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When you think of an advertisement, what comes to mind? A billboard? A piece of junk mail? A commercial? Maybe it's a banner at the top of your screen or a logo on the basketball court. Maybe it's the announcer of that basketball game stating that something is releasing soon and you should go buy it. Advertisement come in all shapes and sizes, and unless you actively go seeking them out or you are watching the Superbowl, they are pretty much universally hated.
What is there to like about them? Be it an image, a video, an announcement, or anything in between, most ads rely on shoving a logo or product in your face and asking for your attention. We all agree that they are typically annoying, so much so that paid services exist to remove ads be it a third party or a service itself offering a "Premium" version of itself (or you can be Netflix and ask for money while still throwing ads in viewer's faces). And yet if you talk to any marketing personal at any company, the discussion eventually revolves around to why advertising is important and how they can advertise without looking like they're doing so.
Advertisements are an entity that we certainly won't be escaping anytime soon. They're baked into corporate and business culture, and those are definitely here to stay. Advertisements are a business' way of putting itself out there, and everything from the delivery to the medium to the colours speak to what that business is about. A business can build a reputation on advertisements, and in many ways, it can act as a first "Hello" to prospective business partners. It would make sense then that this first "Hello" leave a good impression. You only get one first impression after all, and you want to be remembered and remembered well.
Enter the advertiser friendly spaces. These are areas of the real and digital world that businesses want to be seen. It all comes back to image. But you can't stand out among hundreds of other advertisers unless you get truly creative (and let's be honest, not everyone has the money or talent to be that creative). The safe bet is to just find a new space. They're popping up all the time, and there will always be new ones to jump on. They're important, but they're also taking over pretty much everything at this point. And that's not necessarily a good thing.
So what is an advertiser friendly space? How are these spaces growing in number and is that a good thing? And what happens for advertisers that go for the so-called "Unfriendly" spaces?
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Our brand loves puppies
An advertiser friendly space is simply anywhere a business would love to put their logo or likeness if given the chance. Seems simple enough, but it gets more complex the longer you think about it. It all comes back to brand association, and what this safe space looks like varies from company to company. Take for example a paid MMA fight. This event is going to attract a certain demographic (I don't think I need to elaborate on this). There are advertisements at these events and lots of them. Everything from the ring to the banners to the clothes to the items the athletes carry has a corporation's logo stamped on them. You can argue that there is some element of awareness as far as what product will appeal to the audience paying for the event, but do you think a skin care product wants to showcase their logo on the floor of an arena where people beat on each other for minutes at a time? I would say probably not. It's not an advertiser friendly space for that company.
Here's another example...
Go to Youtube and find a video that is monetized. Depending on the video you select, you will likely get an advertisement that is tailored to that video in some way. Again, maybe some influence in terms of demographics. At the same time, if you take a Call of Duty video game trailer and ask a company that makes baby formula if they want the ad space, they will likely give it a pass. Some companies simply don't want to be associated with a video where limbs will be violently blown off, digital or otherwise (I sure hope it's digital you weirdo, that's gross).
Before we move on, let's pause for a moment. As I just glazed over, what about that really gross video. Sure there's entertainment in a video game, but is there content that crosses the line and becomes non-friendly for advertisers? Of course there is! The thing with some content is that it's way too "R Rated" to attract any companies that want to stamp their logo on it. There is such a thing as bad publicity after all. Some videos (hosted by entities such as Youtube) can become de-monetized if they are deemed not advertiser friendly. The reasons can vary and appear seemingly small; doing things like discussing ongoing modern wars can get a video deemed unfriendly to advertisers on the platform if you're not careful. Other reasons... much more obvious.
To summarize, advertiser friendly spaces are anywhere that is not considered controversial or which will not cause damage to the brand image. Do either of those things and other companies may not want to be your friend.
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Only happiness allowed
Understandably, there is only a limited amount of space that can be used for advertisements. There is only so much space on a board and so many videos that can be watched before you simply run out of real estate. Companies can compete against each other in an attempt to buy this valuable space (some of these spaces ARE that valuable) but it would simply be easier to just go find a new area to use. This has created a demand for advertiser friendly spaces, and the business world has gone to great lengths to try and make as many as possible.
