The Future of Advertising

I am at the computer now at 8:30pm on a Saturday night (no, no sadly I do not have a date - - but I digress) and the TV is playing in the background.  What's on TV?  The shows that I have recorded all week but have not gotten around to viewing.

TIVO, DVR's and other recording devices have made it possible for me to continue to be the TV geek that I am despite having a really hectic work/school schedule.  It has also made it possible for me to skip the commercials.  I am the advertisers worst nightmare!

I am sure that I am not alone in being a serial commercial circumventer.  So how do advertisers now capture the attention of consumers like me who are poised to push a button and skip that very costly advertisement?

If you research how companies are advertising now, how they predict they will be advertising in the future, and factor in my reluctance to give advertisers the time of day, it would seem that traditional media advertising may soon go the way of the dinosaur.
    
Advertisers are now smartly switching to online marketing and advertising.  According to a blog by MDG, How Social Media Changed The Ad Game [Infographic], advertising on traditional media sites such as TV, newspapers, and radio is steadily waning while online advertising is growing.

Not only has web marketing and advertising grown, it has become the top focus of most marketers. 

Facebook is by far the avenue of choice for most advertisers with its large number of subscribers.  Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc also give companies a way to measure the success of their online advertisement through tools such as the "Like" option on Facebook.

With advertisers focusing more and more on online advertising, I "like" the fact that maybe someday I will be able to watch a TV show uninterrupted.  But wait, without the sponsorship and advertising dollars, what is the future of TV?  But again, I digress.

A story about thanksgiving, twitter addictions, and personal brands...

So this Thanksgiving I went to my aunt's house where I met up with hella family members and chowed down on some good food.

We didn't have the natural, sit around the table dinner. It was more of a "food-is-at-the-table, come-and-go-as-you-please" type of dinner.

So I spent most of the time chilling in the living room watching football with my cousins.

At one point during the night, my cousin asked if she could use my phone to support her scary twitter addiction after her battery was on it's last leg. I wasn't willing to let her drain my battery like she did hers, so I used this opportunity to bring up personal brands.

I told her about the J.I.D. brand, based on Judgement, Insight, and Determination. I told her about the my focus on marketing quality products to the people. I told her about my involvement in the entertainment industry. I told her about my desire to motivate and inspire those around me and those who believe in J.I.D. I told her about how far I'm trying to go in this life.

I told her.

She said "that's nice..but c'mon let me use your phone."

I asked her if she has a brand and she said it's her twitter lol.

But as the conversation continued, I discovered that while she doesn't have her own defined personal brand, she does understand the concept. She also knows that employers are checking on prospective employees using social media tools, which is one of the reasons she doesn't have a facebook and keeps her real personal information off of the twitter.

She just got a job in the legal department of some company, so I figure things are working out for her.

And now my younger cousin, her baby brother is building his brand in which he wants to undergo a short stint in the NFL, then branch out to acting and modeling. It's not even that farfetched. More power to 'em.


Oh yeh...and my cousin never got my phone.

J.I.D.

-Majid

mtejanjalloh1@hotmail.com