• by Joe Marchese , February 10, 2009

Every so often there are some must-read posts out there. I think if you are in the advertising and marketing industry, Randall Rothenberg's recent post "'A Bigger Idea': A Manifesto on Interactive Advertising Creativity" is one of those.

 

As for me: In over two years of writing this column for MediaPost, I have been obsessed with the conversation regarding the double standard between offline and online advertising. (I will get back to the Rothenberg post in a minute, I promise.) It seems to be against the laws of nature (or at least the laws of marketing) that the allocation of marketing efforts/dollars dedicated to a medium would not be in proportion to the amount of time people spend with that medium.

Sure there are reasons why some media just doesn't work for advertising, but the highly engaging and personal experience that people have on the Internet isn't one of them. It's just that it takes more work and resetting of the metrics that define success to make advertising work on the Web. More work, because people will demand that advertising give something back to the experience of content consumption on the Internet, and that Internet advertising appropriately incorporate demands for an interactive, relevant and customized experience. Redefining the metrics that determine success will free marketers and their agencies to focus on what matters: Did we reach people? Did we tell them our story? Did they talk back - and (of course), how will this impact sales? These would seem to be universal questions, regardless of medium, but for some reason on the Internet the rules have been established as being different.

I am going to keep this week's column brief, in part because I have written on this subject a number of times before, but even more so because Randall Rothenberg's manifesto is going to take you a while to get through, and it is worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

"And that, fundamentally, is the business we are in -- of providing men and women the information they need and they entertainment they want to think and feel and act in different and better ways. And therein lies the power of our medium, its unprecedented power, for it allows people to find the information, to talk back to the news, to create and share the entertainment, to shape the event. And that is the force of advertising in this medium -- not the fact that in some places, at some times, it can be purchased in the bargain basement."

Once you have read the post,  I'd really like  to know what your thoughts are. You can comment here and/or send me @ message on twitter @joemarchese (http://twitter.com/joemarchese ) to keep the conversation going. I promise, I read every comment and twitter @ message, even if I can't respond to them all!