RonAmok!

Social Media for Executives
Nov 11, 2008

Advertising: Back to the Future

Doc Brown gives advertising advice

I love quoting from movies. Last night I was thinking about a scene from the movie Back to the Future.

EXT: HILL VALLEY TOWN CENTER (NIGHT)

Marty is stuck in 1955. He needs to get back to 1985 and the only way to do so is to funnel a lightning strike into the flux capacitor.

DOC BROWN: Don’t worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88 miles per hour, the instance the lightning strikes the tower (beat) everything will be fine!

And THAT got me to thinking…

Isn’t this exactly what the advertising industry is offering us? Aren’t they just channeling Doc Brown:

AD INDUSTRY: Don’t worry. As long as you hit that customer with the advertisement at precisely the time that their eyeballs are fixated in that exact location, when the medium is open to the correct page  (beat) everything will be fine!

Old Media fires random messages at “eyeballs.” New Media presents relevant messages to “eyeballs that CARE.” The latter has a chance to be forwarded to others. The former will likely be sent to a landfill.

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Filed under: Content Development
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  • Hi Ron, I saw that Chris called you out on Twitter. I'm excited for you! Thanks for relaying what happened when he did recognize you. Hope all is well.
  • "Don’t worry. As long as you hit that customer with the advertisement at precisely the time that their eyeballs are fixated in that exact location, when the medium is open to the correct page (beat) everything will be fine!......and if not we'll just keep throwing money at it whilst talking about reach and frequency. If anyone questions us we'll just sneer"
  • Oooooh, I like it! Great point.
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