It probably isn’t surprising to you that many people in the Search Engine Marketing arena don’t read the Economist. So I’ll point out this unique article. Fantastic read here on advertising and how it’s changing. It will require new leaders with a combination of both people skills, branding and data skills like those found in the financial services industry.
It contains a quote from Rishad Tobaccowala of Publicis. He is a real innovator and someone I’d like to interview on this blog someday. I met some people that surround him recently and they were a quality bunch. It also talks about the timeline of Google and Yahoo!/Overture, etc.
One great paragraph in the article has elements of the thesis I’m now developing: “Now, however, chief executives are taking trips to Silicon Valley, often without their “chief marketing officers”, to educate themselves. And what they hear impresses them. Tim Armstrong, Google’s advertising boss in North America, preaches to his clients a “notion of asset management” for their products that “shocks” them. Traditionally, he says, most firms would advertise only 5% to 10% of their wares—the blockbusters—in the mass media to publicise their brand, hoping that it shines a halo on the remainder of their products. Now, however, “companies market each individual product in that big digital stream,” says Mr Armstrong, from the best seller to the tiniest toothbrush. This is called exploiting the economics of the “long tail”.”
Once again, it’s a great read.