13 Feb When Media Buying Goes Too Far

Part of having an integrated marketing campaign is buy media. That means ad space in print, broadcast, radio, Internet – essentially anywhere where a consumer can see your message. The good thing about media buying is that, as advertisers, we can get creative. Why shell out $4.5 million when you can achieve the same market conversion for $100 with target, well-placed media buys?

However, sometimes advertisers just plain miss the mark. Take the latest issue of Forbes for example:

That black box in the right column? Yup, that’s an ad. And it’s caused some rather intense backlash, especially on Twitter. Just search Forbes magazine and you’ll be sure to see all sorts of responses on the cover… most of them negative.

A few of the strongest comments even suggests that with this ad sell Forbes has not only sold space, but integrity.

140 characters can hurt.