On the surface, this can be viewed as a good thing. More advertiser friendly spaces signals that somewhere is improving or already of good quality. If it's good enough for a company to place a logo, it's good enough for me! Right?
This train of thought only works if you think of it as black and white. If an advertiser friendly space is good, then one that ads won't appear is bad. This is the wrong way to approach it, and a shift to only having advertiser friendly spaces is not necessarily a great thing. Remember, what is considered an ad friendly space is a spectrum and will vary from company to company. Some businesses may find their target demographic in these conventionally "unfriendly" spaces.
The greatest loss comes from what we stand to lose by introducing only advertiser friendly areas. Advertisements often mean monetization for creators, be it videos, websites, or billboards. This means playing by the rules of what advertisers want is important for the bottom line, but it also means advertisers set the bar that needs to be met. If advertisers don't like what they see, they'll take their money elsewhere. Some scenarios may never be expected to host ads, but having a system that punishes only certain types of videos, content, or areas of town isn't good either. It actively kills creativity, making everything feel the exact same and watering down individuality in terms of what gets put out into the world. Why be original when originality isn't profitable?
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The danger zone
There are still the risk takers among the corporate crowd, and I'm not talking people. Some businesses thrive off of a little danger and risk. It's part of their brand identity and a largely shared interest of those in their target demographic. Putting an ad on the side of an arena where people go fight each other? Perfect! Sponsoring a shooting range competition? Excellent! Controversial topic on a video? That's basically what our movie (or game, or tv show) is about! There are certainly companies that live and thrive in this advertiser grey area, but it has its downsides too.
The business landscape isn't all that different from the one we experience everyday as individuals. We all have people we like (heck, some we even consider friends) and we have those that we don't. We have mortal enemies, direct competitors, people we keep around because they know others that you can connect with, and everything in between. This is the exact same for businesses. The difference is that there is a substantially large amount of money being thrown around, and millions can be made and lost depending on who your "friends" are. How does this tie into advertising? Let me explain...
If two companies have a shared interest in existing in the "advertiser unfriendly zone", they are likely to encounter less competition overall, but are also likely to encounter each other since the proverbial room is emptier. If the companies are not directly competing against each other, there is a lot of incentive to work together and promote each other. They exist in the same space, target the same audience, and are more or less invested in each other's success. It makes sense that these businesses would form a sort of friendship.
This sort of deal-making is not possible with companies that don't want to exist in these spaces. The decision to move into the advertiser unfriendly space is one of profit versus social acceptance. You are potentially driving higher profits due to an untapped market, but you are risking the potential ability to network with other companies that wouldn't share your interests. With so many companies tangled amongst each other on so many levels, cutting off one company because of perception could have massive implications down the line. As the space becomes more unfriendly to advertise within, the fewer businesses you'll find to compete against, but there are also fewer opportunities to connect with other businesses which means fewer openings for business deals and partnerships. What matters more... money or friends? That's the question that entering these spaces brings up.
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This is my safe space
Advertisement space is becoming increasingly valuable and the spaces that it can exist within are in higher demand than ever. Creating more spaces is the next logical step to keep costs down, but it can come at the detriment of those spaces, especially if the businesses advertising and the general population disagree on what the space should look like. The increase in advertiser friendly space is just one arm of the ever-advancing marketing machine that exists in the 2020s and joins some of the other initiatives and tactics that have come to the surface as of recently. The online success of a business now depends more than ever on "SEO", and it may not be long before you are required to watch or see even more of them.
Businesses have found strength in numbers and are functionally not unlike people in this way. Making friends and having a support network is vital, and companies large and small must abide by this rule to find long-term success. Reliance on each other for publicity and marketing is one of these benefits, and as more companies are forced to cooperate within advertiser friendly spaces, we may begin to see those that don't play nice in the sandbox begin to struggle. No one wants to be seen with the "bad crowd" except the "bad crowd". What remains to be seen is just how far advertisements can be pushed and how many of them people are willing to tolerate.
~IR
Does the business you work for run advertisements in "safe spaces"? Have you noticed advertisements that seem out of place given where they pop up? Or maybe you just have a comment to add? Check out the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn page and let everyone know. Don't forget to follow or like the page for updates! And share this article if you feel others should give it a read!
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