What advertising is meant to do (including digital / social)!
They get blogged about by a few geeks (mainly advertising ones like myself) and that's it. How many average jo's on the street notice it when you think of how much money / time was spent on them?
The answer is not many (once you step out of the ivory tower).
That's why I'm challenging you all to think about the bigger picture, move beyond platforms and start to think about what we are really trying to achieve with anything we do - online, offline....regardless.
I'll answer it for you: Our job ultimatelly is to create interest in a product / service and encourage trial - not do cool shit that looks good to us and our peers. We are simply trying to earn attention for our clients products in a way that cuts through what everyone else is doing.
We need to stop thinking like advertising people and creating stuff that people don't notice (this counts for shit online too), instead we need to think like PR people, think what earns mass attention. What creates chatter, online and off line?! What stops people in their steps and makes them want to be involved? Pretty much what Gareth Kay says, "ideas that can be advertised, not advertising ideas."
That's why I have so much respect for the old spice guys, the meerkat guys and pretty much most things Nike do! Now, you can say these are rare, but I think it's often because we don't think strategically enough about it. Like Gareth says we are hell bent on creating advertising instead of stuff that people want to spend time with and talk about.
Instead of thinking about cool shiny shit like foursqaure, think how we can get peoples attention, get into the mainstream media and into the hands of regular people.
Think of it like this, you want to reach your mum, not just your geeky adland friends.
(note: all of the above isn't always possible, but at least try when it is!)
