Scott Creamer on Future of Advertising

OurBlook interviews Scott Creamer, president/founder of The Screamer Company.

Social media are transforming the way that companies conduct PR and marketing campaigns. Can you explain the changes you have seen?

SC: The times are not only changing, they’re changing quickly! With advances in technology and the population’s willingness (almost eagerness) to adopt new technology, we’re seeing advances like never before in our history. It is estimated within the next five years we’ll see more change in how advertising is created, consumed, tracked and paid for than we have in the last 50. Studies suggest people are now spending as much time on the Internet as they used to spend watching TV, more than two hours a day. Social media aren’t a fad. They are a fundamental change in the way we communicate with each other and corporations.

Below are three areas where I’ve seen the biggest shifts in our industry.

Connectivity:

Followers of Facebook and Twitter have an immediate and constant flow of information between businesses and their customers. This is permission granted, direct one-to-one conversations. Social media outlets allow anyone to post their thoughts anytime and on any subject. Interesting content spreads faster than even e-mail generated content used to a few years ago. Because of the popularity of mobile devices, it is no longer necessary to have a computer in front of a person to get their message out. This can make a significant difference for companies since in a matter of a few taps on a keyboard, a customer can tell hundreds if not thousands of people their experience with a company.

Creativity:

Today’s technology allows for user-generated and/or peer delivered creativity. The public can create content and post it for people to see, review and comment on. This type of creative freedom has spurred Super Bowl spots where concepts are provided by the public instead of advertising agencies. Super Bowl ads use to be the Holy Grail of advertising, now they’re being created by “everyday” people.

Control:

In today’s advertising world, consumers have more control over what they see, how they see it and when they see it. We can now watch our favorite TV shows on our computers and without the normal commercial interruptions. We receive our news from online sources instead of the daily paper or the evening news. RSS feeds give us information from the sources of our choosing. We no longer have to accept information from small, highly controlled media groups. We choose what information comes to us and when we see it.

How is this affecting the journalism world, particularly newspapers who have been focused on traditional, ad-supported models? While Craigslist is usually cited for the demise of classifieds, is there anything other than the economic downturn to blame for the decline in display ads?

SC: While the current economy has greatly reduced ad sales for newspapers (and magazines) , we’re seeing advertising revenue move away from the traditional one-to-many formula and more toward the one-to-one interactions with consumers. We were seeing these trends long before the economy tanked. We’ll see them continue long after the economy has recovered.

What advice would you give newspapers that are currently trying to create a new model for revenue?

SC: Advertisers are looking for options where they can interact with an individual instead of the mass-market model. These individual-specific models are measurable and if newspapers are looking for a new model, it will have to include a way to measure and track consumer interest.

Are magazines in the same boat as newspapers? If sleek, prosperous Gourmet magazine had to fold because of plummeting advertising, is there really much hope for other publications? What can they do?

SC: Yes, magazines are in the same boat as newspapers. The trend is to move away from printed material and traditional advertising. So, magazines are going to have to rethink how they interact with their readers and how advertisers access their readership. A magazine’s content is traditionally very specific (i.e., cooking magazine or a home design publication). Subscribers are relatively small groups of people who share common interests. This seems like a natural conversion to some type of online, social media resource where the magazine still provides content, but allows subscribers to submit articles, participate in forums, post questions, videos, etc.

Is there anything else you would like to say about advertising and print media?

SC: This is a very exciting time in our history. And while we’re seeing drops in traditional advertising and print media sales, these changes also represent a huge opportunity for any company willing to rethink how they do things.

(Editor's Note: Screamer is in Austin, Texas. Scott has managed projects for clients such as Seton Family of Hospitals, Luminex, Steiner Ranch and Ootra Handbags. He studied at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago and earned his bachelor of fine arts from Sam Houston State.)

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