So how do advertisers reach the 71 million “Millennials” in GenY that spend over 200 billion dollars annually and will soon replace the baby boomer generation as the largest percentage of the workforce?  The answer: Advertising can no longer be a group of old men deciding what is best for consumers.

According to the book, Trust Us, We’re Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber attack the 20^th Century model of marketing and public relations for misusing their power as “experts” in the eyes of the consumer.

Products and services used to be validated using this “third-party technique”, where an industry would purchase the services of so-called independent experts (a.k.a. advertising agencies) to promote a message that would monetarily benefit a specific industry.  The advertising spin-doctors would then shape a message to flatter the product or service, while simultaneously discrediting or attacking the competition.  Sometimes they would even go so far as to suppress or manipulate problematic data about the product or service to make it “sell-able”.

But advertising has taken a turn – consumers no longer rely on the experts.  Not only do they not want to be told what to buy, they don’t want to be pushed into what to think, who to vote for and how to raise their children.

Today’s advertising is about the consumer deciding what they want to see and buy.  For example, according to a national survey from Arbitron and Edison Research, 48 percent of Americans 12 years and older have a profile on one or more social networking sites.  On Facebook, the most visited website, consumers can “like” a note or post a page. Advertisers code the site to recognize those favorites and use this information to target the needs of consumers.  All of the sudden on your Facebook page there is an ad for your favorite band on tour in your area or a new restaurant to try on your street. No more pop-up ads flashing shiny letters and “experts” selling you catchy phrases and manipulated data.

Advertisers finally realize that it’s not about how much spin they can put on a product or service to increase sales – it’s now all about YOU.

One main area of focus of the seminar was to improve overall communications within the agency and with clients.   In analyzing the daily activities and occurrences in the work place,  it is eye opening to see how much time can be lost to unnecessary meetings, constant interruptions, and miscommunications.  By simply streamlining communications both with clients and within our agency we not only save time but more importantly it will allow account executives to be more strategic in campaigns and creative teams to be more innovative with designs, thus producing deliverables that will increase the client’s ROI.

Although cliche, we often forget that communication is a two way street. As a client, you maximize your investment in an agency by providing clear and concise direction. Be sure to clearly think through what you want your marketing campaign to achieve prior to engaging the agency.  Doing this leg work and then communicating it clearly will allow the agency to creatively develop a successful campaign rather then trying to pull something together based on vague direction.  Vague direction usually results in more time and more money in the end. Also, be specific on your feedback to agency.  Saying you don’t like a certain aspect of a design is a start, but what specifically would you like changed? Is the copy? The image? The color scheme?

On the agency’s side, expect your agency to clearly and accurately identify project goals and establish creative direction based on your clear, concise project brief at the beginning stages of a project.  Your account executive should communicate the production expectations and project timeline so that both you and the agency are in accordance with what you want the marketing campaign to achieve.  Additionally, the account executive should be updating you throughout the project as to where the project stands in terms of budget and should submit any change orders for your approval if the project is going beyond the original scope of work.

Actively practicing good communication skills on a daily basis will prove to save agencies and clients time, money, and unnecessary headaches.