So what does advertising have to do with putting men on the moon? Everything. Because great ideas are what made Kennedy’s vision and this business, well, great. But great ideas are dying. And one reason why is social media.

Social media isn’t the only culprit. But it’s one of the main culprits. Google “Death of advertising” and you’ll see what I mean. Of the 153 million hits I received, most of the ones I clicked either prognosticated or heralded the demise of advertising as we know it in favor of social media. Which of course makes milk shoot out of my nose at high velocity for at least three reasons:

• Americans are watching more TV than ever before.*

• In Q3 2009, virtually 99% of all video viewing was done on a TV, only 1.6% of video viewing was done via a DVR (TiVo) , an even tinier 1.2% of video viewing was done on a computer. (includes all viral videos, YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, etc.), and an infinitesimal .2% of video viewing was done on a mobile device (cell phone, iPod, etc.).**

• Radio reaches 92 million more people in a week than Google reaches in a month. Plus, radio has more than six times the amount of listeners that iPod and all other MP3 players have combined.***

Social media is a tactic, not an idea. It’s a delivery mechanism just like TV or radio is a delivery mechanism. And people don’t buy based on the delivery mechanism. They buy based on the idea contained within the delivery mechanism. Which is something most self-professed social media “gurus” are either unwilling or unable to grasp. All media is social media.

Now, if you think I absolutely hate what is being called social media these days, I don’t. Social media, when it’s based on a great idea and is used correctly, is terrific (think of the TMobile dance spot in Liverpool station – 17 million views in just 12 months and a 52% increase in phone sales).

Social media also opens up new niches for advertisers, which is a good thing – as long as agencies learn how to be nimble and relevant as consumers confront a proliferation of sources competing for their attention. Latching onto social media just because it’s the current flavor du jour isn’t enough. What is, and always will be, is making sure the message fits medium. Because a delivery mechanism is nothing without great ideas feeding it.

*http://bit.ly/LjE4H

**http://bit.ly/8yF9tE

***Nielsen, Council for Research Excellence, Ball State University, November, 2009.

But the truth is that low prices are not always the best indicator of value. Let me tell you a little story:

Ever since I was a little girl, my mom used to say to me, “Buy nice, not twice.” That’s why eight years ago, when I landed my first U.S. job interview, I splurged on a beautiful 100% silk polka-dot dress from Dillard’s. I got the job and the polka-dot dress became my favorite dress. Any time I need to look nice and professional, this dress is my “guaranteed good looks insurance policy.” I think every woman has a piece of clothing like that.

The best part is that, after eight years, this dress still looks and feels like new.

What does this story have to do with value? Well, let’s do a little math exercise:

I paid $140 for the dress eight years ago. And dividing $140 by 8 equals $17.50. That’s how much this dress has cost me per year. I know for a fact that there is no way I can buy or rent anything of similar quality today for $17.50.

Besides, don’t forget about the emotional equity – something that cannot be measured by money. Because emotional equity is the amount of happiness and satisfaction we get from something. In the case of my little polka-dot dress, I can’t put a price on the wonderful feel of its silky smooth fabric against my skin or how it makes me feel when I wear it.

So what’s the point?

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with using low prices as the core of a retailer’s marketing strategy, it does not work equally well for everybody. What looks good on a blonde may not be the best look for a red head; what works well for Marshalls is not necessarily the best solution for Ann Taylor. Why? Because true value is not the lowest price, but what you actually get for your money. Instead of lowering prices, justify them. Make customers feel good about paying full price because it’s worth it. Tell them why it’s worth it. Make them believe it.

True, the economy will get better one day. But the best time to differentiate your brand is now, when the majority of retailers are panicking and copying each other.  Make your footprint unique and memorable so that it will be easier for consumers to follow your path and embrace your value in the future.

bma: How did you start brewing your own beer?

gs: Simply put…boredom. I got into home brewing about 16 years ago, right after I moved from Salt Lake City to Charlotte. I didn’t know many people in Charlotte, so my weekends were pretty open. There was a homebrew store about 5 blocks from my apartment and I decided to go in and see what it was all about.  Next thing I know, I’m in my one-bedroom apartment with a huge pot of boiling beer on the stove wondering if the stench would ever clear out enough for me to get my deposit back. But that first batch didn’t taste much like the Heineken clone I was trying to make – in fact, it didn’t taste much like beer at all. It tasted more like a pureed welcome mat.

bma: So what kept you going?

