The Five Impressions Rule

Classic marketing -- and by classic, I mean the stuff we learned when everything wasn't through our own very personal screens -- held that if a marketer was going to have any chance of making the case to sell to a new prospect, they needed to reach that prospect in a wide variety of ways to establish branding and legitimacy. While there were always a few people who had an immediate need, or might buy just on impulse or price, most consumers went with a trusted brand, and that level of trust was achieved through a long tail of broadcast, radio, print and more.

Now, those factors are still important, but they seem increasingly subservient to just in time marketing impressions through digital modes. Word of mouth still matters, but it might come from social media or a blog, rather than a moment in the market.

Where the rubber hits the road, however, is building a brand. Even for online-first brands, broadcast is where the story is told, because that 30 to 60 second spot is so ingrained in the story format that's expected... even if it's not needed. And perhaps those just get ported into online video, with ad-blocking being the only issue to overcome.

Well, that and the fact that public acceptance of ads, especially in the mobile platform, is so low that the blocking software is getting pushed as a performance, bandwidth and security saving measure. Rather than just, well, simple theft.

My belief is that despite the commonality of everything still coming through that single screen, different channels make your look and feel of that screen very different. If something's in your social media feed, that's a different place in your consideration set and mental acuity than an email, native ad, interstitial, audio ad in a podcast, and so on. Daypart might also make for a very different brand impression, on a very different platform, with more or less time on their hands.

It's an open question as to whether the market will support this supposition, because it's all new, and the screen is personal enough to make some think of stalking. But it won't be an open question for long. (Yes, that's a bit of a tell.)

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