This morning, while driving, the radio was playing. The station that was on not only had the paid advertising of pre-recorded clips, but also where the DJ will evangelize a product, in that they use it, etc. etc. I don't exactly consider it astroturfing because there is no attempt to hide that it's a paid product announcement. Instead, it harkens back to the older commercials, when whole shows were sponsored by one company. It's rather quaint in a way. Only, this time around, it was for the Microsoft Zune.
It's no secret that I ally myself with Apple and their products; I have several macs, an iPod, and am looking into making programs for the iPhone. So it's easy to write off that I would not be amenable to this specific product placement. Perhaps I was inserting my own biases in that the DJ sounded awkward, forcing themselves to hit all the right paid buzzwords, trying to turn the adjective "Social" into a noun. But regardless of how well or poorly the advertising went, one thing stuck in my mind. I couldn't recall any iPod advertisements on the radio.
I've seen this pattern before. It's a last-ditch effort. At a nearby mall, the food court tables have advertisements embedded in them. The advertisements, sadly enough, are advertisements for advertising. "You noticed this ad! Think of how many others will notice your ad if it was here!" However, the advertisements are on the losing side of a catch-22. If they truly did work, they would be advertisements for something else. Their very presence is a testimony to their ineffectiveness.
Similarly, the Zune advertisement is a no-win situation. Those that are disgusted with radio and its advertisements wouldn't be listening to the radio in the first place, so they would not be interested in the stored music-side of things. And in order to hear the advertisement, the would-be buyer has already proven themselves to have a radio, mooting the need for the Zune once again. Either they don't want a Zune, or don't need a Zune.
Compare, as I hinted at, the iPod advertising campaign. If I recall, it has focused on television and billboards. Both of which are alternatives to the radio, in a way, yet not direct competitors to the iPod. To those that are viewing media, the television is key, but the television isn't portable. Thus, a portable device like the iPod will get their attention, filling a gap. The billboard, alternatively, is visible while someone's out and about, or possibly even driving, bored but with the radio off. It's the other side of the equation, in that the billboard is where the audience is mobile, but not entertained. Neither of these campaigns hinge on the audience having both the ability and desire to use the competition.
It, perhaps, serves as an object lesson that demographics in advertising is more than just nationalities, age ranges, and genders. The medium of the advertisement also has a way of selecting the audience, and in this way, it's important not to end up, as the saying goes, trying to sell refrigerators to eskimos.
