It's official. Gen Y has taken over media (and Typepad). Claiming to reach more than 115M uniques in the US and more than 345M uniques worldwide, SayMedia, the offspring of SixApart with VideoEgg, wants to meld social ads within social content in order to "make digital ads more useful, more social, and more fun." And this for the generation who doesn't want to be advertised to? OK.
Why is this significant you say? (or maybe you don't care, and we couldn't make you) Is it really the latest, greatest idea to marry content with advertising in a way that respects and engages the consumer, or just another way to exploit this decade's marketing darling, social media?
"We get consumers to pay attention" says SayMedia. Their engagement products include AdFrames and Custom Content programs, both of which might be accused of hijacking the already short attention span of users on social media overload, with the sole intention of trying to sell something. Then there is the DOC, a video interstitial that hijacks the entire page. I'm not saying this isn't an interesting media proposition that can benefit advertisers and provide revenue stream for private content producers (bloggers). But is it really engagement? Will it fit the bill for the "social" user who trusts the opinions of influencers and friends, and will content providers, in fact, have any control over the ads displayed on their blogs?
Only time will tell if SayMedia's intentions are on target, or if the consumer experience is palatable. Their website is clever, and fun, and I can't argue with their guiding principals: 1) Attention is scarce (what did you say?), 2) Passion is abundant, 3) Media is fluid, 4) Advertising is content (ok, some might argue with this), 5) Storytelling is vital, 6) Influence is earned, and 7) Engagement is a science.
We would add – the relationship between the consumer and the advertiser is everything, and advertising needs to reflect that, as in don't show acquisition messages to existing customers or chase them around with shoes. In the meantime, I hope they post a rate card on their site soon. (photo credit = lifted from their downloadable presentation – consider it social media advertising)
– Layne Salter
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