Maybe I haven’t been in the industry long enough to understand this and after a brief discussion with none other than boguskyrection,  I’ve decided that this question has bothered me for a long time:

Why don’t advertisers make their TV spots available online?

Having worked at a few different agencies, I’ve seen the amount of money, blood, sweat and tears going into the process of making each and every spot great (or not). With the production costs in the hundreds of thousands (sometimes more) and mediabuys hitting the millions, you’d think that these companies would take an extra step putting their things online.

Here’s a few reasons why:
 

1. Passability – As we see with the explosion of sites like YouTube and Facebook, people love to share links with each other, especially video clips. An available link/URL online would allow people to pass the ad around to others, putting the message in front of all eyes multiple times. One thing that is not recorded in magazine statistics is pass-along rate – why not make an effort to make things available for this to happen online?
    
2. Repetition – Each time a video online is watched, an impression is made. Everytime it is passed around, the same thing happens. The only difference is that the video is now being watched on the consumer’s time. Also, if it’s passed around between friends, it gains slightly more credibility in that it doesn’t seem forced on to viewers. If I watched an ad on TV yesterday that I liked, I can send it to 10 of my friends who might not have been watching IronChef at the same time yesterday. Ten extra impressions at zero cost.
    
3. Cost  - Adding an extra page to a company website or adding an account on YouTube is free. Although it’s not as simple to track the ROI (although there are ways), it costs almost nothing to make these clips available online.
    

The one thing I could think of that would stand in the way of this is copyright law, specifically rights to the songs in the clip or image rights for the actors/actresses in it. Not only is this a variable cost (copyright law isn’t set in stone and can be changed to reflect the changing times), but doesn’t an advertiser buy the rights to a song or image rights anyway – regardless of whether the spot is on air? And what if the spot goes off air, wouldn’t all the extra impressions be worth it?

What do you think?

I leave you with a clip that I CAN pass around because it has been made available online by its company.

Pssst. Here are the stats for all you ROI junkies
“The Next Level” - 626,729

Nikesoccer Channel
Videos Watched: 1,279
Subscribers: 11,127
Channel Views: 1,172,184)

“The challenge of innovation is that we are all boxed in by what we know, by our assumptions about how things work.”
 

Innovation – a new way of doing something (according to a few online sources).
 

This has to be one of the most fascinating concepts/actions in the world today. The power of the human mind to overcome obstacles in situations where problems need to be solved. Or when we just feel like solving them. Do we really need a phone that surfs the internet, finds the nearest pizza parlor, plays music and takes photos? Not really. But someone figured out how to do it. 
 

Take Moore’s law for example – that computing power doubles every two years. We went from a time where computers were the size of a large room to a convergence device like an iPhone, which could process hundreds of thousand more bits of data in a shorter time. And it fits in your pocket. 
 

Who knows what’s next. Computer implants in our bodies?
 

The only limitation is the human mind. Ask someone 200 years ago if we would be able to move around without horses. Probably not. Then again, the average car today has about 150 of them

A while back I wrote about the 4P’s, an idea passed down to me by one of my mentors – John Bowman at Saatchi & Saatchi. 
 

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful, albeit stressful, opportunity to test this theory. Unfortunately, I had run into a few visa problems when trying to re-enter the country on my student training extension. Within a week I was:

• Denied entry to the US on both my visas – extensive time at the border
• Stranded in Canada with just the clothes on my back, my car, my laptop and my camera
• Informed on the day I was supposed to start work in the US that I would have to wait 6-10 weeks for an appointment in Canada
• Flying back to Indonesia the next morning, arriving the following evening
• Appointment and interview at the US embassy the next morning
• Fly back a week later – complete with “random” screenings on ever leg
• Flying through Chicago to get to Toronto – and getting stopped at the border again
• Taking just a 6 hour break between 45 hrs of flight travel and an 8 hr drive

Passion Plus Perseverance Prevails

• Fuel your passion
• Steel your resolve to persevere
• Picture yoursellf prevailing over obstacles
• Achieving goals

Consecutive days can sometimes be a rollercoaster ride. One day you wake up and you feel like a million dollars, and the next day you feel like you’ve lost it all. Regardless of whether you are having an up or a down, everyday is a learning experience.

