The article “Madison Avenue Nightmare” by Devin Leonard in 2004 signals the fall of the mass media-based advertising industry. Leonard writes, the best attitude faces the decline of Madison Avenue’s advertising industry is to let it pass.
Madison Avenue was a trading city in America in the 19th century, after the first world war. Then the city grows into a cluster or center of the advertising industry in America in the 20th century.
This advertising cluster is only temporarily depressed era during the first and second world wars. As the war ends, the industry grows larger again. After that, the area is also known as the heart of world advertising. which was once glorious in the 1920s – 1990s.
The triumph of Madison Avenue 20-40 and 1950-1990. After that, its role was replaced by advertising on the internet. Client orders decreased. Complain about more and more ad performance.
The Rise of Digital Marketing
On the other side, the adoption or use of the internet is getting more and more in the market. so that many advertisers follow the shift. Advertising was developed in social media and the internet.
At the end of 2000, there had been doubts about the power of the internet. The internet is considered a bubble. Big but no value. But along with the improvements in information technology, the Internet creates smart advertising. Advertising show only for an audience who have interest. It creates a smarter of advertising ads, that understand audience interest.
That is the convergence of marketing and information technology. Marketing work involves a lot of information technology, not just promotion aspect. Information technology is also involved in the process of marketing strategy. Marketing strategies such as segmentation, targeting, and positioning testing involve big data and algorithms. Facebook and Google provide the segmentation mapping with the technology.
Value positioning process also involves information technology. Information technology plays a role in providing data about real-time market trends. Information technology also provides an opportunity for testing market responses. Thus the process of determining the marketing strategy with the support of information technology has advantages. The advantages are suitability is more up to date with market trends and testing.
Marketing tactics that are marketing mix also involve information technology. Products are made by weighing the market tastes conveyed by information technology. product designing activities, price determination, distribution and promotion determination are decided by considering market information provided by information technology.
Measuring the success of marketing programs also involves information technology. With the support of information technology, faster market reactions are identified. The types of reactions are richer and faster than those without information technology.
The marketer needs metrics for program optimization. The initial plan was not always efficient and effective. By measuring the results of marketing programs, it can be known which programs are running well and which are not. Thus the marketer can do the optimization.
The Change of Advertising Character
But now IT offers more value in business, especially marketing. IT offers to create the effective and efficient marketing. Thus a marketing program cannot compete with an IT-based marketing program. The marketing center shifts, from Madison Avenue to disseminated to many places.
The change is not just a media shift, but a shift in marketing and advertising traits. The ads designed by Madison Avenue are intriguing, intelligent and creative ads. But now viewers have a choice to deny it. On television, viewers have a remote control. On the internet, people are free to skip the ads. This is the end of interruption advertising.
Digital marketing has specific characteristics. It is interactive, so no interruption advertising. DIgital marketer embeds their commercial goal in an educative, informative and entertaining message.
Now marketers need to know IT in order to use it to make marketing decisions. IT people also need to know marketing to be able to see IT in a business perspective, not just it’s amazing. Without knowing the business aspect, IT can get stuck on scattering IT programs without added value to the business.
