A new whitepaper by Ad-Apocalypse entitled Why Brands Won’t Survive Without Interactive Experiences, the fact that marketing has been a decidedly one-way affair over the past ten years was highlighted. In a scramble to rise above the masses, brands have started to push their message wider, louder, and further – with marketing that is shifting from quantity to quality.
“Within the next five years, we anticipate investment in ad impressions going down. Instead marketing budgets will go toward brand experiences,” said Shar Van Boskirk, Principal Analyst, Forrester.
Forrester’s research agrees with this, with one of their recent reports on Digital Advertising stating that digital tools have arisen that do what advertising does, often better, but that digital advertising still isn’t always working due to a number of reasons such as:
- Ad blocking
- Low click-through rates
- Boring ad formats
- Savvy customers
- Advertiser fraud
- Irrelevant ads
- Chasing clicks over relevance
Advertising has perpetuated the lack of real interaction a brand has with customers. Progressive brands are increasingly looking for new ways to connect with customers and turn consumer indifference into something that can yield results. The solution for this is interactivity.
Instead of trying to find ways around ad-blockers, Ad-Apocalypse says that the solution is to listen to consumers and use technology to make marketing engaging again. Digital transformation is about creating new, interactive ways to share experiences with everyone. Providing interactive marketing experiences across all digital channels to engage consumers at every digital touchpoint is what brands need to be focusing on. Some of these touchpoints include:
- Websites
- Landing pages
- Social media networks
- Broadcast and streaming
- In-store experiences
- Brand mobile apps
- Out-of-home
- In-venue
- Interactive ad units
- Chatbots and instant messaging
- Twitter Live
Consumer’s aren’t just bored with ads, but they’ve become blind to ads and one-way messaging from companies. Even relevant ads that are well-placed often get ignored. Innovative and interactive brand experiences within traditional ad-units will replace today’s tiresome ad displays. This allows advertising to be based on formats that are once again something new and exciting for the consumer.