Advertisers are used to filling spaces: spaces before/between/after entertainment, spaces on freeways, spaces on sites, spaces in papers. Media buys the spaces, Creative fills them with life. Hopefully.
This old advertising paradigm is slowly disappearing. People trained their brains to oversee these spaces. The information age has forced the human brain to avoid these irrelevant messages and focus on the task at hand. Unwelcome messages are considered disruptive and will change brand perceptions negatively.
Conversational Marketing requires decorum, a good handle on etiquette and an understanding for the challenges of everyday life. Announcing your openness to a dialogue with a marching band and fly-over won’t do you any good. Who wants to start a dialogue in that environment?
Instead, brand need to move away from filling spaces to filling moments: Those moments when you stand in line, you’re bored and you watch an engaging show on a screen in the coffeeshop. Moments when you wander around the city and discover a pop-up retail store. Moments when you’re sitting in the airplane, waiting for takeoff.
People have only so much time. The ROI of getting their attention when they are busy is declining rapidly. We need to engage them when they’re open to be entertained, open to new experiences, open to be wowed. Everything else is just waste.
