How to make Advertising Fun

What is the last fun ad you remember seeing?

That is a question many of us would struggle to answer. We see and hear thousands of advertising pieces every day, which brought us to the point of ignoring most of the ads if not all of them. A recent research, done by Haris Poll, found that 74% (!) of consumers between the age of 16 and 39 are tired of brands targeting them on every move. More than half of Millennials, who participated in the research, even said that they cut back or stopped using social media platforms, because of aggressive advertising.

"74% of consumers are tired of advertisers targeting them on every move"

Traditional vs Digital media

Traditional media like television, radio, and newspapers all had one thing in common. They were all consumed in sequence. When you wanted to watch a football game, you turned the tv on a few minutes before the game started, watched through the ads and then the game began. During every break, you watched through the ads as you waited for the game to continue. Same with radio, same with newspaper.

Digital media works in a whole different way because the user always has the escape button. You can put an ad on YouTube, but the user can skip it in a few seconds. You can put an ad on Facebook, but the user will simply scroll by it, without even noticing. You can also create a tv commercial. Guess what? The user will buy a Netflix subscription.

In the Digital world, the marketers don't choose which ads they will show their customers. In the Digital world, the audience will choose, which ads they want to engage with.

"In the Digital world, the audience will choose, which ads they want to engage with"

It is time for marketing to change. It is time for marketing to become fun. How, you say?

Virtual Reality - New type of content

The marketers have to find a better way of engaging the audience. Luckily, technology is coming to the rescue. Virtual Reality has been with us for quite a while but has only been making real progress in the last couple of years. Virtual Reality does, however, open new doors for marketers.

With immersive technologies (VR/AR) creative agencies can produce successful ad campaigns, that the users don't mind engaging with. On the contrary. Studies show the users love engaging with products in the virtual reality, resulting in a huge boost to brand awareness and a significant increase in customer loyalty.

You can read more about successful Virtual Reality ad campaigns in my article "VR in Marketing: Why should I care?".

"VR experiences provide a huge boost to brand awareness and a significant increase in customer loyalty"

All the signs clearly point to an obvious conclusion. Millennials want the advertising to change. They want fun, creative content that they will want to engage with and companies they can trust.

Marketing's number one rule "Know thy customer" is still valid. Now perhaps more than ever. The only question is: Will you listen to your customers?

I would like to invite you to join our Linkedin Group, called Creative Immersive Marketing. The goal of the group is to merge the worlds of VR/AR and Marketing into a creative hub of industry professionals.

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Andrej Persolja is a VR artist and a co-founder of Creative Solutions. Creative Solutions partners with creative agencies to help their clients raise the presentation of their products to the next level. Contact: andrej.persolja@creativesolutions.si

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