Traditional media has always placed a premium on storytelling. From the early days of purely being a sales-focused discipline, advertising emerged as something of a commercial art devoted to telling the story of a client’s brand. And then along came digital, and later still, mobile.
Mobile marketing has had a profound effect on advertising as we have know it. To put a fine point on it, the era of advertising and brand storytelling, has gone by the wayside. Don’t take InTarget’s word for it. This is according to Mastercard Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Raja Rajamannar, who explained the shift in this past October’s Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Masters of Marketing Conference in Orlando, USA.
He pointed out the obvious fact that there’s always been something of a conflict between what audiences want from their media consumption, and what advertising want – in a summary, brands want more consumer engagement, consumers want less brand engagement. Essentially, we’ve always just wanted to kick back and enjoy our favorite shows without the darn ads. That being said, give us a freebie and we’re happy to watch a few ads – see: E-TV.
Today, however, consumers are thwarting the traditional ad guys’ attempts to tell their brands’ stories in a big way. We’re demanding uninterrupted experiences with media, and going to great lengths to get them. Says Raja. In 2016, there were 200 million daily active users of ad-blocking software. And the figure’s rising.
“When consumers are telling you so loudly, ‘I don’t want your stupid ads! I care about my experience,’ holding on to the old paradigm and saying, ‘let’s put an advertisement… I think it’s a little obsolete,” said Rajamannar at ANA.
He continued: “… the way to reach consumer and engage them is through experiences. And what we’re actually finding, that’s hugely beneficial for us, is to engage consumers, make them our brand ambassadors and what we call a storymaking.”
Mobile Marketing Watch, for its part, says that the “storymaking” Rajamannar refers to is, in fact, about exploring digital means to engage consumers. Influencers, augmented reality, chatbots — all of these are employed by Mastercard to interact with consumers in new and unique ways that refuse to interrupt established media consumption.
As mobile marketers, we understand better than most that there is no shortage of screens available to look away from traditional advertising. Emotional connections made on very personal digital device screens are proven to elicit reactions from consumers. We’ve seen it, we know it, we can do it for you. A personal link to a brand needs more than an interruptive, old-school ad that marketers push out without a second thought. Let’s show you how mobile does it!
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