G’day, random person of the internet. Just in case the above disclosure went right over your head, I just wanted to let you know that this is a paid advertorial, explaining paid advertorials, by the people who make a show that understands how advertorials work, and how they work on us.
I’ve seen my fair share of what some might deem “hectic shit” being at the helm of this fine publication’s Facebook marketing/advertising efforts pushing our advertorial/sponsored/native content. As in, I have access to data that strongly suggests you’ve seen one of my ads – and targeting you has been easier than stealing Candy Crush credit from a baby.
With a Facebook Business account, you can target users by: income (yep, they know what a lot of us are making annually), household composition (roommates or fam), frequency of photo uploads, those who are a ‘Close Friends of Men with a Birthday in 0-7 days‘ and thousands more. Hell, there’s even a targetable group called ‘Narcissistic Parents‘.
Why am I telling you this? Because there’s never been a greater need for us to be clued-in on how brands are attempting to get us to buy their shit, and the easiest way you can do that is by watching Gruen.
As I’ve already mentioned, they’re paying us to get you clued in on what the hell an advertorial/sponsored/native content is. How? By plugging the hell outta the show’s new season, of course.
For those of you who have never owned a television (as that’s the only conceivable excuse I can think of for having not seen it), Gruen is a show that spotlights the good, bad, and downright ugly components of all things advertising, branding and spin. This cunning dissection is administered by comedian Wil Anderson, PwC’s chief creative officer Russel Howcroft and ex-adman Todd Sampson, as well as several in-the-know guest panellists.
One such regular guest panellist is Dee Madigan who kindly sacrificed her time to give me comments in the hopes her sage wisdom and industry heavyweight status will convince some of you guys to watch this bloody show.
It’s being honest about it,” she says. “I think people are unaware a lot of times that they actually are being advertised to, particularly online. What Gruen is doing is spotlighting that. It’s making people more aware of it, and in a way that is engaging and interesting – which is exactly what any advertising should be, or any TV show should be. If you want to educate people, engage them first.
No one’s obliged to listen to your message, but the thing is, people are hearing a lot of messaging and not realising that it’s paid for by someone. If we put the spotlight on it, then they can make up their own minds. It’s not saying marketing is bad or good, but you should at least know when you’re being marketed to and how you’re being marketed to.
Well put, Madigan. Oh, and thank you for doing my job for me. Appreciate it.
Anyway, one consequence of not knowing that you’re being advertised to is looking like a dickhead. Madigan cited an instance where UK MP Gavin Barwell ended up looking like a massive tool ‘cos he didn’t know how Google’s ads work. While reading a press release from his opposing party, Barwell was served with an ad that said “date Arab girls”. He took to Twitter to mock the situation, not knowing that the ad was served to him based on his own search history and interests – an extremely normal and well-known function of Adsense. Wouldn’t have happened if he’d tuned into Gruen!!!!!!! Feigned enthusiasm aside, it legit probs wouldn’t have.
On a serious note, the real issue of not knowing whether something’s an ad or not is when it comes to influencing our opinion of the world around us.
“You think what you’re hearing is an objective opinion, or that it’s news. And I think that’s the danger there. You can make things look almost like a news site when it’s a marketing thing.”
“Its whole purpose is to persuade you to do something.”
And this doesn’t just happen on digital media platforms. Madigan raises that a lot of this trickery is coming from good ol’ TV.
There’s a very grey area where you get a lot of people on TV shows commenting on issues when they have an absolute vested interest in it. And this is almost in the cash-for-comment area I think, where it’s not actually said. For example, I was on Sky the other week and Adam Giles was talking about some sort of pro-mining thing without mentioning that he’s in fact employed by Gina Rinehart – that sort of thing happens quite a lot. I’d say much more so in the TV space than in the print space where the guidelines are a lot clearer.
Madigan makes a superb point, folks. Although it shouldn’t be this way, we really need to arm ourselves with a proper defence to ensure we’re not fooled by the minority of assholes in Ad Land – and Gruen is the best way to do just that.
“[Gruen’s] actually – and I’m going to use a really wanky word now – it’s empowering. We’re empowering people, but in a way that is palatable.”
So on that note, go forth and be empowered by tuning into Gruen’s ninth season, premiering on Wednesday 13 September at 8.30pm on ABC and iview.
