Studies suggest that about 9 out of 10 people who have the option to skip an ad, will do so. This isn’t a good thing for the advertising industry, but, we all do it. Admit it!
So instead of having this happen to your brand or organization, give the consumers what they want! In today’s world of advertising, stories are what gets a brand noticed and consumers engaged. Like a good country song, a good advertisement should tell a good story!
Some of the best and most celebrated advertisements of our time have one thing in common: they tell a great story. Creatives and advertising professionals know that the way to winning over consumers is to give them a story that is ‘worthy’ of their time. Everyone loves a great story, and that is what needs to be capitalized on!
While consumers have pretty much always had the option of skipping ads (changing the TV station when the commercials start, tuning to a different radio station to hear music instead of ads…), the last 20 years or so have really focused on one thing in particular: consumer empowerment. Consumers want options, and, one of those options is the ability to easily skip over an ad or commercial to get the content they want.
Consumers are now able to consume the media they want, when they want it and how they want it. This is a great thing for consumers. Not such a good thing for advertisers or brands.
In order for brands together this ‘blockade’, storytelling must become a priority. A simple “here’s what we have. you should buy it” commercial or ad just won’t cut it in this day and age. Big brands like Red Bull, Pepsi, and Coke are now pouring more time and resources into creating original content that is capable of competing with what the web and TV have to offer and are coming up with creative ways to get stories across to an audience. Of corse, not all companies have the money and resources that some of these big brands have, but that shouldn’t change the main point: The new wave of advertising is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Brands must be able to be creative and use storytelling techniques to sell themselves to a consumer audience that has become less and less tolerant of advertising as a whole. They can do this by crafting compelling, engaging stories. Country music has been doing this well for decades and decades. Maybe its time we all take a page from their book and try looking at ads as a different media format of a country song than just a simple ad.
