Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders
Let’s face it: business-to-business advertising can be pretty dreadful, even if the businesses are targeting marketers.
Don’t tell that to Adobe. It’s continuing to do innovative work with its “Metrics Not Myths” campaign from Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Coming on the heels of its funny “BS Detector” video, it has an Onion column that lampoons the digital media industry. The Onion’s “advertising columnist” Hammond Morris’ “Please Click on Our Website’s Banner Ads” makes the persuasive case that online publishing, journalism, hell, the Internet as a whole is all just about having a canvas for ads. But the real kicker here is that this is part of a branded content campaign for Adobe. That’s some next level stuff right there.
Morris unabashedly skips the whole “dog-and-pony show here where I pretend that this column exists as a forum for ideas, and that I act as an independent voice who isn’t beholden to advertisers,” and just straight up asks his readers to click on any of the ads that surround his article, which happen to be Adobe ads. Because, as Morris lays it out, all publishers on the Web are just sticking text online as a vehicle for ads in order to get those Benjamins at the end of the day. Preferably in stacks, as Morris puts it.
Plus one for honesty, Mr. Morris and The Onion! Read the full article, and do Morris and Adobe a solid and just click.
More in Marketing
By the numbers: Wall Street’s tough assessment of ad tech
Big Tech continues to dominate digital growth, triggering a Wall Street exodus, but are returns imminent?
CMOs are struggling to link AI visibility with sales
Brands are spending on tools that rate their visibility within LLM responses and AI search, but proving the commercial impact of GEO remedies isn’t easy.
Lifestyle brand Stanley 1913 adapts its marketing for the AI search era
The marketing it was doing worked well, but only for a human audience. The brand needed different approaches to ensure it was picked up by the AI platforms.