How to design your way out of a paper bag: Viral for Profits

With major publications like Conde Naste cutting staff and budges left and right, TiVo reducing millions of dollars worth of advertising campaigns to mere blurs and the hottest and newest sties online all user generated content what is an advertising agent to do? The answers seems to be to take the subversive route.

In a world that does not want to watch advertisements the way to sell products seems to be more like trying to get a kid to eat their vegetables than anything. Making people want to watch ads is the only way for the advertising companies to survive. Yes there are of course the hidden add opportunities, dry-cleaner bags, shopping cart handles and eggs, yes eggs, but for an add campaign to be successful it seems that the advertiser must now challenge and engage the consumer. Gone are the days when Madison Avenue could just put out any print add in a magazine and expect to see revenues.

The gradual change in the way that successful advertising was designed goes hand in had with the change in the design of the modern media. Gone are the days of three network television streaming the same programs into homes from coast to coast. Now each person is their own media empire. Not only do people receive their media now online but with Blackberrys and iPhones in most people pockets, making media available around the clock with the flick of the fingers. This allows the averages person to meticulously edit the media that he or she is exposed to on a minute to minute basis, directly affecting the advertising attached to it.

Large scale advertising is failing. The niche media consumer demands a niche advertisement experience or they will edit it out of their lives. This means small scale add blitzes aimed at regional or socioeconomic groups, even targeting minority groups. The design must shift from one add for all to all adds for one, in essence marketing on a personal basis. This combined with creating a product, and when I say product I mean advertisement, that people will actually enjoy. The advertisers must design a product that makes an impression, that gets people talking.

Cadburry not so long ago realized the benefit of appealing to what would be considered a less main stream. An ad blitz by the candy maker featured multiple short TV spots consisting of disconnected subjects that has no connection to the existing branding of the company. No sight of the iconic "Cadburry bunny" or any reference to candy at all, the spots ranged from a gorilla playing a drum set, two children distorting their faces to the beat of a song, to a drag race of vehicles most commonly found on a tarmac. Watching the video the only common thread that can be found is the presence of music as a important element. The first of these, the gorilla, went viral and was featured in multiple countries, garnered a large online audience, spawned many satires and spoofs and is credited to a 9% increases in sales for the lagging company.

Seeing the success of this advert campaign and ones like it will hopefully spur the industry into action driving ad design in a new direction to respond to the new perceptions and handling of media in society. Advertisements are really the ultimate feedback loop for any given society, advertising selling a product in a way that reflects the ideology of the market, in turn that market chooses the best representation of itself with its buying power which guides the advertisers future plans. The problem is that advertising has not kept in step with the world around it and therefore looses its effectiveness. Really applying smart design into not only the concept but the application of new advertising is the only way to keep it relevant as we continue our journey into the information age.

The original Cadburry adds:

The "Gorilla" Advert