BigShinyThing

In a nice sign o’ the times, the Financial Times article makes clear the difference between old and new marketing techniques. Cendant argues that it is investing in newspaper ads in an attempt to ‘bring brands to life’ and differentiate itself from its online rivals.

We’ve noted before how online retailers such as Lastminute and eBay have exploited offline media in an attempt to make their brands ‘huggier’ and more ‘real world’. It’s also a classic ploy to draw in any straggling technophobes out there. And we wonder how much of this is designed to placate digital immigrants who still draw a line between the online and offline worlds, unlike their kids — already digital natives who see everything glommed together.

Randy Wagner, chief marketing operating officer of Cedant draws a distinction between the ‘art and science’ of traditional and online advertising — aligning online with measurable impact and offline with emotional reach. Now all traditional marketers have to do is convince everybody else… The Wall Street Journal reported just this week: “Newspapers are losing their single biggest category of classified advertising: auto ads. Revenue from car classifieds has been falling for seven straight quarters, and analysts are beginning to wonder if the drop-off is permanent.”