Why “Real-Time Marketing” Sucks & Isn’t Real

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel at the iMedia Brand Summit where one of the topics discussed was real-time marketing. My initial response was that real-time marketing (RTM) is crap. I’ve always prided myself on being blunt and honest. There’s very little value found in discussions where A) everyone agrees and B) participants sugarcoat their opinions. So, staying true to form, I had no problem expressing my belief that real-time marketing, as it’s being presented now, is absolute garbage.

First, we need to take a step back and look at what’s being labeled “real-time marketing.” The vast majority of what marketing publications are heralding as RTM are brands crafting poorly executed tweets in response to a presenter’s joke during an award show. There’s a big difference between DiGiorno’s feeling the need to insert themselves into mainstream conversations by randomly tweeting awkward and poorly-executed tweets to celebrities and a brand like McDonald’s or Patron Tequilla using cultural events to extend ongoing campaigns. Unfortunately, however, we’re stuck with crappy “RTM efforts” by lazy marketers who feel there’s more value in being featured in Digiday than there is in providing value to the company and consumers who pay their bills. And, that, my friend is absolute crap.

The fact that we are still having these discussions and marketing publications are continuing to write stories about RTM is a disgrace to our industry. The longer we chuckle and sell clueless executives on the need to spend thousands of dollars on creating “war rooms” where agencies and brand folks come together to produce a creative piece of content that desperately tries to tie together lobster claws and Lady Gaga, the lower our industry sinks and the more we look like complete asshats.

The barometer of success in our industry is at an all-time low. Just as Adam Kmiec said in a recent presentation, there is no content marketing. There’s also no real-time marketing. It’s simply…marketing. And the brands that get “RTM” correct aren’t the ones who aren’t trying to capitalize off a one-time pop, the ones who are finding success are those who use it as a natural extension of their brand.