Synopsis: Context and Content (and not really length) matters. When reviewing content or advertising, length is now one of the least important factors. It used to be content was long and advertising was short and it had to be that way. Now we get soundbytes of content. Does this mean that advertising should be longer? Absolutely not.
A blogger I respect and read religiously is Seth Godin. He posted “Longer and Shorter” today, talking about how content length was getting shorter and now, conversely, advertising can get longer.
In fact it was a post by him that got me to finally check out the Washington Post article I blogged recently about Joshua Bell’s Metro performance, even though I had seen it at least 10 times before. Why did I finally take a look at it? Because someone I respected had succinctly described the impact it made on him and I felt compelled on that second-hand recommendation to take a look at it for myself.
The other day I went and watched a pretty long commercial about Kodak, even through the beginning when it took a while to get to the point. Why? Another blogger that I follow and have liked previously had recomended it.
I left both experiences feeling satisfied with my expenditure of time. Why? Well, people I respected had recommended both items, so that got me to look at them in the first place. And, the content for both pieces was pretty compelling and thought provoking. Result? My perception of both bloggers, Kodak and the Washington Post went up and I felt like I had made good use of my time.
Seth comments that advertising should be making their ads longer and bigger. Take up more space because it’s available! I say that the same things that make ads (or content for that matter) successful STILL hold true. We look at the ads in the Superbowl because there is an expectation that the ads are going to be better than normal. CONTEXT.
If the ads don’t hold up to expectations (as is the case in several of the superbowls right after the dot-bust) our respect of the referring source AND the company who actually created the ads goes down. CONTENT. Having one without the other doesn’t help. You can have the best content or ad in the world and if no-one knows about it or is referred from trusted sources, you’re likely to have a looong haul. Likewise if you create crappy content or ads and you buy the best placement money can buy, you won’t receive alot of goodwill from it.
Where does the length of something actually start to matter? I guess if you never get to the point, or you never get your point across effectively it’s too long or too short. But really, you shouldn’t concentrate on length – concentrate on getting knowledgable, trusted individuals to review and recommend your work, and work on making the content as appealing as possible. If anything, the internet has changed the breadth of content available – making our time more and more valuable. To wit, I never had as much angst choosing WHAT I was going to read during the time I have allotted as I do now. There is just a HUGE amount of information (and ads for that matter) out there.
Seth is right about one thing. Length is no longer the obstacle it used to be. Advertising no longer needs to be constrained to 30 seconds. But I contend that length was never typically the real obstacle. Getting revolutionary ideas and information and getting it in front of the right people always was.
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