New types of ads — and new kinds of advertising companies — are popping up everywhere. Resistance is futile. Or so it seems, as ever more inventive advertising start-ups, seeking to make their messages stand out amidst the traditional marketing clutter, slap commercial pitches on almost anything that doesn’t move — and on many things that do.
Observers cite several reasons for the advertising: the glut of promotional messages from conventional ad media; an increasing desire to micro-target consumers at or near the point of purchase; and the bulging promotional budgets of emerging dot-com companies.
Of course, these new modes of advertising won’t stay non-traditional for long. They’ll either fizzle and fade or sizzle and go mainstream — the latter being the primary goal of the purveyors of offbeat advertising media.
