is beginning to show the potential of an Internet that is sculpted around my needs, but I am sure I am not the only one that knows it can go even further...

Further into my direct wants and needs, closer to my exact preferences. Let's stop guessing what the customer wants and ask them. After all, they are the ones that are always right...right?

Gilda Radner and cookies...

Remember the old "Saturday Night Live" piece featuring Gilda Radner as Emily Litella on "Weekend Update". She would introduce a topic and then carry on for a good five minutes only to be told, finally, by Chevy Chase that the topic she was raving about was not actually the correct topic.

I am reminded of this vintage piece of comedy as I read all of the recent commentary dealing with the topic of cookies and the interactive advertising industry.

Now cookies, in my opinion, do serve a purpose. But when we are talking about using cookies to track individual surfing behavior and provide related content to the user, I have to play the role of Chevy Chase and step in to tell Gilda that she is a bit off topic.

We should be talking about what best serves the individual. And I can tell you without fail that what serves the individual best is giving them exactly what they want. If the individual wants to delete their cookies (and we are being told by Jupiter Research, among others, that nearly 40% do), then so be it.

Let's turn our discussion to technologies and solutions that better serve our individual wants and needs. Think about a web that fits our individual profiles. Wouldn't advertisers and consumers be better served this way?

Think about communicating a message directly to someone who wants to hear it. Isn't this always the most effective form of communication?

Think about the last time you saw something and said "Yes, that's exactly what I am looking for!" Think about a web that asked you what you want, and delivered it...

This is what interactive marketing should strive toward.

Now Gilda, you're onto something!

Being Direct?

What are the ultimate effects of being direct? If we were all direct in our communications and our interactions, would the world get out of control or would it be a better place to live?

We are taught from a very early age that you can't say or do certain things. Has it been programmed into our minds that we must be polite instead of being direct?

Have advertisers and marketers programmed us in the same fashion? Have we been taught to take what they are telling us and not form our own opinions? Do we have the ability to be direct? Do we have the tools?

Are we victims of our upbringing and our cultural norms or do we just need to develop new tools in order to make our society function more efficiently and smoothly?

Let me know what you think...