Merck plans to cut back on television ads in favor of more targeted media such as online internet communities.
The news came today from the Financial Times, and newspapers can learn the lesson.
Our advertisers will demand more and more information about our audiences.
It is really astonishing that still in many European and American newspapers, the advertisers (well, advertising agencies and media buyers) don’t want to go to the special supplements…
Everybody wants to go to in to the main sections, and as forward as possible.
For this amazing (ir)rational you will see financial service ads in the main news section, as they refuse to go to the business section…
The consequence is that “main news sections” are crowed, with bad design, and become chaotic sections… that readers pay less and less attention… while advertisers struggle to be there.
Advertisers, advertising agencies and media buyers need to be told about the waste of money and be more rational, before companies like Merk say “bye-bye” not only to traditional media but also to traditional advertising practices.