Advertising Must Adapt

It isn't about telling people about your product anymore.  It is about entertaining and engaging them.  If you do, they'll do the advertising for you.  A great example in Ad Age today about Tide's Super Bowl ad success.

"... that's why the most liked, most memorable ads usually are stories about the audience. How else could Procter & Gamble's Tide brand engage the mostly male 2008 Super Bowl audience? It certainly didn't spend 30 seconds explaining the innovative features of its stain-removal product. Instead, its commercial, "Talking Stain," portrayed a clearly identifiable situation among men: an older man interviewing a younger man who has a coffee stain on his dress shirt. As the hapless candidate discusses his interpersonal skills, he's shouted down by the loud, gibbering stain. At the end of the commercial, the stain is erased -- and silenced -- by the Tide to Go product.

By the end of Super Bowl Sunday, the ad had driven more than 30,000 unique visitors to mytalkingstain.com. Some visitors just read about the product there; others created more than 5,500 customized ads. The spot also received more than 100,000 views on YouTube that day and has had more than 1.5 million views since."

Full article here