gs: I met a guy who owned a post house who also brewed.  He had been doing it for a while and he taught me some of the finer points of the hobby.  His facility was about a half mile from Panther Stadium, so on game days we would brew beer in his parking lot and have some awesome tailgates and then walk to the stadium to watch the Panthers lose. The beer got better as the Panthers got better.  Now the beer continues to get better even as the Panthers get worse.

bma: So why brew your own instead of buying it?

gs: There are some great microbrews out there today, and I still buy my favorites, but for me it goes beyond just drinking good beer. It’s about the process.  Brewing beer is a cross between chemistry and art. I get to mix and match ingredients to come up with something totally unique and 100% my own.  It’s really a creative outlet for me. I think it’s important in this business to be able to get your brain focused on something other than advertising for brief periods of time, otherwise you just wander around trying to get the freecreditreport.com jingle out of your head.

bma: How long does it take to make beer, and do you ever jack up the alcohol content so you can get really hammered?

gs: Actually “cooking” the batch takes about 2 to 3 hours.  That’s the fun part.  I sit on the deck with some good tunes playing and a pitcher of my last batch; stirring the 5 gallons that I’ve got boiling and adding the malts and hops at the correct time. The fermentation time depends on the style of beer I’m making.  IPAs take longer to ferment than Hefeweizens. Lagers take longer than some ales. To be a good home brewer, you have to be very patient. Some batches are done and drinkable in 3 to 4 weeks and others 3 to 4 months.

As for the alcohol content, there’s no dial that I can adjust. It again depends on the style of beer. Some have more sugar content, which creates more alcohol. But I do make a really high alcohol-laced IPA that makes your head spin after about 2 pints. My wife doesn’t let me make that one too often because I always end up sitting on the floor next to the bed in nothing but my underwear, eating fried chicken, rambling on and on about absolutely nothing.

bma: Thanks. Why don’t we just leave it at that.

The commercial for this furniture store first starting circulating across the Internet seven months ago, but it still makes V-8 juice shoot out of our noses every time we see it. Apparently, it has had a similar effect on the general population as well, who has viewed this spot more than two million times.

The obvious question is, why has it become so popular? It’s unflinchingly lame. Shot and casted unprofessionally. Ugly. And definitely bizarre. And therein lies its genius. After all, when’s the last time you saw a memorable furniture store ad? Never? Exactly! The territory is wide open, and these guys drove a truck through it.

Sure, this is a self-conscious spoof of the many poorly produced and aesthetically atrophied commercials that we’ve all seen advertising local small businesses on late-night television. But it’s also more than that. It’s an anti-racist message that uses race to sell the store. And a wake-up call (we hope) to businesses that produce crappy ads under the guise of creative brilliance. Which is another reason why we love this spot. It isn’t even trying to be good. And in so doing provides more entertainment and pass-along value than most $400,000 spots achieve.

Ironically, the ad has also caused more than a cult following. It’s caused many people to cry racism, despite the message of racial equality throughout the spot. Hmmm. Guess everyone’s got a cross to bear. Today, ours happens to be calling caca on virtually every other furniture store who cuts their messages from the same tragically uninspired cloth. But not so with the Red House. Their spot is about furniture AND racial harmony. And we love racial harmony. Even on the idiot-boy level.

Let’s face it, 2008-2009 hasn’t been fun. Sales have stalled, unemployment is now at a 26-year high, consumer confidence is shaky at best, and no one really knows how to fix any of it. As a result, many marketing managers are being given the same directive by their respective management – cut the budget.  But if you’re like most companies, you cut out the “fat” in your budget a long time ago to bolster quarterly earnings. So what do you cut next?

As an advertising agency executive, my first inclination is to remind you that every study (and I mean every study) of advertising during recessionary times has shown that companies who maintain consumer awareness and build brand value come out ahead of their competitors when the economy improves. Even during the Great Depression, companies that advertised the most reported the biggest sales increases. In the 1991 recession, brands that increased share of spending voice within their respective categories grew and maintained market share when the economy turned around. And in 2009, a recent study by Ad-ology Research discovered that a majority of consumers think businesses that continue to advertise are competitive and/or committed to doing business. On the other hand, when advertising ceases during tough times, consumers think those businesses are struggling.

But those stories don’t help when the boss says you must find a way to cut spending.  And many clients still suspect agency motives, even when they have moved away from commission compensation to fee-based systems.

As a retail-based, results-oriented agency, we never lose sight of the fact that advertising must be accountable, regardless of marketplace conditions. We measure our work by its effectiveness in meeting weekly sales goals. No surprise, then, that “Sales over night, brand over time” has been our highly effective clarion call – and not just in recessionary times. That said, here are a few more thoughts to help you come out ahead in these toxic times:

Don’t make an across-the-board cut.

