LIFE AFTER THE 30-SECOND SPOT

Energize Your Brand with a Bold Mix of Alternatives to

Traditional Advertising

JOSEPH JAFFE

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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LIFE AFTER THE 30-SECOND SPOT

Adweek and Brandweek Books are designed to present interesting,insightful books for the general business reader and for professionalsin the worlds of media, marketing, and advertising.

These are innovative, creative books that address the challengesand opportunities of these industries, written by leaders in the busi-ness. Some of our writers head their own companies, others haveworked their way up to the top of their field in large multinationals.But they share a knowledge of their craft and a desire to enlightenothers.

We hope readers will find these books as helpful and inspiring asAdweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek magazines.

Published

Disruption: Overturning Conventions and Shaking Up the Marketplace, byJean-Marie Dru

Under the Radar: Talking to Todays Cynical Consumer, by JonathanBond and Richard Kirshenbaum

Truth, Lies and Advertising: The Art of Account Planning, by Jon SteelHey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads, by Luke Sul-

livanEating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand

Leaders, by Adam MorganWarp-Speed Branding: The Impact of Technology on Marketing, by

Agnieszka WinklerCreative Company: How St. Lukes Became the Ad Agency to End All Ad

Agencies, by Andy LawAnother One Bites the Grass: Making Sense of International Advertising, by

Simon AnholtAttention! How to Interrupt, Yell, Whisper and Touch Consumers, by Ken

SacharinThe Peaceable Kingdom: Building a Company without Factionalism, Fief-

doms, Fear, and Other Staples of Modern Business by Stan Richardsand David Culp

Getting the Bugs Out: The Rise, Fall, and Comeback of Volkswagen in Amer-ica, by David Kiley

The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy: Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Think-ing, by Tom Monahan

Beyond Disruption: Changing the Rules in the Marketplace by Jean-MarieDru

And Now a Few Laughs From Our Sponsor: The Best of Fifty Years of RadioCommercials, by Larry Oakner

Sixty Trends in Sixty Minutes, by Sam HillLeap: A Revolution in Creative Business Strategy, by Bob SchmettererBuzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand, by Marian Salz-

man, Ira Matathia, and Ann OReillyCasting For Big Ideas: A New Manifesto for Agency Managers, by Andrew

Jaffe

LIFE AFTER THE 30-SECOND SPOT

Energize Your Brand with a Bold Mix of Alternatives to

Traditional Advertising

JOSEPH JAFFE

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2005 by Joseph Jaffe. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 ofthe 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permissionof the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy feeto the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com.Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the PermissionsDepartment, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030,(201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have usedtheir best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warrantieswith respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifi-cally disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particularpurpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or writtensales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable foryour situation. The publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services, andyou should consult a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher norauthor shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, includ-ing but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Jaffe, Joseph, 1970Life after the 30-second spot: energize your brand with bold alternatives to

traditional advertising / Joseph Jaffe.p. cm.

ISBN 0-471-71837-8 (cloth)1. AdvertisingPsychological aspects. 2. Customer relations. 3. Target

marketing. 4. AdvertisingTechnological innovations. 5. Interactivemarketing. I. Title: Alternatives to traditional advertising. II. Title.

HF5822.J33 2005659.1dc22 2005000050

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

www.wiley.com

Dedicated to my beautiful wife, Terri, and gorgeouschildren, Amber and Aaronmay you all forgive

me for living out of a suitcase, exhibiting anexuberantly unhealthy type A personality, and

trying to change the world (in no respective order)

To my many colleagues in the industrywhom I am privi-leged enough to call my friendsthank you for your supportand belief, and at times for putting your money where mymouth is. Also my gratitude to the thinkers and doers outthere who are responsible for some of the exemplary workthat I hope Ive done justice to in this book.

Thanks to Grant Lyons, creative director and partner atb2fync, who designed my web site and the various lifelineicons depicted in the book.

Props to my man, Richard Narramore, senior editor atJohn Wiley & Sons, for truly believing in me and my mes-sage. Also to Ami Brophy, Executive Director, Clio Awards,for making the introduction which ignited the spark.

And finally, my eternal gratitude to my mother, for prettymuch everything.

Portions of this text may have previously appeared as iMediaJaffe Juice columns or in MediaPosts MediaDailyNews.

