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A keynote address at a recent advertising conference was titled “Creative — it ain’t what it used to be.” The basic focus of the address was that a big bad world of hurt was coming down on advertisers in the form of viral marketing, mobile content, my pages, and who knows what else. Adapt, improvise, overcome, if I might quote Gunny Highway.

“Ads that seek out consumers will fail,” said moderator Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer and OMMA East master of ceremonies. “Consumers should seek out the ad. Because of AOS, or advertising overload syndrome, we need to create a new paradigm for advertising.”

Of course, the one thing that the ad guys picked up on was “it should be fun.” I guess if I worked for an industry known for stuff like “don’t squeeze the Charmin” and any number of other goofy jingles and imagery, and someone came along and said, “Wow, you guys are about to be as relevant as the telegraph in this new age”, my response would probably be: “Nuh-uh! See, I can make fun little videos that you and all your friends can share using your cell phones.”

Oy! So basically it’s Madison Avenue transferred to the teeny tiny screen.

Do they work? Will they be spread around? OF COURSE THEY WILL BE! That’s not the point we should be addressing. The point of marketing is to sell, sell, SELL. Are these viral videos selling stuff–product, service, brand? We don’t know.

The Coke Zero ads were written for a new no-calorie Coke that claims to taste the same as Coke. The agency created a couple of 30-second ad spots that starred nerdy Coke scientists working on coming up with secret formulas.

These ads were followed up by an online video series of fake litigation between the Coke brand and the Coke Zero brand, a deposition in which the originator feels so threatened by the new flavor that it wants to take the secondary brand to court for stealing its thunder. There was a huge viral spread of these comedic episodes, which Mr. Porter attributed to the fun that people are looking for on the Internet.

Read it all here.

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