What is Integrated Advertising? Everyone says you need it. Everyone thinks they have it. But really, what is it?
The answer is simple. Integrated advertising is paying attention to how your audience lives.
And it's how I live. From the moment I wake up, my mind is bombarded with the sights, sounds and feel of life around me. My alarm nudges me from sleep with the radio until my cell phone blasts vaguely Oriental music in my ear. The rest of the day, until I collapse in bed to late-night reruns and infomercials, is filled with online banners, websites, primetime TV, movies, billboards, newspaper clippings, magazine spreads, classified ads and-- maybe most importantly-- conversation with my friends and associates. And my attention never stays any one place very long.Integration is the future. One web banner isn't going to even graze your audience's perception. A single commercial will become their snack break. A website, an ad, a billboard is just one more piece of information they don't think they really need. It is said that to really digest a piece of information, a person must be exposed to it at least 75 times. How are you going to touch one consumer 75 times if you're not thinking big picture, if you're not letting them know you're there everytime they turn on, tune in and connect?
I know integration, because I breathe integration. I've worked cross-media on campaigns for Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles, The Navy, Wal-Mart, Shooting Star Enterprises, Pulse VoIP (1, 2) and more. I collaborated with talented teams of writers, art directors, engineers, developers, CGI artists, broadcast producers, information architects, product specialists and more to create holistic campaigns that reach the consumers where they live. And with each project I've learned more about how to talk to the public and businesses alike. It's about tone, presentation and collaboration.
No one media can exist and succeed on its own anymore. But with the richness of media around us, why would you want them to?
