Keeping Real-Time Marketing Real.

Did Oreo really win the Superbowl? Did Dulux have a Oreo moment during the Brits last night?

Real-time content marketing is all the rage, but let's face some facts. Oreo's Superbowl success waa based on a rightly praised but very traditional existing campaign and, I'd argue, they got lucky with the power blackout. The question that will never be answered is what would have happened if the lights had stayed on? Would the versions thay must have pre-prepared to focus upon preditable outcomes of team victorie, individual performances or the half-time show have had the same impact?

This leads us to last night's Dulux tweet.

Although smart, my guess is that it wasn't genunely real-time marketing as the statuette design was announced long ago. Nothing wrong with that, but look at the small number of online shares. That's really is mini. It's all very well for the writer to suggest the spread was much wider beause he liked the idea, but that doesn't mean it did.

This sort of agile response can work well and has dne in print advertiasing for decades, but now that lead-times are reduced, there's a big danger lurking below the surface. Having created a "content command centre" will marketers dare to remain silent in the absence of a really good real-time idea? Or is it more likely that we'll be carpet-bombed with the misjudged and the mediocre?

More than ever, the emphasis has to be less on the real-time and more on the real marketing.

The Wisdom Of Dave Trott.

1) Don't define yourself by your department.

2) Being professional means being objective.

3) People must notice the advertising (words that never appear in the brief).

4) It's all about Bernbach's "Timeless Human Truths".

5) Branding: being unable to repeat the ad without naming the product.

6) You don't need twelve housewives from Slough.

7) Ads don't run on the boardroom table.


Photo by Nicole Yershon, shoulder by me.