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美国喜剧艺人杰里•塞恩菲尔德(Jerry
Seinfeld)总是设法搞笑。但在他为美国运通(American
Express)所做新网络广告的首映式上，他与新闻界打趣时，却对数字媒体时代广告发展趋势提出了一个非常严肃的观点。
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Jerry
Seinfeld was trying to be funny. But as he bantered with the press
at the premiere of his new internet commercial for American
Express, he made a decidedly serious point about the direction of
advertising in the age of digital media.
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这则广告是一部片长4分钟的“网络剧集”(webisode)，由曾获奥斯卡奖的美国电影导演巴里•莱文森(Barry
Levinson)执导。在广告中，塞恩菲尔德先生和他的动画搭档超人(Superman)被刻画成两个神经质的纽约人。他们抱怨金枪鱼三明治中的蛋黄酱太多，自己安装了一台DVD播放机，还去观看一场虚构的百老汇音乐喜剧《啊，怀俄明州》(Oh
Yes, Wyoming)，这部戏滑稽透了。
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The
advertisement - a four-minute "webisode" directed by
Barry Levinson, the Academy Award-winning film-maker - depicts Mr
Seinfeld and his animated buddy, Superman, as neurotic New
Yorkers. The two complain about excessive mayonnaise in their tuna
sandwiches, install a DVD player and attend a fictional Broadway
musical comedy - the wickedly camp Oh Yes, Wyoming.
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一路上，塞恩菲尔德先生和超人发现了美国运通卡的好处。该片的广告信息直截了当，最终以插科打诨结束。这是个商业广告，但感觉上却像其它东西，用塞恩菲尔德先生的话说，它给人以“电影式”的体验，而这就是关键所在。
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Along
the way, Mr Seinfeld and Superman discover the benefits of an
American Express card. But the advertising message is delivered
quickly and the piece ends with a gag. It is a commercial that
feels like something else - a "cinematic" experience in
Mr Seinfeld's words - and that is the point.
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“这部片子里不会穿插商业广告，”塞恩菲尔德先生上月说，“因为它就是个商业广告。”他在说这番话时面。
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"This
isn't going to be interrupted with commercials," Mr Seinfeld
dead- panned last month, "because it is a commercial."
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广告商正转向这类反讽、间接的营销手段，因为它们已变得战战兢兢。作为它们传统兵器库中的主要武器，30秒电视广告正逐渐丧失威力。如今收看电视的人比以前少了，即使是那些看的人，也能利用数码录像机来快进，跳过广告。
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Advertisers
are turning to this kind of ironic, indirect marketing approach
because they are running scared. The main weapon in their
traditional arsenal - the 30-second network television commercial
- is losing its punch. Fewer people are watching network
television and those that do can fast-forward past the commercials
by using digital video recorders.
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很多年轻人，特别是年轻男士，似乎已抛弃了电视，投身电脑游戏或寻求网络（包括色情网站）的乐趣。其它人则是“同时执行多任务”型，他们边用电脑边看电视。要在这种嘈杂的环境中传递营销信息，这是一份只有广告超人（或一位塞恩菲尔德先生）才配承担的工作。
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Many
younger people, particularly young men, seem to have abandoned
television for computer games or the pleasures of the net -
including pornography. Others are "multi-tasking" -
using computers and TV at the same time. Delivering marketing
messages in the midst of this hubbub is a job worthy of an
advertising Superman - or a Mr Seinfeld.
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“你不可能指望这些观众粘在椅子上，”Tribal
DDB北美地区首席执行官马特•弗里曼(Matt Freeman)说，“你必须创造出一些东西来吸引他们，更多的是要去‘拉’(pull)而不是去‘推’(push)。”Tribal
DDB是奥姆尼康(Omnicom)旗下的互动营销机构。
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"You
can't count on this captive audience just [being] duct-taped to
the chair," says Matt Freeman, chief executive of Tribal DDB
North America, an interactive marketing agency that is part of
Omnicom. "You have to create something that draws them in -
which is pull rather than push."
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WPP旗下伦敦明略行(Millward
Brown)全球媒体评估执行副总裁布赖恩•雅各布(Brian
Jacobs)认为，“拦截式营销” "interruptive
marketing"时代正让位于某种“允诺式营销”(
permission marketing)时代。他表示，广告客户得学习与观众对话。
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Brian
Jacobs, executive vice-president for global media evaluation at
WPP's Millward Brown in London, believes that an era of
"interruptive marketing" is giving way to one of
"permission marketing". He says advertisers have to
learn to engage in conversation.
