My Children tell me that inventing banner ad is like inventing smallpox. J.McCambley (inventor of the banner ad)

Or to use a current topic the spread of digital intrusions is lasting longer than the 'Corona Virus' and impacting more people - maybe not with an illness but with 'irritation'.

Brands via their agency still approach 'content discovery' with the same 'advertise and promote' mentality as they have done for years. We all know its the corporate message, with a sneaky advert hidden in there dressed up as content that you think social audiences will devour, then magically become instant customers and naively, converts to the corporate diatribe signed off by the corporate brand police.

Despite all the evidence showing the continued groundswell of support for 'ad blocking, ad skipping, and the increasing concerns around data privacy and security' around the world the 'ad industry' still seems to cling onto 20th Century analog thinking in a 21st Century digital world. 

Is it because they don't know of an alternative that will keep those juicy retainers going, is it because they need you to continue to move your spend budget into their pockets in order they can claim bragging rights based on size of 'billings'? The only place where your objectives are aligned with your agency is to generate an ROI, which for them serves the purpose of making sure you don't move that advertising spend elsewhere. 

Sure both business models (theirs and yours) is to get the best return for your investment, and over the years I have worked with some very talented guys and gals in ad land, but with ad fraud forecast set to rise to $100bn by 2023 (madness) and their inability to provide you with an opaque audit, as mentioned earlier that simply isn't in their interest what are you to do?. 

Having spent most of my career pre/post digital in the retail and eCommerce marketing arena 'gifting' media buying agencies sizable international budget spend, I do think I'm more than qualified to understand how they work and why they struggle to get you (the client) off the digital, intrusive advertising drug. 

They tell you the reasons you can't stop advertising are complex, in fact it's also quite simple, and secretly you know it - it comes down to the fact their business, objectives, focus, strategy and model is completely different than yours, you have 'numbers' to hit so it easier doing what you already know, and of course your board have already been trained on what to expect.

There are 5 key reasons cited in some recent research by 'Digital Information World link here are; that simply turns people off from those unwanted intrusive messages.

• Too many
• Annoying
• Not relevant
• Intrusive
• Contain viruses, or bugs

And the only way out of this financially chaotic merry go round is to stop thinking about 'reach' and small percentage click through's as the key measure, you need to be laser focused on generating 'authentic engagement', and push your agency to work with you on this strategy.

Without a doubt 'content discovery' is overtaking search, and most of that discovery is taking place on social media, one of the key reasons for that change in behaviour is down to the fact that  'discovery' is not seen as an 'advert' or 'search', and it most definitely isn't 'intrusive'.