Advertising Immunities

Are consumers too smart for advertising?

We consumers are getting smart.

I mean really smart.

Not too long ago, we didn't mind all the marketing messages. We even had our favorites. Marketers stretched the boundaries of advertising to gain our attention. They took risks to entertain and educate us while building their brand.

We connected, we cared and we went along for the ride.

Today, we’re critics of those same messages. We judge them at face-value in micro seconds making quick judgments based on how it connects with us on a personal level. This happens both online and off line every day. We became cynical consumers of all things advertising and we finally built advertising immunities to protect our valuable personal space.

The immunities we built came in the form of Netflix, MP3 players, satellite radio, TiVO, blogs, online radio and many other items that let us break away from all the noise. A place where marketers simply couldn't find us and PUSH their messages on us.

Why did all of this happen?

The reality, at some point, many marketers stopped caring about us. It’s that simple. They focused only on disrupting our lives to push their message in front of us. At any cost, they wanted us to pay attention to them.

As a result, we built defenses to their tricks. They want our attention and we’re fighting to keep it. It’s not about privacy, it’s about personal space and we’re not letting them in.

As a result, our peers became the voice of reason and the voice we trusted. On occasion, when brands build some form of relationship or shared journey with us — we let them in. Maybe a little. Trust takes time.

Marketers, are you listening? Stop selling and start caring.

I mean really caring

It’s De