Verse 4: Advertising +Technology = Advernology (can I TM that?)

I have a company cell phone here in China in case I get woefully lost and end up in a dark alley filled with shady characters. At least I can call a Chinese speaking co-worker to come on the line and negotiate for me!

Well the other day I got a text message, which was unexpected since very few people have the number. It was all in Chinese so I couldn’t read it but on handing it over to a co-worker they translated the advertising message for me! Quite a difference from the US where do-not-call lists and privacy acts are increasingly shielding consumers from advertisers’ messages. Still this got me thinking as to how advertisers are having to evolve to keep up with technology trends with an ever more ad-weary consumer.

The SMS (text message) advertising is just one example of advertisers evolving to keep up with changing consumer trends. Recently KFC introduced a “DVR-ready” commercial to launch their new chicken sandwich. Embedded within the commercial were a few frames that showed a secret website and code. If you followed the instructions contained within those certain frames of video you would get a voucher for the new sandwich. Now, Sprite has also launched a similar DVR themed commercial with strange and hypnotic imagery. I don’t think you get anything free for watching the commercial frame by frame but you do get to see the images that everyone else does not. While advertisers never really anchored ads around the VCR, DVR technology is giving firms new and innovative ways to reach their audiences and compel them to watch (and scour!) their ads.

In Canada, Pepsi has jumped all over the portable music craze by introducing a subway ad that incorporates a headphone jack. Go to any large city and you will see almost 70% of the people have portable audio players and headphones. Using this knowledge along with the fact that people are inherently curious Pepsi created ads where you can plug your headphones in and listen to receive access codes for a website where you receive free music and other offers.

These are just some brief examples of advertisers using technology to spread their message. Now if you’ll excuse me, I just got another text message….