Instead of waging a war against consumers, brands should use the rise of ad-blocking as an opportunity to build relationships and improve user experience.
Here at the agency we’re big YouTube users. Watching and sharing videos often forms a big part of our creative brainstorming sessions, but I can’t help but laugh at how annoyed we all get every time there is a pre-roll ad that we can’t skip. That’s irony for you: a group of creative people who understand advertising and media but intentionally skip ads because they’re frustrating.
So it doesn’t surprise me finding out that “AdBlock Plus has 100 million active installations,” double what it claimed in January 2016. But instead of seeing this as a threat and a battle to win, advertisers and their agencies should recognise it as a desperate plea from consumers for a better user experience, one without intrusive and annoying advertising.
The online experience today often resembles a salesperson following you around a shop from the moment you step in, insisting you buy certain things or plugging you items that you simply don’t want. Even worse, it’s like the salesperson in a shop you only went into because your friend wanted to. The world of online advertising can be creepy as well as annoying.
What’s even more worrying are some of the proposed solutions to ad-blocking, which often involve an even more disruptive experience:
- Whitelisting – The user is forced to see advertising despite actively opting for an ad-blocker.
- “No ads, no content” – Publishers limiting access to their content or demanding payment if the user has ad-blocking technology. Your content better be pretty unique for people to pay for it rather than go to find it somewhere else for free.
- Non-skipping pre-rolls – removing the ability to skip an ad after a few seconds.
There is no value in forcing adverts on someone who clearly doesn’t want to see them. It just alienates them more and damages the publisher and brand’s image at the same time. More intrusive advertising is not the solution. The answer lies in thinking about what the consumer actually wants out of their online experience. Three brands are already thinking in this way, coming out on the side of the customer with a decision to block advertising through their network.
But where does this leave the rest of us – advertisers and agencies?
I think it’s time we also put the user first and the media plan second. The rise of ad-blocking is an amazing opportunity to change online advertising for the better and to connect with the audience in a more meaningful way – one that delivers real value to real people and that earns their respect. In the long run this strategy is more sustainable than click-throughs from intrusive ads that damage people’s perception of brands.
Content marketing offers a more meaningful way to engage people online, but in an age where 3 out of 4 B2C brands are using content marketing the challenge is on how to stand out of the crowd. The only way to do it is to serve a greater purpose than product sales and instead offer consumers meaningful content that aligns with their interests and motivations that they can’t get elsewhere. This content should also align with the brand’s purpose and personality.
Some brands who do it well …
Pampers
Rather than shouting about nappies and baby wipes, Pampers have used their digital strategy to build strong and meaningful relationships with mums and mums-to-be. They’ve taken on the mission to help this audience through all stages of pregnancy and motherhood by delivering helpful content and useful advice.
This strategy helps them build a relationship around value, increasing loyalty by giving mums something they are interested in, that they need, and that they will even look for. This approach is weaved into all their digital platforms, starting with a website where content comes first and product second.
Wimbledon
Wimbledon built their content strategy around the fact that thousands of tennis fans around the world would probably never be able to experience Wimbledon first hand. Their strategy focuses on one big mission: to be the world’s gateway into Wimbledon, which they’ve done by “sharing the moments that matter” and creating unique content that fans actively seek out and want to engage with.
It’s not a “copy+paste” approach of publishing the same content across all their social channels. They’ve tailored it to each platform, including engaging younger audiences with platforms like Snapchat and Periscope, using Pinterest to reach the female audience, and collaborating with players and commercial partners to create and promote the content.
Waitrose
Content marketing has been a central part of Waitrose’s marketing for a long time. They started with printed publications Waitrose Kitchen and Waitrose Weekend before launching Waitrose TV to bring their printed content to life digitally and expand what they cover. This content now lives at the centre of their website, alongside the e-commerce functionality. The content is also distributed across different channels, i.e. social media, helping them drive traffic back to their website. Being generous with the amount and quality of their content helps with up-selling and building brand loyalty among existing customers as well as engaging new customers.
In summary
There are better ways to engage people online than frustrating and disruptive advertising. Being on the side of the consumer, understanding what their motivations are, and taking a stand to help them achieve these aspirations is a way to develop content that people will actually seek out and in the process they will engage with your brand.
The key for great content is to think how this content will live out there, once it’s distributed. Does it add value to the person that engages with it and shares it? Does it help them connect and build relationships with other people? Is it useful or does it help them solve a problem? Does it help them define themselves to others or get the word out about something they care about?
As long as brands create content with a purpose that serves real people’s needs, they will be happy to engage with it, share it, and ultimately grow a more meaningful, positive relationship with your brand.