State of the State of Advertising 2019

My fellow advertisers... Let's talk straight about the state of advertising in 2019. It's on the decline, and I don't say that to be dramatic -- I say it because I've watched it happen in real time, across every account I touch.

In years past, we could write our ad copy, slap together a basic visual or a simple video asset, assign it to the platform of our choice, and run it with fairly consistent results. CPMs were forgiving. Creative that was merely competent could still win.

But over the last 18 to 24 months, there's been a seismic shift. A shift many of you have already felt in your wallet.

There's a lot of online chatter in private Facebook groups about broken algorithms and ad costs skyrocketing across nearly every platform. But too many advertisers have become too insular to see the true, insidious threat causing CPMs to go north, CPAs to become unsustainable, and conversion rates and ROAS to drop to numbers they never thought possible.

This threat is far greater than algorithms. Platforms strive to keep advertisers happy and correct accordingly when something's broken. No, the danger we face will take real resolve and grit to overcome, because it will keep chipping away at the affordability of advertising on every platform we depend on.

The Real Threat (And It's Not Algorithms)

This threat was a dormant giant, stuck on traditional advertising platforms for decades. Now it's awake, and it's discovered that the opportunity inside digital and social platforms is real and up for the taking. But this is OUR territory, not theirs.

These are troubling times. Our greatest threat has the financial capacity to price small businesses out of the digital marketplace for good.

No matter the platform, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, or the next up-and-comer, this powerful, financially endowed threat is on a clear mission to overpower us. With cross-platform utilization, they're investing hundreds of millions of dollars into digital infrastructure, and it will feel like the inevitable decimation of all of us, our hopes, and our businesses.

My fellow advertisers, the threat I speak of is the sum of all our fears, and our gravest enemy: it is big brands and the ad agencies that control their massive advertising budgets.

This enemy has outspent all our lifetime advertising budgets, combined, in a single month, and they continue to grow dangerously powerful. As advertisers we are a resilient, creative people, and while we can't stop an enemy of this magnitude, we are far from powerless. These are OUR platforms. Digital advertising is OUR home.

Therefore, as the Founder & CEO of Ad Zombies, as an advertiser, a small business owner, a husband and father who uses these very platforms to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads, as one of YOU, I'm ordering a subtle, surgical strike. One our enemy will be unable to react to.

Why Big Brands Are Crushing Our Ad Costs

The shift to digital is in high gear. While these big brands dump millions of dollars a day into platforms they believe speak to their audiences (money our businesses simply don't have), our advertising costs rise because we're being outspent and the available ad space is being gobbled up. This shift will slowly erode the foundation of the future of our businesses. They may not be in direct competition with us, but there's only so much available ad space, and sadly, big money usually wins.

While we cannot stop them, we can take action to keep our costs down, to connect on a deeper, more meaningful level with our target customers, and to maintain balance in our budgets and our results.

Now more than ever, disruption is critical. Our subtle, surgical strike will be our messaging. Our messaging has to be on point and our ad creative needs visual appeal that stops the scroll. Every ad lives or dies on whether the first line earns the second, which is exactly why the headline, not the visual, is doing 80% of the work in any ad you run against a big-budget competitor. Get that wrong and no amount of targeting saves you.

We will survive this big brand apocalypse by upping our game and navigating these turbulent waters nimbly, efficiently, and with certainty. We will never surrender to big brands. We will fight them with agility and better, faster creative.

I Know the Enemy Because I've Been One of Them

I know our enemy better than most, and I can use their Achilles heel against them. Before building Ad Zombies, I spent decades on the other side of the table. In my 40+ years in this industry, I've written for M&Ms, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, and Budweiser, and I've worked with the NFL, NBA, and MLB. I've sat in the rooms where those budgets get approved. I know exactly how slow, layered, and risk-averse that machine really is.

I know the enemy because I've been in their camp.

Big brands may have lots of dollars to throw at digital, but they also have deep infrastructure, a dozen chefs in every kitchen, and an inability to create quickly. They're giant ocean liners. Making a 180-degree turn takes time, patience, and layer upon layer of decision-makers' sign-off before the order to change course is even given.

Not us. You and I are speedboats. Our ability to turn and weave isn't hindered by bureaucracy or red tape. We can course-correct monthly, weekly, daily, even hourly if needed. That's our advantage, and it's one they can never overcome. We can chart a different course as needed. They cannot.

While the market shift is on, they're stuck in approvals, meetings, and indecisiveness. We have to respond with immediacy. While they're still debating and three market changes behind, we're in the driver's seat of our own destiny.

My fellow advertisers, the state of advertising is getting rough, but we can survive this onslaught of big brands. Remember...

How We Fight Back and Win

We cannot win with formulaic copy or templated ad structures. That's what everyone else is doing. We cannot win with poor quality images or videos.

We must be disruptive. We must stay ahead of them. Our videos must entertain and engage, our visuals must pop, and our words, our words must be sharp enough to work as a filter, not a billboard. A headline's job isn't to say everything about your offer; it's to decide who reads the next line and drag the right people in. When your CPMs are climbing because a big brand is outbidding you on reach, the only lever left is a headline and hook that converts attention faster than they can buy more of it.

And while you're busy out-creating the big brands, don't let your own client relationships rot from the inside. I've watched agencies lose the fight to big-budget competitors not because their creative was weak, but because they were burning hours on hand-holding calls instead of producing work. If you want to survive this era, your client needs to trust you enough to let you do the job, not babysit you through it.

Our enemy is clouded. Their financial prowess is making them delusional. Our vision is clear. Our creative is unmatched. My fellow advertisers, we must, we WILL prevail.

Thank you, and good night, or good morning, or good whatever time it is wherever you are.