 
Successful advertising means connecting with customers”™ lives and as such advertising has always been a keyhole into the mind of consumers. Dinah Shore urging us to “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet” would appear woefully unsophisticated today. New to the mix these days are concerns about the environment and the economic storm wracking the planet.
These concerns show up in the pitches companies are making to pry loose consumer pennies that are being pinched very hard. New strategies are emerging beyond mere message and into new ways of using media to reinforce advertising messages beyond money or product and into lifestyle.
“On the green aspect of advertising, it”™s beyond climbing on a bandwagon, it”™s the cost of entry just for doing business these days,” said Darryl Ohrt, founder of Plaid, a multimedia multiservice advertising and communications firm in Danbury, Conn.   Â
“People expect that of brands and of the businesses they are going to spend money with today, regardless of whether it”™s GE or some mom and pop shop, it”™s expected by the consumer that green is going to be given some consideration,” Ohrt said.
He said some companies have green products to sell, while for other companies “it might not be as large a part of the overall brand message, but it might be deeper into their philosophy.” Either way, Ohrt said, “It”™s expected. It is no longer something we should do; it is something people expect is being done.”
“Our clients and this ad agency were going green before the economy went into?a tailspin,” said Jim Richards, president of the Richards Organization, a Westchester County advertising agency. “Going green was looked at as a noble thing to do, but the?economy has made going green an economic necessity.”
Richards said nobility has now coupled with a new reality. “No one has backed off a going-green initiative because of the economy even though some have long, long-term paybacks,” said Richards. “But there is a new economy-driven urgency to develop green projects with short and even immediate paybacks.”
Green is relevant in more than economic terms. “Using the down economy is a topic in advertising that”™s absolutely relevant,” Ohrt said, citing a basic foundation of advertising for what might seem at first to be a counterintuitive approach. “The key to advertising is connecting with your consumers.”
He said that in addition to connecting with relatively timely topics such as recession and a green economy, companies are using new methods for getting messages to consumers. Â
For some clients, the green message is a natural one. Ohrt cited Segway, the personal transporter, which he said has a green message that is “extremely prominent.”
But trading on that green consciousness needed a better approach and so Plaid created an interactive Segway social networking site online where owners of the device from all around the world can share tips, insights suggestions and feedback from each other and from the company and arrange what are called “group glides” where they travel in a pack along historic or scenic routes.
As another example of new media outlets being used in new ways by familiar companies Ohrt cited the newly unveiled Dunkin”™ Run which has an iPhone application, set up to let customers solicit and submit group orders online for a foray to Dunkin”™ Donuts.
“We conceived of Dunkin’ Run as a social application that helps hard-working Americans stay slightly more productive,” said Baba Shetty, chief media officer of Hill Holliday, Dunkin’s advertising firm.
Ohrt said that as much as traditional business has to keep up with changing technology or risk losing their competitive edge, the same is true for advertising companies, especially in light of the recession.
“The advertising industry in certain segments was hurting big time and still is to a certain degree because people are spending less on traditional media,” Ohrt said.
But he said companies with a wide expertise in old and new media are doing well.
“Some segments (of the advertising industry) are doing incredibly well, since interactive and social media are booming and they are prepared to work with that,” Ohrt said. “We”™re busier than we”™ve ever been, using interactive and social media platforms.”
He said younger consumers are no longer necessarily swayed by in-your-face commercials on television, if they even watch the old one-way box. “It”™s important to become useful in your customer”™s life,” Ohrt said. “It”™s no longer enough to place an add and be where their eyes are, but instead be creative with products that interact with your brand in a fun way.” He said the Dunkin”™ Run is an excellent example that will benefit customers and keep the company”™s product in the forefront of customer”™s coffee run plan.
But he said the new paradigm is also good for advertisers because it provides reliable data. “When you put an ad on a billboard, I can tell you how many cars are likely to pass that location on a given day, but I can”™t tell you how many people were looking in that direction when they passed,” Ohrt said. Online advertising, he said, “is extremely measurable. And that”™s important because clients more than ever need to advertise in something that has metrics.”
