TL;DR.
1. Retro channels can give your brand an edge - what’s old is new again in the world of marketing.
2. Relying solely on digital ads can mean missing the chance to meet your customers where they are, establish a genuine connection, and engage with them in a memorable fashion.
3. Always keep an eye on what’s next. Today’s “hot” channels will eventually reach saturation, just as yesterday’s did.
One of the major marketing trends of the past few years is somewhat counterintuitive. In an industry that prides itself on bringing innovation, the trend has been to bring the old back into vogue. In a very real sense, what’s old is new again in the world of marketing. In this article, we explore what’s driving this new retro trend. We’ll look at specific examples of how brands are revitalizing these traditional marketing channels - such as radio ads, real-world advertising, experiential marketing, and more - by putting a new spin on them.
Over the past decade as the major digital acquisition channels (Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Instagram, etc.) emerged, brands rushed to these channels and many used them as the staple of their marketing strategy. It made sense. These channels have virtually no barriers to entry; any novice marketer could easily and quickly spin up and push out ads. As brands saw success on these platforms, other brands rushed in. Paid digital became the “next big growth engine.” As a result, consumers were bombarded with more and more ads in their feeds. With this inundation, consumers became increasingly desensitized to this type of marketing. Click-through rates went down; cost-per- acquisition numbers went up. And it soon became evident that doing what every other brand was doing wouldn’t necessarily be a successful strategy for all brands.
While saturation was one major factor in making these super hot channels less and less effective, there was another, less talked about reason. As brands focused on optimizing paid digital ads ad nauseam, many lost the art of marketing. Sure, many of these ads were beautifully designed - but where was the tradecraft? As brands tried to optimize the individual ad units at the margin, they lost their connection with customers - who they were, what they wanted, and how to engage with them. In these ads, brand statements shifted away from carefully crafted messaging and instead focused primarily on product attributes. Phrases like “1G storage” and “jet black finish” that performed well in testing. More and more ads were pushed into an abyss of indifference, shouting at consumers as they scrolled through their feeds. Consumers were flooded with these ads, but fewer and fewer of them were memorable enough to drive true brand affinity.
This new digital ad reality led savvy brands to turn to less saturated marketing channels and mediums to better engage with their customers. In many cases over the past few years, this has resulted in the utilization of more traditional channels. There was a resurgence in these channels and brands identified arbitrage opportunities as these channels were often underpriced. Here’s a look at how brands have revitalized certain old-school marketing channels over the past few years.
Prioritize experience.
One of the most interesting trends in the last couple of years has been the shift from “URL” to “IRL,” moving from online user engagement to activations in the real world. This can include pop-up stores, stunts, and more.
Red Bull continues to be one of the major innovators in this area. To this day, the Red Bull flugtag race - a race in which competitors attempt to fly home-made, human-powered flying machines - regularly attracts crowds of up to 30,000. One of Red Bull’s most memorable experiential marketing campaigns was back in 2012 when Felix Baumgartner jumped to Earth from a helium balloon from the stratosphere. Now that makes an impression.
Other brands have jumped into this arena, creating their own experiential campaigns that have revolutionized the events game. Tracksmith, a running apparel brand focused on outfitting the amateur athlete, is executing on some really innovative things in this space. They launched their retail location in Boston in 2017 called the “Trackhouse,” where they run programming everyday - events like a 4-mile run followed by beers or a physical therapist in the store. As a result, the store has become a hub for the Boston running community. Last year, The North Face launched their Pinnacle’s Project - a truly innovative pop-up experience at the top of a mountain. Accessible to those willing to hike for hours, the pop-up rewards these hikers with the opportunity to see and bid on gear worn by The North Face’s most accomplished athlete partners. And this year, the brand launched their new retail concept in their SoHo store, which effectively brings a campground to downtown NYC.
Experiential activations have been and continue to be a great way to manifest a brand’s value very tangibly and therefore connect with customers in interesting and novel ways. It’s an awesome way to introduce new customers to your brand and actively engage and nurture relationships with current customers.
Get out of the house.
Out-of-home ads, also called “IRL” ads, have seen a resurgence in the last few years. This includes ads on billboards, bus shelters, and subways - really any ad that a customer sees outside of the TV or computer screen.
TaskRabbit tested subway ads in NYC, bus and subway ads in SF in 2012/ 2013 and tube ads when we launched in London a couple of years later. At the time, I distinctly remember getting questions from incredulous colleagues along the lines of: “Aren’t bus/subway ads for shady law firms, community colleges, government agencies, and the symphony?”
It was for exactly that reason that we took a chance on these channels. They weren’t yet popular and as a result, they were relatively cheap. For a marketing team on a budget, we were able to secure ads on multiple subway and bus lines for a significant discount (getting remnant inventory for about $40,000 for a 4-week run).
