What types of campaigns will resonate most with consumers this year? Why?
Tom Hespos: I think campaigns that are interactive in the original sense of the word, incorporating two-way dialogue between people and the folks who work for the companies they do business with, will be a big hit in 2007. People are looking for companies that listen to them, do things with their suggestions, and appreciate and acknowledge the enthusiasm that customers show for their favorite brands.
Jonathan Epstein: I’m a big fan of sponsored content that matters, directed/authored by leading creative talent. Not one-minute videos from Joe User or advergames, but full-on sponsored serial video series, major free games and new types of mobile applications. The potential reach of such content campaigns now allows marketers to invest against them significantly, enabling production values that matter, content that engages the user, and true interaction.
Horan: You only have a moment to capture the consumer, so make it worth their while by being short and sweet. For example, our video study this year showed that most consumers prefer video ads that are less than 30 seconds. It is important we make the creative fit the medium.
Sam Huxley: Central to any successful campaign is creative that is firmly grounded in a brand’s promise. As the platforms where brands can live multiplies, it becomes even more important for the brand voice to maintain coherence, whether it is encountered in a game, podcast, widget, feed, or a traditional 30-second spot. One of the great risks for advertisers is to chase 20 good ideas versus executing one great one.
Edwards: Ads that avoid eye-popping rich media gimmicks that instead focus on delivering content. For example, Symantec’s RSS-powered ad units.
Coffin: It’s always the same with consumers: The campaigns that resonate will feature good, creative advertising that tells a story and contains a value proposition. No smoke and mirrors. No trickery.
Cummings: Campaigns that speak to truth, and give us hope. Positive Resonance = Hope. Dove’s "Real Beauty" campaign was able to expose the unreal body images perpetuated in society by the media. They found a way to tap into a core consumer insight, connect with their audience, and elevate their brand. More brands in 2007 will break the old habit of trying to appeal to everyone, and will seek to stand up for something, because in the end, it’s just good business.
Gluck: Campaigns that leverage what we’re calling "configurable culture" (i.e., user-generated content, mash-ups, remixing, hacking, et cetera). It's pretty clear that consumers use digital technologies as a means of self-expression. Companies that are able to not only leverage this desire, but also encourage it, will strike a note with consumers. We hate the term "Web 2.0," but for lack of a better one, we’ll be seeing a lot more of these types of campaigns in 2007.
Adam Guild: Give me a B! Give me a B-R, --B--R--A--, B-R-A-N-D… It's about time brands got some recognition in this space.
Philalithes: There’s still tremendous potential with in-game and video advertising. Product placement within games becomes more prevalent and acceptable.
However, campaigns must be permission-based and unobtrusive, because the customer is savvy and the choices are many. If they don’t like the content, they don’t have to view it.
What types of campaigns would you like to see fade away in 2007?
Gluck: Flogs. You can’t trick consumers, and you can’t fake authenticity.
Epstein: In-your-face anything. It’s got to be contextual.
Huxley: Efforts that are coined "viral" by the advertiser instead of the consumer. Placing a 30-second spot on YouTube does not a viral campaign make. Creating content that consumers can affect and genuinely want to share does.
Cummings: Punch the Monkey, Squeeze the Baby, disco-dancing mortgage banners and variants. They are not campaigns but vacuous blinky-blinky direct response triggers that devalue our medium and everything that is on a page with them. I would like to see publishers refuse to take them for their remnant inventory and use that space to promote cause-related issues: the environment, AIDS, the Red Cross/Red Crescent, anything -- please.
Horan: It’s amazing to me that after years of research and consumer feedback, some advertisers still insist on a Times Square approach to advertising. We need to retire the flashy, annoying ads, and focus on smart, engaging creative.
Hespos: Hardcore direct response campaigns where the product being advertised and the media environment where the ads run are inconsequential to the marketer. The big ad inventory surplus has pretty much dried up, and I’m looking forward to the dirt merchants who want to sell crap in a box for $1 CPA taking a hike.
Coffin: Any campaign with a frequency cap of one and an "out clause" of 24 hours for the reason that such things are not advertising campaigns, but advertising contrivances.
Guild: I would like to see “streaming” guarantee some type of response mechanism. It's time Cinderella came to the ball!
Philalithes: TV over the web is likely to prompt a move away from fixed programming in a fixed environment towards an anyplace, anywhere model. This will result in the change of advertising formats and ultimately the death of the 30-second spot.