Before cutting anywhere, make a careful assessment of every program you are currently running or are planning to run.  How important is each program to reaching the sales and/or profit goals you must now reach with a reduced budget?

I know this sounds pretty basic, but too many clients arbitrarily cut 10% or 15% across the board and end up sacrificing the effectiveness of their entire program when selective cutting would be less devastating. Maybe you can cut the television rating point levels across the board, but it might make more sense to keep those point levels as high as you can during the times you advertise, and cut back on the number of weeks. That way, your advertising will work harder for you during the times you can afford to advertise because you are breaking through the clutter and getting noticed.

Re-evaluate and re-state your objectives.

Before you cut anywhere, revise your goals to guide your next steps. If your advertising goal has been to broaden top-of-mind awareness among a new target group, maybe you should revise that objective to do a better job of maintaining awareness among your current target customers. Whatever you do should be based on your new ROI objectives, not the ones agreed upon in a different market environment.

Protect your current franchise.

Protect your current customer base. Customer acquisition is more costly than customer retention, so take a close, hard look at your media mix and spending strategy to see if you are missing an opportunity to remind your current customers why your brand is a choice they should continue to make.

Should direct marketing or e-marketing to your current customer base take a more prominent role in the mix? What about promotion? Should your strategy re-focus on making current customers more profitable instead of offering wide (and expensive) incentives to attract new customers?

In an economic downturn, customers will be more vulnerable to competitive solicitation, especially if it involves discounting. Unless you can easily afford to match the lower prices of your competitors, you must maintain your brand’s value to protect your margins. And that is more easily done among current satisfied users than among those who have never tried your brand.

Seek advice from all key stakeholders.

Ask your agency for their assessment of how to cut your budget without harming your brand long-term. Ask your sales force to evaluate and prioritize promotional tactics. And, by all means, ask your customers how they feel about your brand before you do anything. Does your brand have a strong enough value proposition to allow you to divert from your current efforts without significant damage? How do your current customers rate your brand versus the competitor’s?  Will they be more susceptible to brand switching if you cut back marketing pressure?

Over the years, we have seen many companies make decisions on the basis of what is easy to cut, rather than ask the tough questions that should really be guiding this decision.

Where do you want to be when the economy rebounds?

We know the economy will rebound. The question is when. You just need to make sure that the marketing decisions you make today don’t inadvertently de-rail any past or future branding and sales efforts. For example, some clothing retailers may buy overstocks or cancelled orders from national brands and sell them at heretofore unheard of prices. But if these retailers aren’t careful, they will be hard-pressed to convince consumers to pay full price when the economy rebounds. Your brand can come out of this business climate as strong as ever with the right approach to cost-cutting and future planning.

One final thought is to challenge your agency to help you come up with creative ways to make your marketing investment work harder. If they are smart, their goal is the same as yours – to build your brand long-term. Especially these days, when everyone is being asked to do more for less.  Plus, agency people often have the advantage of being able to look at your brand and your marketing programs with complete objectivity. We also have the ability to transfer learning from other clients’ efforts that might be applied to your brand.

We are all in this together.  Let’s find a way to solve it together.

RazorFish’s Feed 2009 report has recently hit the net to some muted fanfare, raised eyebrows and the occasional cheer. In brief: consumers with broadband access are more likely to engage in online activities. In other news, the sky is blue, fish can swim, and there is apparently a war going on in Iraq.

Okay okay okay–snark aside, there are some really interesting takeaways. Some brief notes, to be consumed and chewed on for a later date:

A. Folks who engage with a brand online are more likely to purchase and recommend that brand to their friends and peers. Moreover, they’re much more likely to be swayed by that brand’s online presence and the digital experiences they might provide. However…

B. The vast majority of people apparently engage with a brand online either because they’re current customers or because they’re looking for a good deal.

C. People don’t download branded applications. Probably because most branded applications inevitably suck, often too busy trying to sell a product to be entertaining or useful.

D. People who participate in a brand-sponsored sweepstakes, event, or produce content for a contest are more likely to either purchase a product or service from that brand or to consider the brand when they’re in the market for that product or service. HOWEVER…

E. See Point B. Those that are most swayed most likely belong to the choir already.

F. The vast majority of respondents either SOMETIMES or NEVER engage with brand activities online. Most consumers only rarely watch commercials or video advertisements on YouTube (74%), read brand blogs (73%), play browser-based brand games (75%), post brand reviews (64%), provide feedback (72%), interact with mobile ads (86%), or blog about a brand (78%). However, most people will still hunt down information about a brand online. See question 16 for the full breakdown.  The takeaway? While the number of people who NEVER engage with a brand online is statistically significant (hovering between 20 and 30 percent on average), the more intriguing concern is just what the term SOMETIMES actually means.