It would be difficult to secure ads, particularly subway ads, at this rate today. Many direct-to-consumer brands have rushed to this medium in recent years. According to one estimate, NYC subway ads are now priced between $325,000-$350,000 for a four-week brand train (an industry term for the 10% takeover of train lines and cars). But there certainly exist under-priced channels in the IRL medium that budget-conscious brands can consider, including bus shelters, newspaper stands, storefronts, and more.
The benefit of IRL ads is that there is often significant “dwell time” to engage riders, particularly with subway ads. At TaskRabbit, we used this dwell time to our advantage and designed riddle-like ads that encouraged riders to stare at and wrestle over on their commute. This format offers a great opportunity to get playful with your creative. It’s also a channel that targets multiple demographics simultaneously. At TaskRabbit, we were able to acquire users on both sides of our marketplace - both Taskers and Clients - during these out-of-home runs.
Take a hint from Mad Men.
Television, magazines, and radio were the primary channels during the golden age of advertising. What worked back then for Sanka and cigarettes works today - with a few adjustments for the modern era. We now have the ability to drop video ads in real-time, make and distribute our own print magazines, and get right into the ears of our target customers with podcasts.
Video ads are nothing new. What is new is how innovatively brands are using the medium today. Brands are quickly turning around culturally relevant, made-for-web commercials that are culturally relevant nearly in real time. A perfect example is Aviation Gin’s recent commercial featuring the “Peloton lady.” The commercial’s cheeky response to the backlash against Peloton’s tone-deaf commercial created the perfect recipe for a viral campaign that launched on the right platform, at just the right time. After four days, it had nearly 5 million views on YouTube.
Print isn’t dead - at least not for today’s most forward-thinking digital brands. Bumble, Airbnb, Away, Dollar Shave Club, and more of today’s savvy consumer brands have taken a fresh look at print, launching their own lifestyle magazines to engage with their audiences in new ways and expand their reach to new audiences. As Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute mentions, brands have found this engagement strategy successful because there is a “scarcity of competition in the print space.” The first movers in the space tend to get a competitive advantage and a boost to their brand equity given the (renewed) innovativeness of the channel.
Thanks to its ubiquity, especially in cars, radio remains a medium with jaw-dropping reach: 271 million Americans (93% of the country) tune in every week, according to Nielsen's Audio Today report. Radio’s share of the total advertising pie still stands at around 9% - more than outdoor, newspaper, and magazine ads. Despite the pervasiveness of the channel, ad spending on terrestrial radio in the U.S. fell from $20.8 billion in 2006 to $17.6 billion last year (according to Zenith) as streaming services like Spotify and podcasts are drawing the attention of brands and taking budget away from traditional radio.
Podcast’s popularity has exploded over the past couple of years. As of Apple’s WWDC 2019, there were more than 700,000 active podcasts and more than 29 million podcast episodes. This compares to 550,000 and 18.5 million respectively just a year prior.
One of the greatest success stories took place back in 2014, when email platform MailChimp sponsored the first season of "Serial," a long-form nonfiction podcast. That investment paid off when 31 million episodes were downloaded and MailChimp’s unique ad went viral.
Podcasts are fascinating as a customer acquisition tool because they are one of the most intimate and highly personalized mediums - you are literally in someone’s ear. I’m sure I’m like many in that I feel like Michael Barbaro and Kara Swisher are very real parts of my everyday life. Advertising via this medium can feel much more personal than terrestrial radio. Moreover, it’s one of the least saturated channels with above average lifts on key metrics - like purchase intent. In fact, in a survey conducted by Midroll Media, podcast listeners have spectacular brand recall (likely due to high levels of concentration during their consumption) and over half of them stated that they would consider purchasing from the target brands.
What’s next?
It’s been fascinating to watch the re-invention of old-school marketing channels and tactics over the past few years. Going retro with your marketing can certainly yield a lot of benefits for today’s digital brands. This said, it’s important to keep a couple things in mind as you experiment with yesterday’s finest ad channels. First, always keep an eye on what’s next. Today’s “hot” channels will eventually reach saturation just as yesterday’s did. What comes next might very well be what came before. Don’t be afraid to switch tactics, and don’t be shy about pulling from history. Finally, don’t look for trends to replace the art of marketing. With all the channels marketers have at their disposal, the best way to achieve consistent and sustained growth is to find channels that meet your customers where they are, allow you to speak with them in a genuine way, and engage with them in an interesting and memorable fashion.
Further reading.
As always, I'm available to chat about innovative approaches to growth or anything marketing related. I can be reached at jamie@fuelcapital.com.