Adwords, advertising past & present…
I have to admit to having gathered a few years under my belt (or is that beers) and although there are times when you think back to how it used to be in the ‘Ad Agencies’ of the past – more of that in future Blogs – need to check with the lawyers first!
I do on occasion reflect upon the past and just think of how it really compares to today. Let’s just take one aspect, others will follow, but for now in advertising terms let’s consider Adwords vs ‘good old fashion advertising’. Of course back then we would be classing this brief string of words as ‘classifieds’ and not the ‘curvacious blonde WLTM for fun & frolics’ type of ad more the ‘one careful owner only 60,000 miles’ masterpiece!
Nowadays the ads are severely restricted in terms of space & content 25 characters for a header and 35 for each line of text but their impact and relevance can be massive. Gone are the days when 20 or 30 phone calls from an ad were deemed a success now we measure in clicks and goal conversions that can run into hundreds. What does it all mean though? Well it all adds up to measurability and for marketers of the past that fearsome word ‘accountability’, as we can all see exactly how the ad has performed, however, there are benefits. We can change an ad in minutes, run it , monitor it, assess it’s success and adjust as necessary – brilliant!
Now we can actually make our customers money work harder and go further and bring a greater return on investment, providing it’s managed correctly and the results should speak for themselves!
In the 70’s and 80’s you often had days in between insertions and even then you couldn’t be sure of their success – okay you received a few phone calls but if we changed just a couple of words, would that make a bigger difference? The customer didn’t have the deep pockets that would have been necessary to go through the ‘assessment’ cycle or in fact the time – what can be achieved now in a few days would have taken weeks.
A step forward? Certainly it’s made everyone in the media sharpen up their act as you cannot sit still, relax or even have a proper lunch without consulting your Blackberry or iPhone for the latest results.
As for the man (or woman) in the street it now means that they can engage with the world – promoting their skills, products and services (note to self before publishing best delete women in the street here) providing them with every opportunity to prove themselves as leading copywriters and creatives – yes Adwords has finally given the (ad) ‘power to the people’!
Who cares about the past, well mark my words you’ll be writing something similar, or just thinking it to millions in 20 or 30 years from now and what will YOU be yearning for?
