Traditional ads make a comeback as digital fatigue grows

In the past decade, digital advertising saw massive surge, nearly gobbling up a lion’s share of the available media options. Redseer pegged the digital ad spend in the country at $8.8-9.3 billion in FY24.

Brands were almost seen putting all their eggs in one basket—allocating more and more resources to advertising on social media, search engines, and websites. However, this trend has begun to change.

Recently, a report in the Harvard Business Review suggested that for the first time in more than a decade, traditional advertising is back in fashion. Why? The increasing amount of time we spend online has started backfiring, adversely impacting the effectiveness of the digital medium.

Digital fatigue is draining consumers

In 2023, the average Indian spent a whopping six and a half hours online every day. This trend is showing no signs of letting up.

The digital medium lacks a curation mechanism. Too much content is incessantly being bombarded at us from platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, in addition to the search engines, websites, and apps. Given this information overload, obtaining valuable information is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Data shows that the retention of information consumed through digital media is much lower than that of physical media, such as offline reading. As a result, digital ads may not have the same recall value as physical ads.

Moreover, digital ads are increasingly becoming intrusive and overwhelming. For many people, frustration with digital ads is growing because it interferes with the content consumption. Our inboxes and browsers are cluttered with ads. The number of ads that cannot be skipped while watching a video is going through the roof. According to data collected by SurveyMonkey, 74% of users felt that there were too many ads on social media.

Why physical advertising is winning

Physical advertising now offers a breath of fresh air for marketers. Physical advertising is not just about selling a product, it is about giving the customer an experience. As reported by HBR, the digital-first brands have now started adding physical advertising to their marketing mix.

For instance, Swiggy sends flyers along with its deliveries. These flyers don’t hard sell but instead incorporate a fun element, creating an engaging experience for Swiggy’s customers.

During its Valentine’s Day campaign, the company sent the bios of vegetables including beetroot, karela (bitter gourd) and lauki (bottle gourd) like a fun dating app. The joke was that these veggies are the perpetual singles—as not many people like them. The campaign struck a chord with consumers and generated positive buzz for the brand.

Another case in point can be Zyyp, an electric mobility brand. Recently, the company came up with a novel campaign by placing its ads on its riders' helmets. This campaign also became an instant hit as it captured the consumers’ attention in no time.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Zypp Electric | Pollution Free Delivery (@zypp_electric)

The innovative use of physical media as shown in the examples above, succeeds in capturing attention. Unlike in the digital space, such advertisements do not have to fight tooth and nail for visibility. The amount of time that a person is exposed to a physical ad is also likely to be far greater than that of a digital ad—which may also be blocked, skipped, or simply ignored.

Data shows that traditional advertising media such as print or even flyers, are worth their salt when it comes to trust compared to online advertising. According to data by MarketingSherpa, 82% of consumers trust print ads compared to just 47% who trust an ad that appears before a video. There is also a growing concern about data sharing and privacy—another reason why digital ads attract a mistrustful lens.

Anything can be a medium

From water bottles to helmets to cars and bikes, anything can be considered an advertising medium today. In fact, collaborating with brands to show ads in such spaces can kill two birds with one stone—giving customers an experience they can choose to engage with and reducing the cost of goods and services for them.

Marketers can use physical media also for targeted hyperlocal messaging. Physical delivery of goods is now tracked digitally, making it easier for brands to get a pin code-level granularity in their targeted messaging.

The integration of QR codes, augmented reality (AR), and other such advanced technologies promises to transform physical advertising from a one-time consumption affair to a lasting consumer experience, going forward.

- Amitt Nenwani, co-founder, Wahter.