Daft Questions

We all talk a lot about how brands need to behave in the digital age (try explaining that to your 4 year old when she asks what you actually do at work). We go on and on about how we need to build a conversation with the consumer rather than heckle them from afar, the need to offer something in return for the time a consumer might spend with us, and so on.

But every now and again we’re yanked from the cutting edge of brand communications and thrown back into a time gone by. This happened today when I saw research into the ‘effectiveness’ of different channels. Here’s the question they asked:

"There are many different types of ads and many venues for them. Which one of the following do you find most helpful in deciding what products or services to purchase?"

The possible answers were ‘TV ads’, ‘newspaper ads’, ‘search engine ads’ and so on.

Oh dear.

Ask yourself this question and then try and give an honest answer. Firstly, it assumes people find ads helpful. They don’t. The vast majority of ads just get in the way of the stuff that people really want.

Secondly, it appears to treat all ads, for all products and services, the same. The ad could be for a car, a pension or a ringtone.

I could go on, and on.

FYI Harris Interactive in the US press released the results. Like it matters.