Acknowledgments

Foreword xi

Preface xvii

SECTION IThe Problem

1. The End of Mass Media 5

2. Whats Eating the 30-Second Commercial? 12

3. Mass MurderIs Advertising Even the Answer? 20

4. The Vicious Cycle 23

5. The End of the Line 29

6. A Perfect Storm Is Brewing 35

SECTION IIThe Solution: Re:think Four Fundamentals

of Marketing

7. Re:think the Changing Consumer 47

8. Re:think Branding 67

9. Re:think Advertising: Make Advertising Relevant Again 78

10. Re:think the Agency: Fix the Agency Mess 104

SECTION III10 Approaches That Are Transforming the

Marketing and Advertising Games

11. The Internet 109

12. Gaming 133

13. On-Demand Viewing 147

14. Experiential Marketing 175

Contents

15. Long-Form Content 187

16. Communal Marketing 199

17. Consumer-Generated Content 220

18. Search 231

19. Music, Mobile, and Things That Make You Go Mmmm 243

20. Branded Entertainment 255

Epilogue 271

Index 277

x Contents

Foreword

Joseph Jaffe and I are about as unlike as any two peopleyou will ever meet. Joseph is an internationalist. Im anOkie. Joseph has spent much of his time in creative. I havealways been a suit. Joseph has not just embraced newtechnology, he revels in it. Im writing this piece using Word95. Joseph lives in Connecticut. I live in Chicago. Clearly,we are polar extremes.

Yet here I am. A shiny-pants professor suggesting thatnew knowledge is better than old. That new advertising con-cepts must replace what we know and love. That traditionmust be reinvented. That what lies ahead is more criticalthan whats behind. All of these are an anathema to what welike to call the scientific method.

I am writing this foreword because I truly believe whatJoseph has said in his columns, speeches, presentations,seminars, and the like. Its what he continues to say fromevery podium and platform he can find. And hes right.

But the real reason I am writing this preface is that its abook I wish I had written. And this is the next best thing,being asked to write the foreword. Call it reflected glory ifyou like.

The reason I think Joseph pursued me for this forewordto his first book is simple: We agree on one basic thing.Media advertising, as we have known, practiced, and wor-shipped it for the past 60 or so years, is in trouble. Big trou-ble. And its not going to get well. Ever.

SOME RELEVANT EVIDENCE OF CHANGE

My own academic research in the following areas shows thattraditional advertising isnt working:

Simultaneous media consumption by audiences The synergistic effects of multiple-vehicle exposures The uselessness of consumer demographic information

for anything much more than determining when dri-vers licenses should be issued or Social Security pay-ments should start

The impotence of media optimization models

All these are solid evidence of change, that the old is overand the new has already begun.

Most significant, however, is the massive change in whatwe cavalierly call target audiences or consumers. Those name-less, faceless folk who are supposed to respond to what wemarketers think is important, interesting, and most of all,very clever and revolutionary.

Being a college professor, I see the future trends longbefore most marketers. Why? The changes are sitting in myclassroom, every day. Changing before my eyes. The class of2001 has only a slight resemblance to the class of 2004. Whattakes the trend spotters months or years to identify, I see onan ongoing basis.

The problem is that people in their late teens and earlytwenties arent like the rest of us. Certainly not like theadvertising experts who pontificate and pronounce and pre-varicate about consumers or customers or categories.These new people, for they are truly new people, arent likethe demographic groups that we love to lump together into18- to 34-year-olds or 25- to 49-year-olds. They arent any-thing like their parents and certainly not their grandpar-ents . . . the people who grew up and were influenced by the30-second commercial. And, the problem is, even these folkshavent been the same for some time, no matter how adver-tisers have tried to treat them in the same old way.

Thats the major change Joseph relates in this book: thechange in the consumer that is driving all the new concepts,approaches, technologies, and the like that a whole new age ofconsumers have adapted and adopted. To them, the 30-second

xii Foreword

commercial is about as relevant as a preview of the nextLawrence Welk Show.

The consumer is different and advertising isnt. Cer-tainly, the 30-second commercial isnt. It has a beginning, amiddle, and an end. Its a format for a time that no longerexists and for a customer who today refuses to be formatted.Thats the problem Joseph addresses in the first section ofthe book.

BREAKING THE BONDS

Advertising people are still wedded to the 30-second com-mercial. For an industry that supposedly lives and breathescreativity, advertising people are considerably less enthusi-astic about change than accountants, or even tollbooth col-lectors. Advertising people preach new concepts, new ideas,new approaches, new this, new that. But they are loath togive up what they know and understand and on which theyhave made tons of money: the 30-second commercial.

Pervasive is too mild a word for how the 30-second com-mercial dominates the advertising business. Everything we dois based on that fragment of time. Our pretesting research ispredicated on a 30-second spot. Our consumer researchassumes a 30-second spot as the output, as do the focus grouprespondents. Our media systems are geared and revolvearound the 30-second spot. Our measurement systems all con-vert everything to the equivalent of a 30-second bit of film ortape with music, dancing, graphics, words, and picturesarranged and rearranged to fit within that arbitrary concept oftime. The advertising world revolves around the 30-secondspot. Its the standard thinking mechanism that pervades theindustry. Ask an advertising person to consider any other timesegment and you see a deer-in-the-headlights panic set in.

Yet here is a young whippersnapper named Joseph Jaffewho doesnt just say the 30-second ad is going to die. He saysit already has. Thats not good news for lots of people, or

Foreword xiii