Are you talking to me?!
For two decades advertisers have been too focused on demographics. Who is the person that’s going to see the ad? Where do they live? How old are they? What’s their education level? Their income level? Their job description?
It gave marketers confidence. It was a Silicon Valley approach — if it falls into the same chart, then it must be the same. Only it wasn’t. I know quite a few people that match my demographics — live in Toronto, educated, white collar, executive job… And we have absolutely nothing in common when it comes to purchase intent. The result — click through rates were dropping every year, to barely 0.87% this year. There’s no science in it — it’s practically a statistical error.
It took some time, but some marketers realized this and then started looking into the psychographics. What values do the consumer have? What are their desires? What are their emotional triggers? And… It flopped again. It didn’t make any difference. Marketing companies know more about the consumer than ever before, yet the consumer is less engaged than ever before.
Now there’s talk about going back to the basics and betting it all on the creative. After all — that’s tried and proven, it worked for decades, it should work now. Only… It won’t. Because marketers are still missing the most important element of all.
We keep compiling data about the consumers, but I think the more we know about them, the less we understand them. We are so focused on the details, that we forget the big picture. We target a male, 40–45 years old, with salary above 100K, living in a big city, we show him a great creative that a dozen test groups selected out of a bunch — why the F is he not clicking on the damn ad? Well… Because we caught him at the wrong time at the wrong place. As simple as that.
Intent of use
I use four different social networks, in quantitative order — Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. I see tons of ads on all four. I like ads. I pay attention to ads. Well… I want to anyway. The problem is — I see the same ads on all four platforms. And none of them are native ads — they are simply repurposed TV ads (if it’s video), or billboard/banner ads (if it’s static). They are annoying and useless. If I’m scrolling on my Instagram feed, and I see your computerized banner between images of two models — do you think I’ll pay any attention to it? Yeah, it will stand out, but in a way that will make me scroll through it faster. Or if I see a serious tv ad for an SUV on TikTok, between two funny prank videos, do you really think my reaction will be “oh gosh, this makes me wanna drive a Jeep”?!
Don’t take my word for it. Open your Instagram app and click on the stories. Every fourth story is an ad. Please spend a minute or so, swiping through the stories, and tell me how many of the ads feel like they belong there? One in ten? Less? Do the same with your Facebook feed. Then try TikTok. Have you ever wondered why your click through rate is so miniscule? Now you know.
There are two components to this issue.
First — the native ads. Same ads are placed across all digital platforms. You’ll see the same video on Instagram, on TikTok and on New York Times. The algorithms (and marketers who use them) are focused solely on who I am, but they are not taking into account the platform I’m using. Make the ad feel in place on the right platform, visually, aesthetically, and it’s certain that I will pay more attention to it. If there is a great prank or funny video featuring a Jeep, I’ll watch through it. If there’s a great visual story in a 10 picture carousel on Instagram, you have my attention and I’ll even read the post. An info piece in NYT on the environmental improvements the car maker is making will make me read it and maybe even share it. Your creative has to belong on the platform that I am using if you want any success and attention. Otherwise it’s just noise and it’s useless.
The second issue is far more problematic and far more important to the success of the ad campaign. It’s the intended use of the platform. With all our data collection, we seem to ignore this issue and we fail every time. You don’t need a scientific sample, conduct an anecdotal research. Ask five friends why they use each of the social media platforms. I’m pretty sure the answers will be a version of this:
- Facebook to stay in touch with family/friends, read news that my circle posts and share opinions (code words for — argue with people I disagree with).
- Instagram to see beautiful images of places, people and food.
- TikTok for mindless entertainment.
- LinkedIn to read industry information and check competitor’s activity.
We all know this already, so why is it important? Because if I’m on Instagram, my intent of being there is to relax my mind with beautiful images and see how good life is. If you show me a banner ad for winter tires — where does it fit between the travel, photo art and model accounts I am there to see? If I am on TikTok and you show me a tv ad for an SUV, how does that fit into the Canadian winter jokes, prank your kid and transformation challenge videos? It doesn’t. It stands out like a sore and I want it gone from my screen as quickly as possible. Even if I am your right demographic, even if I do plan to buy a car these days, I am not going to pay attention to your ad — because it’s out of place!
The equivalent I can think of is someone selling you funeral plans at Disney World. You are the perfect demographics, you care about your family, you need a bloody funeral plan, but it’s really not the time, nor the place for that while you are having fun with the family. Unfortunately — that’s what marketing is these days. Funeral plans salesmen at Disney World.
We need to take a step back from our obsession with data and understand that it is only a miniscule piece of the puzzle. Context, intent, state of mind — those are far more important pieces and are completely ignored. It’s happening across the board, not just on social media. Here’s an example that’s not so obvious. I use both CP24 and CTV News apps. My intent when using each is very different. I open CP24 when I want a quick and dirty info — what happened and where? When I want in-depth info, analysis, connections to the big political picture, economic background of an issue — I open the CTV news app. It’s the same news story. It’s the same company that owns both channels. Often, it’s the same journalist that wrote them. My intent is different, therefore my attention is different, therefore the possibility of clicking on an ad changes. If the ad doesn’t correspond to the reason I use the app — there will be no click.
Very few advertisers request separate creatives for each platform. Most of the time, all of this is lumped under “digital” and the same ad is simply being reformatted to match the platform’s technical requirements. It shouldn’t be that way. There should be a separate team that does Instagram ads, from the team that does TV ads, from the team that does TikTok ads. They require different thinking, different aesthetic, different communication set. Some small and savvy advertisers are seeing this and have mastered it, but it’s so rare that it can barely even be called an exception.
The current response to the failure of data is to collect more data. AI is now seen as the solution to every problem. It’s not. AI will only learn from the errors of the past 20 years, but if you don’t feed it with good examples, it won’t learn how to make good choices. Good choices have to come from us. And it’s simple. Stop looking at the data, look around you and talk to people. Just talk to them. You’d be surprised what you may learn.
