While the rise of digital advertising seems to be the only thing anyone in the business is capable of talking about these days, I often find myself wondering what digital advertising really is. Is it a "viral" video like Dove "Evolution" or Smirnoff "Tea-Partay"? Or are those really just TV spots that run on the internet instead of NBC and aren't required to be exactly 30 or 60 seconds long?


Is it an online game that pops up in a banner but gets judged by the number of people who actually click on it as if it were a DM piece? Or is it a banner that just creates awareness, like a billboard?
Is it a microsite that people go to either because they're really bored or because they want to "interact with and have a meaningful experience with" a brand?
Is it a blog that a CEO (or more likely, his PR team) writes? A message board that allows people to talk about a product most people have no interest in talking about in the first place? Or one where "conversation" is already planted?
Is it a Facebook page that's a place for serious conversation and "brand fanatics" or maybe just a place for the merely curious?
Is it a full-on website like NikePlus that creates a real retail experience and actually provides value? Or is Nike an anomaly and are most websites designed to be merely functional and well-designed for clients who don't see their ad agency as the people to come up with new business models?
Is it an optimized keyword search that probably does more to drive traffic to a website than a dozen award-winning banners, people being quite content to do their own research, thank you, or is search just the digital version of running an ad in the Yellow Pages?
Is it a virtual store in a virtual world that's going to become relevant when all the elementary school age Webkinz users hit adulthood? Or are virtual worlds just online versions of "Dungeons and Dragons" and appropriate only for things like the Sci Fi Network?
Is it a brand new playground where creatives will get to run wild or is it a metrics-based medium that's going to make creatives obsolete while making stars out of account and media planners? And if that happens, how much of advertising's "glamor" goes away along with it?
Depending on the wind, I can be convinced of either side of these arguments. But I think the greater truth here is that we are all talking about something that few of us can accurately define and that even fewer of us have anywhere close to the same definition of.
And that's dangerous.
So I'll throw the question out to all of you: What is digital advertising?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Wolk
One of the only new voices to come out of the creative side of the ad business, Alan Wolk has staked out a distinctive space for himself and his Toad Stool consultancy. The wide-ranging appeal of Wolk’s common-sense approach to strategy, combined with his hands-on experience as an advertising creative director, has made him the go-to guy for social media thought leadership, speaking and consulting.

His blog, The Toad Stool, is a popular thought leadership site that’s been described as a “frank but fair” look at the confluence of advertising, marketing and Web 2.0.

Adweek Editor Brian Morrissey has called it “one of the ‘must read’ blogs for our industry.”

The most popular series, "Your Brand Is Not My Friend"which deals with the false assumptions marketers make in the 2.0 space (and how to remedy them), has gotten much play in the blogosphere and that has led to columns in Adweek, as well as a national syndication deal via Newstex.

The blog’s popularity has also resulted in numerous requests for speaking engagements. A book is also in the works.

Prior to “seeing the light,” Wolk was a highly successful creative director who spent years at ‘90s hot shop Anderson & Lembke and went on to start up Atmosphere, BBDO’s digital agency, with stints at Ogilvy and JWT along the way. A New York City native and Stuyvesant High School graduate, Wolk currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and 2 kids, where he doubles as a Little League and basketball coach.