G. A thought about questions 17 and 18–just what the heck’s a “digital experience,” anyway? That’s a little vague, innit guv?

H. Based on the data, RazorFish’s conclusions about the fundamental nature of the internet can be considered questionable at best, and massive extrapolations at worst.

Now don’t get me wrong: a strong digital brand presence that actively engages with its consumers is a very, very important aspect of any successful marketing strategy. But it’s not the end-all be-all, and it’s not a silver bullet that will magically solve all your problems in a puff of faerie-dust and unicorn farts. Basic brand-building fundamentals should not be ignored in favor of dumping the entirety of your budget into YouTwitFace.

[CUE DRAMATIC MUSICAL STING]

We truly do live IN THE FUTURE!

In all seriousness, the boys down at Mountain View made a pretty sharp move. The future of mobile computing favors the rise of the smart phone, and Google just bought the biggest player in the nascent mobile advertising sandbox.

In other news, the Goog is also planning on acquiring Gizmo5, a VOIP company.  If we take their Google Voice service, their ambitious Android OS platform, and the Chrome browser into consideration as well, we can only surmise that Brin and the boys are planning something big. Huge, even. Keep an eye out, folks. The mobile space is about to get infinitely more interesting in the coming months and years.

UPDATE: And this little story grows ever more interesting, as Silicon Alley Insider’s Harry Blodget states that Apple was seriously bidding on AdMob as well. In fact, SIA’s source hints that AdMob’s nearly absurd price was reached in order to outbid Jobs and company. Were the sunny lads from Cupertino strapping on their howitzers and preparing for war? Curiouser and curiouser…

(via the big money)

Seriously: could it get any more off-base and out-of-touch than the DIY Windows 7 launch party? Do you really have to ask?

LOOK! Adorable kids! Everyone loves kids!

Bah. This is what we in the industry like to call THE SUCKER PUNCH. This campaign’s several months old now, but I was really hoping they’d come up with something new and fresh for what’s turning out to be their best software release in the past decade. But no! They keep on rolling out those doe-eyed munchkins, trying to appeal to that strange part of our ids that still gets a kick out of watching frolicking kittens. (This, by and by, is perhaps the Cute Overload equivalent of the neutron bomb.)

Besides, is anyone really surprised that little pre-K Suzie Q knows her way around a laptop? We thought that’s been a given (if somewhat flawed) stereotype for years now–the younger you are, the more technically-savvy you are, to the point where we all just assume that most kids nowadays were already hacking into NORAD while they were in the womb.

Lookie here, folks: “so easy, even a kid can do it” was never a very effective message to begin with, and the way the spot paints the PC as a toy isn’t doing anyone favors. Your audience is smarter than that, MS. Show ‘em that your new booty-kicking OS will let them get stuff done, clearly and directly, without mucking about in twee cuteness.

Then again, maybe it’s all Steve Ballmer’s fault.

More than half of respondents, 54%, believe the economy will improve in 2010, compared with 28% who thought the economy was heading for improvement last year. In addition, 51% of respondents plan to spend the same or more on the holidays this year, compared to 41% last year.

2009 holiday spending trends show that gift purchases will drop while other holiday-related purchases will rise. Consumers plan to spend an average of $452 on gifts this year, down 15% from $532 in 2008. However, consumers plan to spend an average of $1,145 on non-gift holiday spending such as socializing away from home and decorations, up 16% from approximately $985 in 2008.

Despite rising economic optimism, 66% of consumers still plan to shop differently this holiday season, with 74% intending to buy items on sale, 57% planning to buy lower-priced items, and 54% planning to use store coupons. Not surprisingly, discount stores were the most popular holiday shopping destination, favored by 59% of consumers. Following discount stores in popularity were online retailing (42%), the combined electronics office supply and computer store category (26%), and department stores (23%) .

Price Waterhouse Coopers/TNS Retail Forward’s Retailing 2015: New Frontiers report:

> Explores the change drivers – the assumptions that drive this outlook, and the trend lines that will merge to form the new facts of life for retail in 2015.

> Describes the trends that will dominate the future.

> Identifies the critical success factors retailers and suppliers must address to manage the complexity and diversity of retailing in 2015.

Enjoy the report. It’s worth the read.

[PDF. right-click and and choose "save as" to download.]