Aap! - Alternative Advertising Possibilities

Besides discussions of the world economy, technologists, advertising agencies, and marketers were also present at last week’s World Economic Forum looking to discuss coming year of advertising trends.  One question on everyone’s mind is whether social networks, video games and mobile phones are going to become more and more mainstream.

However, Sony’s chief executive Howard Stringer had other opinions in mind. Despite the forum’s positive take on in-game advertisement, he expressed his doubts on the marketing trend’s effectiveness in the medium. Taken from an article in the Financial Times, Stringer was quoted to have said:

“The [supposed] solution to everything at the moment in the digital space is ad supported. While advertisers are happy to talk that up, there is a limit to the amount of money available.”

Similar sentiments were voiced out by NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker in the field of mobile advertising. Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick also echoed Stringer’s sentiments about advertising-funded video games.

However, new forms of advertising were being explored as well. Advertisers were hoping to engage consumers into more interactive models, who are slowly drifting away from the usual radio, print, and television ads.

Researchers proved that many consumers found that advertising in mobile, video games, and social networking to be rather “intrusive”, although many were still willing to put up with it in exchange for free content. While this is especially true with the younger consumers, many business models are already adjusting to growing trend.

Via [FT.com]