Along the lines of my link yesterday to the Facebook presentation about letting go of click measurement for online brand advertising, there is this article on Adweek.com about transparency in online advertising. The best part is that it’s coming from Ogilvy & Mather’s North America CCO Steve Simpson. So somebody within the industry and somebody from the creative side.
“There are examples of broken trust with the consumer. It’s a respect issue, but it’s also a massive creative issue,” Simpson said during his keynote.
“Advertisers need to stop doing stupid stuff,” Simpson told Adweek.
The kind of “stupid stuff” Simpson was referring to includes failure to be transparent with consumers about online targeting and tracking.
I’m happy that it’s not just a business development or sales issue, but a creative issue. And Mr. Simpson is correct when he calls it a massive creative issue. It will take creative thinking to rebuild consumer trust in online ads. And it should happen within the industry.
We are still in the early days, but this is an encouraging sign. The more high level, high profile people who address the issues around online advertising, the sooner we’ll start to see movement toward a less skeezy environment.
