Hang on to Your Hats: Business is Changing
Living smack-dab inside the middle of a cultural shift, as it’s actually occurring, makes for many exciting moments for those of us who own and run businesses.
Take, for example, this last week. Two very significant business events occurred:
1) The Silicon Valley Insider released new information that reveals adults are spending 29% of their time on the web, but advertisers are only putting 8% of their ad spend on the web. (Meanwhile, newspapers only get 8% of our attention but 20% of the ad dollars.) Eventually, America’s businesses are going to catch on to this, and divert funds accordingly. Oh wait, they already are. Which brings me to #2:
2) Pepsi has left the Super Bowl. This week, media outlets across the globe shook with the news that Pepsi, a long-time sponsor of the television’s most-watched event of the year, the Super Bowl, removed itself from the commercial line-up. We’re talking 23 years of sponsoring this championship football game. 23 years! And each 30-second spot of airtime is millions of dollars in revenue.
In the case of Pepsi, they are putting those millions that would have been spent on TV, into, you guessed it, a new online social media campaign.
What I love most about this change is that Pepsi is entering into the “transparency” world which exposes them to the vulnerabilities associated with Social Media. By opening the door to engage in conversation with their clients as opposed to simply talking at them through the television, Pepsi is demonstrating that they are willing to better listen to what their consumers like and want. I can only see this enhancing their ability to deliver, while saving tremendous amounts of money on the suits that try and figure out what their consumers want. Now Pepsi will be going straight to the horse’s mouth as it were. Who knows…maybe even the President of Pepsi will tweet with you.
Funny thing about change. Being both a constant and yet a source of great resistance for many people, it is, ultimately, something that when accepted creates both expansion and opportunity.
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I agree, Nick. It’s funny, one hears talk about “people moving online,” to which I keep responding, “I’ve got news for you: they’re already there.”
Even if it’s 10:20pm and they’re in their bedroom watching CSI Miami on their flat screen television, they’ve got their laptop signed-on to Facebook (or some other online channel) at the same time.
The beauty of social media…you can gain knowledge from the palm of your hand with smart phones and the different applications they offer. I can be with my children see an article, such as yours, pop-up and gather information right then and there. I so enjoy this direction we have taken.
Thanks for this great blog, Nick! Pepsi is listening to consumers. I’m curious to see who will follow.
Pepsi backing out of the Superbowl is huge news. People are going to want to know why. Where will they find their information? The internet. Pepsi is experiencing a win-win by pulling out. Genius.
Nick,
like you, I have been in the “helping clients make informed decisions” business for over 3 decades and have witnessed many transformational shifts in life and business. Change is the only constant so it seems to me that those that do not resist, and in fact embrace, these types of changes are the ones that thrive. Here’s to thriving!
I don’t even have TV – anything I watch, I get through the Internet through sites like Netflix or Hulu. This makes total sense to me. I bet that the number of businesses that switch to this model will rise exponentially over the next few years.
I too couldn’t agree more. I’m even writing this response on my phone while I wait for an appointment. Pretty amazing time we’re living in.
When a company as big as Pepsi figures it out, we have to guess that inevitably, more WILL follow. I will forward this post to all my clients as a reminder to why we need to be in front of the line. Thanks Nick!