Why digital advertising doesn't work.

Picture the scene. You've found something to watch on You Tube. You've got popcorn, a comfy seat and headphones on. You're ready to go.

And then an ad for something you've never heard of arrives on the screen. Know that feeling? Know how that five seconds waiting to be able to click on "skip this ad" can feel like an eternity? We all do.

And yet, all over the world, spending by companies on this type of advertising. as well those annoying programmatic pop ups reminding you that you were going to rent a car a few weeks ago is going through the roof. Same goes for old style banner advertising that nobody clicks on or those incredibly annoying ads in your email inbox that makes it clear they're spying on you. Newsflash. None of it works.

Having worked in media and advertising for nearly thirty years, I've never known anything like it. I'm hearing high street advertising agencies try to convince my client that a 3% response rate is somehow a good thing, when actually it means that in the days of the most precise targeting and behvioural tools we have ever had, 97% of people weren't interested. Mad Men indeed.

Years ago, advertising in media worked when the only place to buy a house or car or get a job was through an ad in the local paper. Advertising on blockbuster TV worked when you could guarantee that millions of people were watching. Especially in the days before remote controls.

It's different now. Yet every new media owner is desperately trying to cram advertising into their content since they haven't worked out a way to charge for the content itself. Newspapers and magazines are closing all over the world for one simple reason. It doesn't work.

And yet, new media offers clever businesses unique and powerful ways of reaching their customers. Some of our clients have saved 90% on their research budgets by using social media as a listening tool. We've got a client with 40,000 customers on a database who they email offers to each week that see immediate returns through the tills. Real cash money. That's the best return on investment.

We've helped build user communities that help refine new products and subscription models that drive brand extensions, all through collecting names from websites and mail. And we've spent a few dollars above the line ensuring that clients websites can be seen with Google searches. If you can't beat em, join em.

But one thing we never, ever do is book ads. Not pop ups or programmatic, pre rolls or any other fancy new gimmick. For the same reasons that P&G just pulled a breathtaking $100m out of their digital advertising budget, we've come to a simple conclusion based on the fact that we've never met anyone who doesn't choose to "skip ad".

There's so many ways to market your business using digital tools. Its what we do. But take a tip from a media veteran....Digital advertising doesn't work.