Proctor & Gamble cleans up internet advertising (1 Viewer)

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Linda

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Mad Men would have loved the internet advertising age. It is full of murkiness, bots, and mystery revenues. P&G is one of the largest corporations in the world, so when they do something, everyone else pays attention. Seeing a slow revenue growth, the company looked to ways to cut expenses and settled on their internet advertising.

When a corporate giant cuts costs, it cuts the revenues of other companies. ... And it did. Its “selling, general, and administrative expenses,” which include advertising and marketing, fell 7% in the quarter. Net income jumped 12%. And digital advertising took it on the chin...

It looks like the leaders at P&G are getting off the train to Crazy Town and looking at the reality of consumer spending, which has remained constant over the past 5 years in the US. If the wonders of targeted advertising, which supposedly is the reason for collecting vast information from internet users, really works, then companies who participate should see greater rewards. They are not.

This bit of news is important because it shows a major company backing off reliance on third-party companies that seem to just take a piece of the pie without providing an actual service. This whole concept of money for nothing has been one of my pet peeves for a long time because the burden of funding these companies falls on those of us at the end of the line.

CEO David Taylor told the Wall Street Journal: “We got some data that said either it was in a bad place or it was not effective,” Mr. Taylor said of the digital cuts. “And we shut it down and said, ‘We’re not going to follow a formula of how much you spend or share of voice. We want every dollar to add value for the consumer or add value for our stakeholders.”

The article is an interesting read.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-29/pg-slashed-digital-ad-spending-what-happened-next
 

Lila

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'Money for Nothing's was a great song!
Also, I will be excited to see targeted advertising and all the privacy breaches it incurs, go away. The sooner it is, the happier I am.
 
OP
Linda

Linda

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I've had several conversations about this news item. So far, I've not found one person who recognizes internet advertising for anything other than noise. Most of us block them with different programs. No one clicks on the ads because there have been so many instances of viruses / malware, etc. Granted, my sample group is somewhat limited in some regards. Honestly, I am interested in who actually responds to these ads.

Then we got into television advertising. Most people queue up programs and watch later when it is more convenient and so they can fast forward through the ads, or watch ad-free programs and movies (Netflix, Hulu, etc.). Personally, I assume that all ads are either fabrications, or skewing the truth, just like the mainstream news. The only ads that I actually watch are those for the Superbowl, but not for the product. I'm interested in the creativity. I don't drink beer now and always hated Budweiser, but I enjoy seeing what the Clydesdales are up to. On the other hand, I do know that these horses are associated with that beer.

Where do I get info for new products? The large majority is through word of mouth or a trusted seller like Natural Grocers. Our neighborhood email group is a good example. People will ask a question, and others will respond with what they know.

It seems to me that people are turning away from the slick third-party programming and going back to their roots of getting info from trusted sources.
 

Lila

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Yes, I hope we are getting away from slick ads holding any value.
But then, who does watch them? Anyone? Kids until they find out for themselves? That seems a bit harsh and unnecessary!
 
I agree with the other posters here. I see ads as mostly using basic human urges like wanting to be cool, young, sexy or seen as successful to sell products. The products themselves often have little to do with increasing any of the above but just incite those human desires to sell products - meaning they are being manipulative at best. In general I avoid ads.
What is a good ad blocker by the way?
 

Carl

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What is a good ad blocker by the way?
I like it a lot, however, there are sites in the internet that when you access them and they realize that you are blocking their ads they immediate put out a note asking you to disable it or you won't be allowed to access the site's content since those ads are their revenue source.
Btw, you can fine good ad blockers for free in the internet -just do a bit or research.
 

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