By Leigh Andrews

Extending from this print-centric focus, this month, the spotlight will be on the online and broadcast industry. In this light, celebrity endorsement and sponsorship have proven themselves as clever ways of extending brand associations, and something that we’ve been focusing on in the Updates recently. The broadcast and online industries also have strong links to the social media and networking realm, where consumers freely comment on blogs; Twitter; and Facebook about their opinions.

In terms of celebrity endorsement and brand association, there are literally hundreds of cases I could write about, but we all know that Trevor Noah’s face is everywhere at the moment. Kerryn Le Cordeur writes that he is currently the Cell C Customer Experience Officer (meaning he is on TV/ print ads and billboards advertising this role and CellC's new site, telltrevor.co.za); as well as brand ambassador for the Simba ‘What’s Your Lekker Flavour?’ campaign (and even launching his own ‘Lekker Flavour’); host of Tonight with Trevor Noah on M-Net and the recent Nando’s Comedy Festival; and launching his new DVD, Daywalker. And he’s not the only one, with the Parlotones also going beyond the obvious promotion of their own initiatives to brand association that helps sell chicken and insurance, while writing a song for a German company. But does this count as merely jumping on the publicity bandwagon, or is it a case of building strong brand association? (For more on the Parlotone’s view on being called ‘corporate whores’, click here.)

If you’re of the mindset that it's a rise in clever brand associations, you’ll agree that the thinking behind the scenes of putting these ads together needs to be re-evaluated,in terms of ad copywriters ‘thinking smarter,’ by getting brands onto social media platforms in a subtle way. This involves the use of short, snappy sentences due to the confinement of ‘Tweet’ language, with its 140-character limit. Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central, adds: “Social media offers new opportunities to activate… brand enthusiasm.”

Brand enthusiasm definitely seems to be a trend we are moving towards. While PR and media mentions do much to get certain brands into the public’s awareness, only certain ads resonate with the audience in the manner intended, mainly due to the ad clutter out there – you’re likely to view three TVCs during each five minute commercial break during your favourite show, yet many of these fall short of captivating the audience with anything other than irritation (Hansa Speedboat’, anyone?)

While advertising itself is going through a revolution, with a greater move toward the cheaper online space, it does not seem to matter which medium you choose, be it print; broadcast; online; or mobile, provided your ad message is short and snappy. As mentioned earlier, social media platforms and networks do seem to be the way forward, and the inherent ‘succinct’ nature of the medium seems to be spilling over into other advertising spheres. As a result, TV and radio ads are moving away from lengthy scripts to include witty one-liners and phrases that will stick with consumers, while the visual mediums of print and online are relying on clever placement of logos; branding; or the inclusion of well-known celebrities, with shorter paragraphs of text. After all, today’s media-saturated world means that consumers are exposed to more messages than ever before, with some touting this as 5 000 brand messages per day.

At this year’s ACA Apex Awards, Geoff Whyte, a member of the 2010 adjudication panel, provided the keynote address. He pointed out that consumers often filter out what they don’t want to see on TV, which means that advertisers need to create content that people will want to watch, not merely interrupt the scheduled programming. They need to persuade the audience that their brand is special and different to the others on the market, as we are starting to be “bored to death by the familiar”. This can be done by introducing personalities that the target audience can relate to, or by using the platforms that they best understand, such as social media if targeting the youth, and print media for business professionals – that’s not to say that the youth don’t read and visa versa, it’s just a case of doing your research to find out which medium most suits your message and your potential audience. Whyte implored advertisers to stand up for their creativity and pitch radical new ideas to truly engage with consumers through the correct media.

Do you have any ideas that would revolutionise the current advertising model, or ensure greater publicity in the media? Please share your thoughts on our blog.

On that note, the next round of Newsclip’s information-sharing networking seminars is scheduled for November. We’ve been interested by developments such as ambush marketing; media trends 2010; use of the intranet and the benefits of internal communication; as well as the fundamentals behind digital publishing and the future of the iPad. Let us know what interests you, or send your ideas through to marketing@newsclip.co.za.