Brands should think before they advertise online
IAB Engage: Social psychologist Dr Aleks Krotoski has accused marketers and brands of “breaking the web.”
Speaking today (4 November) at the IAB Engage conference in London, the researcher and journalist says that the increasing level of online brand-related content is “undermining the true ethos of what the web was supposed to be.”
Dr Krotoski says brands should not be so overt and targeted with making online connections with consumers, and allow them to find brands through a process of information discovery – in the way the founders of the web intended it to be.
Krotoski says: “Stop and think about the service you deliver and whether it will be given to your target demographic on a plate. You need to encourage serendipity and create information that we weren’t expecting, stuff we can discover, that doesn’t’ restrict us to being ’that’ demographic.”
The BBC presenter adds that despite some innovative digital campaigns, she believes brands need to be braver, and that marketers have a lot of work to do to be truly innovative on the web.
“You need to design systems that actively challenge the consumer, to make it harder for them to find you and what you’re trying to sell,” she adds.
“Promoting elements of randomness will inspire new interactions with content. It will be the next big idea to come out of this industry.”
