During the bathroom breaks and :30 coffee breaks we are allowed here at Adrants headquarters, we have finally finished Joe Jaffe’s book Life After the 30-Second Spot. Actually, we finished it about two weeks ago but, again, we aren’t allowed much time here to do anything serious what with all the stunt marketing and cleavage out there that had to be given our journalistic excellence. So, finally, we’ve found a few moments to hide from the Adrants Overlords to reflect on Jaffe’s book and share our thoughts with you.
Firstly, there is most assuredly life after the :30 for you big television marketers who are freaking in your pants over the so-called death of the :30. Certainly, as Jaffe claims in the book, the :30 in its current incarnation will see a painful death but all is not lost. In the book, Jaffe points to ten rock-solid approaches marketers can follow for continued marketing success as the :30 continues to deliver less and less each day. From gaming to on-demand to consumer-generated content to long-form content to experiential marketing and more, Jaffe lays out a clear pathway for marketers to follow when the :30 pathway begins to crumble beneath their feet.
Jaffe has split the book into three sections. The first makes a solid argument for why the :30 is and will become a very ineffective ad tactic. The second urges marketers to rethink they way they approach their consumers, their branding, the relevance of their advertising and their ad agencies as they fight for survival against a dying model. Finally, the third section offers the above mention solutions which bring insight and hope to the future of marketing.
If you care about your brand, if you care about your clients, if you care about the specific medium in which you work, you must read this book. It will put your mind at ease and give you the motivation to move beyond outmoded thought, long-entrenched paradigms and ineffectual strategies.