Honestly, in the past week I have had quite the learning experiences, mostly coming from negative things. My exam scores were returned, I had to deal with some integrity issues, I was sick, I shot a wedding on Saturday and I missed a meeting this morning. My brother also came to visit, which was a great turn around to the events.

As difficult as the past few days may have been, I make the effort to turn almost anything, positive or negative, into a learning experience.

I’ve learned:

Take a different approach to studying
Understand the importance of alliances
You win some and you lose some
Take better care of myself (eat and sleep healthier)
Buy a louder alarm clock (or a second one)
It’s about who you know

You could connect this to the concept of Kaizen, that was developed by Toyota in Japan. Kaizen identifies the idea of constant improvement. By identifying positive and negative aspects of your day, you can learn from them and strive to improve yourself.

What have you learned today?

The 4 P’s.

I had the honor of sitting down with John Bowman, the Executive Group Planning Director here at Saatchi & Saatchi, for a few minutes the other day. After discussing a few things, John mentioned two stories which I have taken to heart. First, he talked about his heritage and how proud it makes him. According to the oral history passed down from generation to generation, his relatives lived on a farm in the countryside. During the American Revolution, his ancestor’s husband was killed. She was a seamstress, and proceeded to continue her husband’s legacy (rather than fleeing back to her family). She sewed flags for ships in the first colonial Navy, and when asked to sew a flag for the Commodore’s ship, she created it. Yes, Betsy Ross sewed the first flag of the United States of America. What a reason to be proud!!!

The second story which John explained to me was his own journey into his position. As an English major, John wanted to write. Going into the advertising industry, he began in the traffic department, but soon managed to zig-zag his way into the position he currently holds. He mentioned that the instability of the advertising industry hinders the idea that there is a straight line between a person and their ultimate career goal. Which brings me to the point of this post. (Thank you John, for meeting with me and providing wonderful insight)

Without Passion for writing and the advertising industry, and without Perseverance, John would have not been able to reach his goals as effectively as he has done. Just like Betsy Ross, when faced with great tragedy, was able to take her Passion and Perseverance to become one of the most influential people in American society.

How have you utilized the 4 P’s in your life?

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the American Advertising Federation Mosaic Career Fair. I also had the chance to go on agency tours at Draft FCB and Downtown Partners, a pair of well-respected Chicago agency.

At Downtown Partners we had the priviledge of having the President and CEO, Ray Gillette, present to us. Being a former executive at BBD Chicago, Mr. Gillette had a great deal of advice to give out. Here are some of the best pieces:

Find your passion
Success doesn’t happen without passion

Linear career paths don’t exist
They’re based on experimentation and opportunity
CREATE YOUR OWN

Don’t settle for Mediocrity

Imagine if Michelangelo said “I don’t do ceilings”
Everything is an opportunity
Take risks and go out on the limb
Detest Mediocrity

You’re responsible for how people perceive you
Lead by example
Generate trust
Jerks don’t last long

Failure.

That’s right. Failure. We live in such a fast-paced and driven world, that the idea of failure makes people cringe. It makes people change their mind. And it makes people depressed.

On my flight to London last weekend, I picked up a magazine called Business 2.0, featuring articles about the importance of Web 2.0. Flipping through the magazine I ran across an article that read “A Startup’s Best Friend? Failure.”

Some main points from the article

Failure is the best policy When small things go wrong with the company or business, through failure we can learn what works and what doesn’t. Google’s policy has been to “Launch, listen, improve, launch again.” Many of the features on Google’s website were funneled through many others that didn’t work and failed.

Turn the mistakes into better features In the footsteps of Google, startups like Dogster.com or Like.com have made themselves into better services by understanding the causes of these failures and readjusting anything necessary to become better.

Today’s successful Internet businesses embrace defects as a way to get things right

“Failure is the enemy of efficiency, but it’s the best way to learn.” Robert E Gunther, consultant for Decision Strategies International

“Failures are things where you don’t learn anything.” Douglas Merrill, Google VP of Engineering.

Mistakes are not such a bad thing after all. So when something in your pursuit of your goals doesn’t work, take a step back, analyze what went wrong, and make sure you learn from it.

As Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels put it:
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

On that note, have a great rest of the week everyone!

“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” Oscar Wilde