December 07, 2009
Don't Count Hardcopy Content Out Quite Yet
When people ask me why I don't ENTIRELY believe the Internet will put the final nail in the coffin of hardcopy deliverables like newspapers and magazines, I point them to this:
Look at that thing. At least with newspaper and magazine advertisements (hardcopy, not online), you get something that ATTEMPTS to make sense. You get something someone at least tried to make genuinely interesting, rather than throwing Obama's name out there alongside a picture of Snaggletooth McGraw.
I get the reason WHY online ads have reached this level of craplisciousness. Generating online revenue is all about creating ads people will click, and it doesn't matter if the person clicking is genuinely interested in the product, or they're simply sadly curious whether GravelMouth Nostrilflare has been named the latest Obama czar.
Ads like these are a huge reason why I seriously question the advertising business model that drives the online world. At some point, a CEO who is just somewhat savvy will raise his or her hand and ask some very pointed questions about the effectiveness of these nonsensical online eye forks and be forced to conclude hardcopy advertising is just far more cost efficient when it comes to enticing actual paying customers.
