JWT = Just Doesn’t Get It
by Brian Reich | 16 Jun 2006, 2:00am
Today’s Advertising column in The New York Times calls attention to a new self-promotion strategy from JWT (formerly J. Walter Thompson), the nation’s oldest advertising agency. They write:
Old school, meet new.
JWT, the oldest advertising agency in the United States, has purchased all the ad space on The Huffington Post home page for one week, starting tomorrow. The Web site will showcase nine of JWT’s best television commercials with links, so that visitors can send the spots via e-mail or instant message.
JWT is hoping that the year-old Huffington Post can deliver that elusive phenomenon: a viral marketing sensation, in which consumers spread marketing messages to each other over the Internet.
Let me stop right there. JWT doesn’t get it.
First, they have purchased all the ad space on a left-leaning political blog to promote their own capabilities. Does JWT do political work? No. Are any of the advertisements they have posted related to the issues being discussed on the blog this week? Probably not. Advertising on blogs works because it is related to the topics being discussed. Heck I could argue that was true for all online advertising. There may be a lot of hollywood and other media types reading Huffington Post, but they are doing so for the content, not the exposure to the advertising. JWT has missed the boat on context.
Second, JWT is re-purposing old television advertising online. That is a fundamental mis-use of the medium. They should have created something new, and web-specific, to highlight their capabilities and creativity. Where is the interactivity? Where is the two way conversation? Instead, they have reminded us all that their expertise is in an old medium, and that they don’t have the insight or creativity to leverage the online space the way it deserves to be leveraged.
Third, it shouldn’t be about about you JWT. If you goal was to get written up in the advertising column of the New York Times, then mission accomplished. But you could have done that without the big spend online. If your goal was to demonstrate your capabilities and creativity in the online space, you should have put a campaign together that really caught people’s attention, not just promoted yourself. Pick an issue or topic. Use online as a tool to get that message across. Don’t just put something up online for the sake of doing it. Its the content that gets people talking online, not the placement.
Meanwhile, Huffington Post is brilliant. Why? Because they got paid $120-$140k for a week’s worth of ads that they know will fail from the start.
