Crazy Eddie...gone but, not forgotten.

For anyone who grew up in the New York Metropolitan area in the 1970s and 1980s you may remember the most obnoxious and successful ad campaign ever.  Crazy Eddie was a discount electronic store.  They were like Best Buy but smaller and without the dignity.  If you tried to get up during a television commercial break you couldn't escape the screaming of the character who told you how low the prices were for the weekly specials.  "CRAZY EDDIE IS INSANE! HE'S PRACTICALLY GIVING IT ALL AAAWWWAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!"  The owner of the chain, his name really was Eddie, did declare bankruptcy along with other financial problems. 

Crazy Eddy epitomized interruption marketing.  You were forced to hear the message whether you liked it or not.  Fortunately, that was last century.  We still have network television advertising.  But, those networks are a bit more humble.  First came choice (900 channels or more), then came conversation and engagement as companies are slowly relinquishing control of the message.

I have been a B2B marketer for my entire career. Twenty years ago I would have a sales person from a trade magazine tell me that they have a circulation of 100,000+  therefore, my quarter page ad on page 89 is getting 100,000 impressions for a low CPM...no it wasn't.  Who reads a trade publication cover to cover as well as the ads? if you do, just don't tell your supervisor right before a review.  If the ad is relevant and effective it will catch my attention if I happen to open to that page and I'm not in a hurry to a meeting or have another deadline to meet...

In the world of internet marketing and social media it is not about mass market impressions and advertising.  It is about relevant information to a well defined segment that want's the information you have.  As someone said,  we are no longer advertisers we are publishers.

CPM was always a vague leap of faith for most non-mega budget marketers.  Call to actions and clickthroughs are more meaningful.  Advertising is about holding your attention to make you watch or listen.  Social media is about engagement with a community.  These communities often become self-defining markets because they opt in.  As Seth Godin would say, it is 'Permission Marketing.'

In a world of engagement, actions speak loud enough.  You don't have to scream. And, if you capture the Voice of the Customer, you don't even have to 'GIVE IT ALL AWAY'.