From push to pull advertising
As is often the case in the media landscape, Southpark shows current developments and trends in a satirical way. But that’s precisely why this series is one of the great ones for me. Even if you can’t always be up to date with what’s going on on the other side of the pond, Southpark reflects developments in American society very nicely.
In the episode “Sponsored Content” (seen here for free and without commercial breaks or ads :)
shows how sponsored content is currently developing into the big bogeyman of online marketing in the USA. In particular, the Geico electric chain is pulled vigorously through the cocoa.
High-quality content without advertising
The school magazine provides its own high-quality content that makes it clear to readers how good news can actually be if they are not distracted by advertising. But the evil advertising has already become aware of this revolutionary and is trying by all means to erase this innovation in the media landscape :) There is usually a kernel of truth in all episodes that should make you think. Here in this episode, too, the South Park makers highlight a situation that must slowly change. The remarketing trauma in particular is very funny :), so always be careful with the frequency capping settings.
Sponsored content is taking over and trying to save what can still be saved as disguised advertising. Display advertising in general has been on the decline for a long time, but in Austria in particular the issue will continue for a long time because, as always, we are lagging behind current developments in terms of media technology. But the younger the users, the less likely they are to be fooled and react extremely badly to advertising that is invasive, misleading and simply poorly done. That’s exactly how I think about the topic.
The AdBlockers are getting better and their number is continuing to grow.
The future clearly lies in pull content instead of push content. Of course, it is also clear that a background noise of advertising using traditional methods must remain, but the future lies in the content we produce ourselves. From a global perspective, best practice is clear: Coca Cola and Red Bull. With their media companies, they are slowly starting to compete with the long-established companies.
It will also be interesting to observe how The Guardian, the New York Times, etc. are doing well with their specially set up sponsored content production departments. Because of the high quality, you can hardly tell whether the content was produced specifically or for someone else. Quality still has the edge here too.