Advertising agency websites and promotional materials almost exclusively offer online marketing solutions, just like the marketing courses available on the market. The question arises: is offline marketing knowledge worth nothing anymore?
Imagine walking down to the neighborhood grocery store for a kilogram of flour.
How many offline impulses do we encounter?
Billboards, citylights, small ads pasted on poles. Light advertisements, window stickers, company signs, totem poles. Car decorations on passing cars. Upon entering the store, stimuli hit us more intensely: security gate decor, flyers, floor stickers, shelf end displays, wobblers, product packaging, checkout displays, motion-sensor interactive monitors, unique offers, and who knows how many billions of tiny advertising impulses compete for our attention. We also find an advertising message on the back of the receipt, and indoor posters attack us in the restroom and fitting room. Offline marketing is doing just fine, thank you, and effectively doing its job.
Who designs and produces these if the industry is focused on online campaigns, influencer marketing, and keyword marketing? The rest are busy teaching how to quickly write an article with ChatGPT.
Online commerce is growing dynamically year by year. In 2022, it reached 15%, and by 2026 it could even be 24%..
Living with a slight irony, the marketing communication profession's marketing communication (sorry, I warned you) focuses on this 15%, not the remaining 85%.
POS – the great survivor
The greatest contrast between the lack of communication hype and the diversity of tools used is found in POS materials. Twenty years ago, at the beginning of my marketing career, their main application area was hypermarkets and malls. Today, this market has exploded; it's impossible to imagine a gas station, drugstore, or pharmacy without in-store advertising materials. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, as everyone from the corner pizzeria to the used phone shop uses the well-established tools of indoor marketing, and we can even encounter them in museums and medical offices.
Moreover, POS is currently in a renewal phase with the rise of LCD screens. Just think of London's famous square, Piccadilly Circus: the wall of the corner building on the northern side of the square is now iconic with its huge displays and video advertising surfaces.
How is it that everyone praises online advertising while the world's most expensive advertisement still runs in a traditional medium? We're talking about the spots broadcast during the Superbowl halftime. Alongside the largest car manufacturers, fast-food chains, and FMCG companies, Amazon also advertises here. Yet these appearances are measured in millions of dollars... (If you decide to watch just one advertisement from this year's offerings, I recommend this one.)
PopCorners is a tortilla manufacturing company that achieved breakthrough success a few years ago by bringing back characters from Total Recall (Breaking Bad) for a joyful advertisement. They timed it well for when the hype around the original series and even the spinoffs had died down, making it feel both fresh and familiar at the same time.
The unforgettable billboard
Who remembers the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri titled film? If we look at this not easily digestible movie purely from a professional perspective, we could glimpse the behind-the-scenes secrets of low-budget creative production and printing. The film is memorable for me because I haven't seen billboards in such poor condition in a long time 🙂 But if we stick to a purely professional approach, it’s a great example of how effective it can be to use this tool in the right place, at the right time, with the right message.
In reality, it is indeed rarer for an entire small town to be stirred up by three billboards, but let's face it: perhaps the messages are not that precise either. It's a shame about the missed opportunities, as thousands pass by each poster daily.
What about printed media?
I observe with a heavy heart the decline of printed media products. Daily newspapers have practically ceased to exist, and the number of weekly publications and magazines is continuously decreasing. Along with this, a new perspective has emerged: the prestige value of news appearing in printed publications is increasing, plus more and more large manufacturers and service providers are turning to the press as a content marketing tool. Occasionally varying in quality, but there are a few truly high-quality publications that are a pleasure to hold.
And it is particularly good news that it is not worth burying print: the MLE research indicates that out of ten nearly four read at least on a monthly basis printed daily newspapers and/or magazines also. A relevant from an advertising perspective. held 18–59 annual target group among similar level of 13. perspective – readership. A nyomtatás reading at all not only 13. perspective – older age groups is limited!
Offline marketing is doing well, thank you, and it will definitely stay with us for a good while longer. If you want to meet it, take advantage of the opportunities offered by integrated marketing solutions in the next campaign planning and reap the recognition for your innovative solutions.
