Journalist Matt Creamer has been writing about media and marketing for more than six years. He currently is an editor for Advertising Age and writes about digital and social media and the future of marketing. In this interview with Perspectives, he shares his thoughts on what works and what doesn't work in digital marketing.

An Interview With Ad Age's Matt Creamer
With Matt Creamer, Senior Editor, Advertising Age
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Perspectives: Many companies still are trying to figure out the best ways to include digital media in their marketing strategies. Can you share two or three examples of companies that have been effective and why you think their campaigns worked?

Creamer: Wal-Mart and Johnson & Johnson are becoming sources of information online. Wal-mart's Web site offers tips and advice for consumers on ways to save more, and Johnson & Johnson's Baby.com site provides advice on how to raise a newborn. Both of those show how marketers can use Web sites to become resources for consumers. It's not just about advertising; it's about becoming useful sources of valuable information. That engenders brand loyalty. Being a resource is huge in digital marketing because it's so easy for consumers to ignore the ads online. The brands that are most successful online are the ones that are providing destinations for information — or some other useful experience. You can't rely on banner ads and pop-ups if you want people to truly engage with your brand online.

Perspectives: Breaking through the clutter has been a long-standing issue for marketers. What impact has the increased use of digital media had on this issue? Has it made it more or less of a challenge?

Creamer: Given that the idea is to get your message to consumers, it hasn't helped. The Internet has put more and more distractions into the mix and it will continue to do so, making it more and more challenging. That's broader than marketing – it's a societal issue. It's very difficult to expect that any one message is going to cut through. It happens, but it's rare.

Perspectives: What are two or three missteps that you've seen marketers make in the digital media space? And how were they able to overcome them?

Creamer: A few years back, Wal-Mart hired bloggers to write positive things about the company and didn't disclose that fact. The brand took a lot of hits for that, but since then it has done a pretty good job of atoning for its sins in digital marketing. What they are doing now is very transparent — a very simple, clear marketing program. Importantly, the company is bringing messages to consumers in a way that overlaps with its business. It's not very sexy; it's just simple.

As far as missteps go, there are sins of commission (or abuse of trust), as in Wal-Mart's case, and there are sins of omission (or neglect), where companies just don't pay attention to what's going on online. They don't use the Internet to test-market or even to gather information. I think that still goes on too much, though most are figuring out that you really need to be out there.

Perspectives: Commercial messages within social networking sites like Facebook can be a turnoff for users. How do you think companies can best use social networking sites to promote their brands?

Creamer: I think the biggest issue is not in potentially offending consumers, but rather in not being terribly relevant to consumers. There is a lot of spending by brands in this space, but no one has hit on anything great. I don't see much happening on social networking sites with respect to promoting brands that people would want to spend their time on. And when I do see something, I usually find that it's not worth it because, quite often, viewing or taking advantage of a promotion involves running or downloading a potentially problematic computer application. For instance, sometimes if you download an application, you wind up spamming your entire network. This isn't necessarily a problem generated by the brand, but it still ends up involving the brand.

All in all, I think there is a fair amount of potential in these sites but no one has yet unlocked this potential. I think it can be a viable piece of a marketing strategy. It can be an effective way to collect data on your consumers.

Perspectives: Do you see mobile phones as a viable medium for marketers in the U.S. or elsewhere?

Creamer: I'm not entirely convinced of the viability of mobile marketing as a big business. It's one of those businesses where everyone is always talking about how big it's going to be next year. Then when you get to the next year, they're talking about how big it's going to be the next year.

That said, the fact that many phones have GPS creates some potential. Technology in the U.S. tends to lag other markets, so there are more opportunities abroad for now. As phone technology gets better, that will raise the tide for mobile marketers everywhere. But phones aren't like televisions or even computers. Phones are emergency devices that shouldn't be fooled around with. For instance, no one wants to be bombarded with marketing messages when they may be waiting for a call from a son or daughter who might be in trouble. So, any sort of mobile marketing needs to be opt-in.

Perspectives: In your view, what innovations in digital media hold the greatest potential for marketers?

Creamer: If you look at the evolution of digital marketing — from banner ads to social media — nobody has cracked the code on it. So right now, no particular innovation stands out.

I think that where digital marketing is now, is where TV advertising was before its "golden age" – when marketers really figured out how to use TV for commercial messages. There is a lot of learning still to be done. What's more, because online media is so fragmented and consumers also have a voice in it, it is harder than ever for true mass breakthroughs to happen. But the flip side of that is that business will scale itself accordingly. Companies will create more products for smaller audiences. They will learn to cater to the customers they do have rather than to the ones they wish they had.