I recently came across a digital marketing trade publication which was advertising a conference in Australia (Melbourne I think, I may be wrong).
The key subject of the conference was to be the loss of trust from consumers due to the indiscriminate collection of personal data by advertising companies / channels.
The discussion wasn't around whether or not the advertising industry should curtail this data collection, or perhaps be more responsible with it's use. The discussion was about how to change the customer's perception that this data collection was a bad thing at all. I then realised how out of touch this industry was with reality. As the article stated "Reality was always there for anyone who wanted to see it. An idiot blogger I know has been writing about it for almost 10 years."
I'm admittedly anti-advertising (especially the current approaches to "digital" marketing) but I do see it's worth when done in a responsible, balanced way. This insight into the way the industry reacts to the concerns of the customers has only confirmed my previous negative opinion.
I'm not sure if cutting out these "holding companies" from the equation will result in any change from the customer's point of view. It will probably just end up with P&G hiring a bunch of WPP staffers to run their in-house operation. This may kill off a few industry middle-men, but it will probably just result in higher profits for P&G with no benefits to the consumer at all.
The key subject of the conference was to be the loss of trust from consumers due to the indiscriminate collection of personal data by advertising companies / channels.
The discussion wasn't around whether or not the advertising industry should curtail this data collection, or perhaps be more responsible with it's use. The discussion was about how to change the customer's perception that this data collection was a bad thing at all. I then realised how out of touch this industry was with reality. As the article stated "Reality was always there for anyone who wanted to see it. An idiot blogger I know has been writing about it for almost 10 years."
I'm admittedly anti-advertising (especially the current approaches to "digital" marketing) but I do see it's worth when done in a responsible, balanced way. This insight into the way the industry reacts to the concerns of the customers has only confirmed my previous negative opinion.
I'm not sure if cutting out these "holding companies" from the equation will result in any change from the customer's point of view. It will probably just end up with P&G hiring a bunch of WPP staffers to run their in-house operation. This may kill off a few industry middle-men, but it will probably just result in higher profits for P&G with no benefits to the consumer at all.