So Long, Blank Spaces

How do you reach time-strapped customers? As reported in the Jan. 15 New York Times “Media and Advertising” section, marketers are finding ways to hit consumers at any and every turn, including ads stamped onto eggs, placed on subway turnstiles, printed on the sides of take-out boxes, displayed in the trays used at airport security lines – heck, ads now are even slapped on the sides of motion sickness bags. And we’re just getting started.

As the article reviews, with consumers getting more fickle with their television viewing habits, advertisers are reaching out in new ways.

In a survey by Yankelovich cited in the article, it says that consumers today are bombarded with 5,000 messages a day, up from 2,000 per day 30 years ago. No wonder that more than half of the survey respondents said they thought that the state of advertising is out of control.

Is it a waste of money?

That debate rages on. Meanwhile, as the article states, advertisers march on with new and interesting ideas, including projecting car ads onto the sides of buildings and converting old billboards into digital screens.

So consumers, you can run but you probably can’t hide from advertising’s sensory overload.