In the fictional ad world of Mad Men, the debonaire Don Draper stunned its denizens with the decision to “quit tobacco.” At a time when a one- or two-pack per day habit was standard, it was a revolutionary move. The agency stood to lose a lot of revenue.
The Don Draper character was the perfect vehicle for the metaphor of change. And changes were ahead for the 1960s world of advertising. Big changes.
These days, there is very little if anything left of the legacy of those 1960s chain-smoking Madison Avenue execs. The modern world of advertising has quite a different climate.
Many view the substantial force behind this new climate as the addition of social media and its ability to constantly change the landscape. (What’s new at 6:00pm can be old by 6:05pm).
But has social media really replaced traditional marketing/advertising?
With social media’s goliath presence, marketing professionals like us have felt pressure to shift the focus of our business from traditional marketing to a more social media based platform. As if traditional marketing should be relegated to the same resting place as traditional photography.
At LeDuc Creative, we know that’s just not the case.
Don’t believe us? Just ask Pepsi. At one point, they chose to reallocate their entire advertising budget from television ads to social media. The result? They lost a lot of money and dropped to third place in market share. It was a costly experiment.
We see advertising as an art. Within that artistic skill set is the ability to discern what will give the customer the best and most promising results. That knowledge comes from decades of experience; the kind of experience we have.
From designing logos and websites to developing branding unique to each client, we know great marketing begins with great design and writing. The kind of work that has the power to move and elicit an emotional response and subsequent action. These are the elements of traditional marketing and they are timeless.
This is not to say, of course, that we see no use for social media in the business world. It has tremendous value. Facebook, for example, performs well as a business directory listing and as a way to stay in touch with our company fans and clients. But for companies who operate on business to business sales, how often does Facebook directly generate sales leads?
When you get right down to it, it’s not a matter of traditional marketing vs. social media. They are really playing in two different fields. (And arguably two different games.)
LeDuc Creative will continue to do what we do best - provide the most thoughtful, high quality and effective advertising based on the individual needs of each client - whether the marketing angle is traditional, digital or a combination of the two.
So of course we’re not “quitting social media”. We’re just stepping back, taking a different perspective and shifting our focus back to the foundations of marketing and advertising to move our clients forward.
After all, that’s our passion.
