The Original Mad Man

AMC's wildly popular series Mad Men made a spectacular return with its fifth season debut this week. Apparently, Don Draper’s antediluvian approach to media and marketing (and toward life in general) has captured the American public’s imagination.  The payoff for making it through what many found to be an inordinate number of commercial interruptions during the show's second hour was heavy doses of unbridled sex (with a Chex-Mix twist), sexism with a hint of misogyny and a kinder-gentler Don Draper - a guy who proclaims that the client is always right (at least paying clients are).

Arguably the original Mad Man was not immersed in 1960’s Big Apple Go-Go culture. Over a century ago, Campbell-Ewald Advertising Agency Vice-President and native Philadelphian E. St. Elmo Lewis developed what is often referred to as the AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action) Marketing Model to provide insurance industry clients with greater insight into the basis for consumer buying decisions.

In modern media and marketing terms, Lewis’ model is now known as the Purchase Funnel.

The concept of associating the “funnel” model with the AIDA concept was first advanced in 1924 by (Investment Bankers Association of America) author William W. Townsend in his book Bond Salesmanship.

More recently, the introduction of disruptive new technology has driven massive modifications in consumer purchase patterns. Most buying decisions today are based on our use of the Internet as a “utility” - first for purposes of research and often ultimately for fulfillment.

The Lewis / Townsend model is still a useful guide for marketing campaigns targeting the distinctly defined stages of the consumer’s path from awareness to purchase. Even in the rush to redirect marketing dollars toward social media, the Purchase Funnel continues to be widely deployed as the basis for developing successful customer relationship management (CRM) programs. AdAge on line has some insightful analysis.

Consider the irrefutable fact that there is no discernible barrier to entry for an endless stream of competition in the digital media universe. All it takes is a unique user friendly experience for a virtually unheard of start-up to dethrone a market leader (think MySpace and Facebook or Google versus Yahoo). The rapid proliferation of Internet utility service companies targeting consumers is creating huge marketing challenges - not the least of which involve privacy concerns and audience fragmentation issues.

So, how does a business most effectively cut through the clutter to ensure success at the critical initial Awareness Stage in the Purchase Funnel?

Research and experience dictate designing a marketing plan involving both digital and legacy media components. Put simply: the so-called legacy media (broadcast in particular) still represent the most cost effective way to fill the Purchase Funnel hopper with an abundant source of highly-motivated customer prospects (sales leads).

The inimitable capability to reach huge numbers of demographically-specific targeted audiences make radio and television perfectly suited to facilitate the commencement of an engagement process that results in the successful conversion of highly qualified leads into customers.

Digital media services are bought based on impressions and CPM; broadcast efficiencies are determined on the basis of GRP's and CPP. A business’ revenue grows exponentially to its marketing and promotion investment strategy. All are inextricably and measurably interrelated by simple math.

What are your thoughts?