Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Where next for advertising?


An interesting development from Australia recently has highlighted how cluttered the world has become of advertising these days. Is there any room or new spaces left?

A rugby league player, Gold Coast Titans hooker Nathan Friend, was busted by the sport’s governing body for his very own version of ambush marketing. Friend wore headgear that was branded with the logo of his own personal training company in a game against the Brisbane Broncos. The National Rugby League quickly fined Friend for breaking sponsorship rules.

Now sports stars wearing logos and branding is nothing new, and in truth this incident is a far cry from what the myriad of dramas that Australian rugby league as brand is currently dealing with (don't ask). In boxing you often see fighters battling it out with ugly ads on their backs. But headgear? Where to next? We already have ads in toilets, on coffee cups, taxis, trains, bar mats, mobile phones, blimps, hangers and everything else.

What’s left?

Will we start to see ads on things like ties, belts and prams? Will tattoo advertisements for brands on bodies become the norm?

Everything in life seems branded one way or another. Have we gone too far in the pursuit to break through the clutter, or does the consumer even care anymore?

5 comments:

Steph said...

Advertising in our modern times is nauseating indeed, and dodgy sponsorships hard to dodge, but the question is if it actually penetrates the consciousness of a large majority. I think that an all-pervasive presence and exposure alone are not enough to break through the clutter these days. Creative execution is key and merely slapping your brand on a televised backdrop merely serves to justify, and not to build, the brand.

Unknown said...

I noticed an ad for a new Nikon camera in the newspaper this morning. I noticed it because I'm in the market for a new Nikon camera. Breakthrough in execution? Not really.

John Davidson said...

Steph I agree with you. We are now so condoned to so much advertising that very little has a powerful affect. And BadPup what are the odds of that hapenning? But hell the Nikon worked, so its hard to argue against it.

Mike Cherng said...

It is because it caught your attention first and then you find it annoying or was it annoying and therefore you paid attention to it... Regardless, a bad ad is a bad ad but it certainly gotten us to comment on it.

Hugo H. Ottolenghi said...

Boxers already have a logo on their waistbands, so belts are taken.