Business Week has an article about letting users of social networks rate advertising through the use of things like StumbleUpon.
While social networks is a great way to reach a segmented audience there are a hitch that I think have not been addressed. There have been countless ads for products that, at the end of the 30 seconds, you think “Wow, that was cool. What was it for?”
The boon for advertisers is the chance to “go viral”. There a loads of good viral ads. One of my favorites is this one of Ronaldinho.
I love this ad, but I have no desire to go buy a pair of shoes. When a company is as large as Nike, they can afford to not get the big returns. They can afford to hit that tiny segment. Most companies cannot afford this.
The bottom line for businesses is the almighty dollar. If a campaign get a millions hits, but no one remembers to buy your product it is worthless. Advertisers might try to tell you that their building brand equity but the truth is, you can’t pay your staff with brand equity.