Life is Hard. Advertising is Harder.

Advertising is developing an increasing need to be entertaining. Gainging viewers used to be as simple as putting an ad on network TV. Most people were watching TV, and there really weren't enough shows to make the audience difficult to reach.

Now, not only do we have massive segmentation of the audience, from magazines to 500 channel TV packages, we also have an increase in power for the consumer. Sure they always had the option to change the channel, but now they can zip through them or zap past them all together with their DTV recorders. There is so much interactivity on the web that anything else hardly catches a second glance.

This makes it absolutely necessary to find new ways to capture the audience's attention and keep them engaged. Another challenge to this is keeping trust. When you are advertising energy drinks or spray on scents, it isn't as much of a problem. You can show something very comical, and people will remember your advertisement and your product in a positive way. If you have a more serious product, like car insurance for example, it can be a little tricker. Humorous insurance advertisements have been shown to capture the audiences attention. What it does not do, however, is establish the brand as trustworthy or even differentiate the brand from others, aside from the possibility of not falling into the "stuffy auto company" category.

In anycase, advertising is getting more difficult. Greater barriers are being faced to engage the audience and persuade them into action.

I love a challenge.

Cell Phone Applications

Applications for cell phones are becoming an excellent way for promoters to send their message directly to the consumers. With the popularity of smartphones, it is becoming much easier to reach people through this method.

One of the major benefits is that with every application downloaded, you learn about something they are interested in. If a consumer downloads a restaurant finder, this would be a great place to put an ad for, you got it, restaurants.

Also, it helps because the message is sent directly to one individuals screen. This makes it much simpler to send different messages to different people. Since everyone has slightly different preferences and attitudes, sending various individually targeted messages is a very beneficial practice.

Bathroom Advertising

No idea, aside from paying everyday people to put giant RedBull cans on their car, has sparked my interest like bathroom advertising. It is a double sided coin that must examined carefully.

The only real problem with using the bathroom and an advertising medium is that it may make consumers feel uncomfortable. People already feel that they are bombarded with messages. Putting more messages in the one place people feel they will be left alone, may make them feel overwhelmed. It should also be considered how associating brands with this activity may affects consumer's overall perception of the brand.

The benefit is that it delivers results. Think about it. There's not much entertainment in the restroom. A lot of people read in the bathroom of their home, but they have no reading material with them when they are in public restrooms. This assures they will read your message. It has even been shown that if they make repeat visits to the restroom, they will read the message every time they go. There is also a 40% stronger retention rate than with other media impressions. The viewing time, as compared to billboards, printed ads, posters, and fliers, is more than six times longer. Perhaps most compelling is the fact that 92% of people surveyed could recall the name of the advertiser without prompting.

In any case, it is unlikely that bathroom advertising will stop at this point. The reactions seem favorable enough, and the amount of attention paid to these ads makes it doubtful that advertisers will abandon this medium anytime soon.