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“拦截式营销完全就是指从报纸版面或电视屏幕上向人们呼喊，从而介入人们的日常生活。这种手段极具侵略性：如果你向他们呼喊的时间够长，他们就会购买你的产品来让你闭嘴。”
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"Interruptive
marketing is all about interrupting people's daily lives by
yelling at them from the pages of a newspaper or a television
screen. It's all very aggressive: if you yell at them long enough,
they will buy to get you to stop."
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新方式并不表明30秒电视广告的终结。尽管目标受众少了，但广告客户购买美国网络电视时间的花费却上升了。电视时间具有经济学家所谓的稀缺价值。
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This
new order hardly signals the end of the 30-second network
commercial. Advertisers are paying higher prices for US network
time even though they are reaching fewer viewers. Network time has
what economists call scarcity value.
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“这仍是你能获得最多观众的渠道，”WPP旗下奥美广告(Ogilvy
& Mather)首席执行官夏兰泽(Shelly Lazarus)说，“所有关于一种媒体将取代另一种媒体的预言都是错误的。”奥美广告制作了上述由塞恩菲尔德先生出演的广告。
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"It's
still the largest audience you can get," says Shelly Lazarus,
chief executive of WPP's Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency,
which worked on the commercial starring Mr Seinfeld. "All
these predictions of one medium supplanting another are
fallacious."
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相反，美国运通之类的公司正努力把传统广告手段与新途径相结合。以上述塞恩菲尔德为主角的广告为例，设计该广告就是旨在测试互联网、电视和“口头传播”广告之间的相互影响。
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Instead,
companies such as American Express are working to marry
traditional advertising with new approaches. The campaign
featuring Mr Seinfeld, for example, has been designed to test the
interaction between internet, TV and "word-of-mouth"
advertising.
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美国运通正在播放一个15秒的电视广告，该广告指点观众去看公司的网站。一上这个网站，观众就会发现上述4分钟的广告片、该广告的拍摄花絮，以及诱人的电视“广告短片”，还有网络剧集中塞恩菲尔德先生公寓的摹制品，观众可在电脑鼠标的帮助下参观浏览。
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American
Express is running 15-second television commercials that direct
viewers to its website. Once there, viewers will be able to find
the four-minute feature, outtakes from the filming, the television
"teasers" and a replica of Mr Seinfeld's webisode
apartment that they can tour with the aid of their computer mouse.
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美国运通首席营销官约翰•海斯(John
Hayes)表示，公司将对电视广告如何影响其网站上的活动进行测算。公司还能看出，有多少人使用他人提供的链接来观看那部4分钟广告片，这是衡量口头广告影响力的一个指标。
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John
Hayes, chief marketing officer at American Express, says the
company will be measuring how the television advertisements
influence activity at its site. The company will also be able to
see how many people view the four-minute feature using links
supplied by others - a gauge of word-of-mouth impact.
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美国运通将在5月发布超人和塞恩菲尔德先生冒险历程的新剧集。在初夏之前，公司将准备调整该广告宣传活动。如果公司发现电视广告能将消费者带到网站上，那它就有可能购买更多的电视广告时间。如果口头传播证明有效，那么美国运通就将投入旨在创造“轰动效应”的病毒式营销(viral
marketing)攻势。如果没人真正在意，那美国运通将不得不另觅良策。
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American
Express will unveil a new episode of the adventures of Superman
and Mr Seinfeld in May. By early summer, it will be in a position
to adjust the campaign. If it finds TV advertisements are bringing
consumers to the site, it might buy more television time. If
word-of-mouth proves effective, American Express could engage in
viral marketing campaigns designed to create "buzz". If
no one really cares, American Express will have to consider
something else.
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“从短期来看，这是个尝试和学习的过程，”海斯先生说，“其结果对于确定我们下一步的去向至关重要。”
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"In
the short term, it's about trying and learning," Mr Hayes
says. "The results will be critical to where we go
next."
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消费者对公司将广告与娱乐相混合的做法会作出什么反应，这将是美国运通特别关注的问题。广告客户渴望模糊商业广告与其它沟通形式（比如置入式广告或杂志上的广告区域）之间的界线，但消费者是否会接受这些策略仍然让人吃不准。
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American
Express will pay particular attention to how consumers respond to
its mixture of advertising and entertainment. Advertisers are keen
to blur the lines between commercials and other forms of
communication, - such as product placement or advertising sections
in magazines - but consumer acceptance of these tactics remains in
doubt.
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“只有在一种情况下，消费者会容忍将商业行为和艺术混合起来的做法，那就是这种混合方式能让消费者开心，”海斯先生说，“关键是要找到这种混合方式。”
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"The
only way the consumer will tolerate any blending of commercialism
and art is if it gives them entertainment," Mr Hayes says.
