Fear Not the Ad Avoiders

Ripped from today's headlines: a shock to the system....Some People Hate Ads!

Big deal. Starcomm and Microsoft have released a report (detailed on Mediaweek) profiling the 15% of the world that does not like and avoids advertising.

"This is the kind of stuff that keeps us up at night" someone from Microsoft was quoted as saying. That is not only an over-reaction, but also missing the key point of advertising.

The point of advertising is not to get people to look at advertising. The point of advertising is to sell stuff, either right away, or at some future date. Advertising an instrument, and generally a blunt one at that. It's not that these people don't buy things (clearly, many are buying technologies that allow them to avoid ads, such as Tivos and Satellite Radios).

Advertisers need to always understand what their role is: move people toward purchase. It is entirely possible that is going to happen at a site that a person chooses to visit...not during a commercial they have been coerced into watching.