• by James A. Hering , December 7, 2009

After reading the article regarding the new industry ad campaign from the IAB, I have to say I was saddened. As a 15-year digital marketing practitioner, I felt my heart sink while reading how the IAB has deemed my profession "creepy." Granted, there are studies on people's views of professions that rank 'advertising' right along 'used car salesman' for trust and appeal, but at what point did it make sense to highlight a misconception? While the intent was right, the execution was really off -- especially the ad creative.

So many questions abound:

Why are we demeaning our industry with the very point that rallies our detractors?
- Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) must be dancing in the halls of congress.

What in the world were we thinking when we played up invasion of personal privacy as a fun way to make a point?
- Between ID theft, coverage of Erin Andrews and her peeping Tom and child predators stalking kids online don't you think Americans are more than just a little concerned already?

And did someone really think we could convey the right information for such a complex message using demeaning headlines?
- There are more than enough studies out there that show how "snarky" creative always backfires. How will this endear us to the general public?

Yes, the creative is meant to turn a negative into a positive and right what are common misperceptions. But that's like trying to turn the Titanic before hitting the iceberg. Folks, you don't have to get off the boat, just take the warm weather route!

What this represents is a huge missed opportunity. We should be focusing on the positive benefits of online marketing - not the negative. Hints: The right message, the right time, the right place for the right person. Heck, you could have even gone green: "Less is more. We eliminate ad waste!"

If you need validation, remind folks it's the same way you get smart recommendations for books on Amazon.com. And how you don't have to re-type your cc info on your favorite sites. People appreciate convenience and personal benefit, not industry threats.

And not to totally degrade the effort, I'd like to state there are good aspects about this effort. If you participate in this industry at any level, make it a point today to read the entire "Privacy Matters" page (http://www.iab.net/privacymatters/). Every tab, every sub nav page.

There is good content and illustrations of important issues. So much so that if you read the content and think about it, they really got the entire campaign upside down. If they had highlighted the points in the support points, we'd see a totally different campaign.

Well, guess that leaves us with another important aspect of online marketing - Optimization! I strongly encourage the IAB to traffic out another ad campaign ASAP.