"It's about finding this blend."
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事实上，许多互联网广告营销活动还处在初级阶段，因此很难预测它们对传统广告业的最终影响。2003年第四季度，美国的在线广告支出激增38%，但帮助投下这些资金的公司高管表示，他们认为，其中大部分增幅并不是以牺牲传统媒体广告为代价。
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The
fact that so many internet campaigns are in their early stages
makes it hard to predict their ultimate impact on traditional
advertising. US Online advertising expenditure soared 38 per cent
in the fourth quarter of 2003, but executives who helped route
that money say they doubt much of the rise came at the expense of
traditional media.
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“以我们的经验来看，数字营销(digital
marketing)侵蚀传统营销预算的例子非常非常少，”Havas集团子公司Euro
RSCG 4D的首席执行官乔治•加拉特(George Gallate)说，“数字营销的效力与传统营销（的效力）一并提高。”
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"There
are very, very few examples in our experience where digital
marketing has cannibalised the traditional marketing
budgets," says George Gallate, chief executive of Euro RSCG
4D, which is part of the Havas group. "The effectiveness of
the digital marketing goes up with [the] traditional."
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加拉特先生表示，广告客户正在转向互联网，因为网络给他们一个传递有针对性信息的途径。他说，这种动机同样也可能有助于某些种类的报纸和杂志。“高品质的出版物将受益，因为他们面向特定的读者。”
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Mr
Gallate says advertisers are turning to the internet because it
gives them a way to deliver targeted messages. He says the same
motivation could help certain kinds of newspapers and magazines.
"Quality publications benefit because they are going to
specific audiences," he says.
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要掌握数码时代越来越复杂的营销手段，对广告客户来说会很困难。可供选择的方式多得让人眼花缭乱。例如，随着网络广告费用回升，一些业界高管正在宣传移 动电话的潜力。
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The
difficulty for advertisers will be in mastering the growing
complexity of marketing in the digital age. The number of options
is dizzying. As internet advertising spending picks up, for
example, some industry executives are touting the potential of
cell-phones.
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“尚未被发现的‘新’新媒介……也是大众媒介，是另一些我们每天使用的互动设备，例如电话，”弗里曼先生说。
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"The
'new' new medium . . . also mass, which is undiscovered, is the
other interactive devices that we use every day - phones, for
example," says Mr Freeman.
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拥有更多可供支配的武器，并不意味着广告客户能将这些武器用好。互联网就是个例证。网络是“允诺式”营销的理想媒介。但广告客户使用弹出窗口和垃圾邮件之类令人讨厌的技术，已激起消费者的对抗性反应。
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Having
more weapons at their disposal hardly means that advertisers will
use them well. The internet is an example. The web is an ideal
medium for "permission" marketing. But advertisers have
triggered a consumer backlash with such obnoxious techniques as
pop-up ads and e-mail spam.
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“网民将告诉你这整个就是侵扰，”Interpublic旗下广告公司罗威国际(Lowe
Worldwide)的媒体董事总经理迈克尔•奈斯(Michael
Neiss)说，“如果有人闯进我家，我会叫警察。”
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"The
internet people will tell you it's all about intrusion," says
Michael Neiss, managing media director at Interpublic's Lowe
Worldwide advertising agency. "If I have an intruder in my
home, I call the cops."
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Group
M负责WPP的媒体规划业务，公司首席执行官欧文•戈特利布(Irwin
Gotlieb)表示，广告客户也得抗拒诱惑，不要变得聪明过头：将特殊信息过于精确地瞄准消费者。“究竟精确性多大才实用，我们必须抱现实的态度，”他说，“如果要到买得起奔驰车时，你才第一次听说有这种车，那就太晚了。”
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Advertisers
will also have to avoid the temptation of getting too cute -
targeting consumers too precisely with particular messages, says
Irwin Gotlieb, chief executive of GroupM, which manages WPP's
media planning operations. "We have to be realistic about how
much precision is practical," he says. "If the first
time you heard about a Mercedes was when you could afford one, it
would be too late."
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最后，营销服务公司必须小心自己的时间。应付更大的复杂性有一个风险：公司最终也许要做更多工作，才能赚到和以前同样的钱。换言之，把广告做得更让消费者开心，也许最终会令那些安排营销活动的人生活更无趣。
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Ultimately,
marketing services companies will have to be careful with their
own time. There is a risk in managing greater complexity:
companies might wind up doing more work to make the same money.
Making advertising more entertaining for consumers, in other
words, could wind up making life less fun for the people who put
together marketing campaigns.
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译者/李功文
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