The New Yorker columnist and author of Frenemies, Ken Auletta sat down with Gary Vaynerchuk, chairman of VaynerX to discuss the disruptions in the advertising industry.
The chat begins with Vaynerchuk telling the audience about the vulnerability of larger ad companies that were constantly under pressure to make a certain profit. At VaynerMedia, the ad agency, Vaynerchuk makes a daily decision on the amount of profit the company will see. He is playing for keeps, and says when companies are forced to make a certain amount of profit, it hurts the employees and clients.
Another way the world today disrupts the advertising industry is through stream services. Whether that be on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram, or on streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu, humans currently consumes content better by streams rather than by pre-rolls, forced actions or banners.
On phones specifically, it is important to differentiate between content consuming and click through because not all impressions are equal, even though it is typically played that way. Vaynerchuk explained that all publicity was not, in fact, good publicity. A brand could have a high number of views and yet have a negative brand image. If a company wants to build their brand awareness, Facebook is the tool just for that.
As for brands that are succeeding, Amazon is high on that list. Because they are pro-customer, they tend to have a positive brand image. People buy anything and everything on Amazon and the customers love it. As more people use Amazon, the amount of clean data they have on what a customer buys is important information that they can then sell, use or leverage.
With Amazon buying the first retail chain Whole Foods, it moves the advertising business.
Voice-based technology is also going to change the advertising industry. Already, with Google Home and Amazon’s Echo, people are able to search with their voice. Because of this, Google search is looking at a decline within the next 20 years. Humans can only care about so many things, and time is one of the most important on that list. The perception of time is so powerful, and voice is going to save us time.
Eventually, people will just be able to buy items like cereal with their voice and if companies aren’t prepared for that, they’re going to be in trouble, Vaynerchuk said.