The conference section of Promotions Now 2014 gave us the opportunity to invite Bob Hoffman, the author behind the refreshingly honest, no-bollocks-you-can’t-handle-the-truth-I’m-not-buying-it AdContrarian blog. We talked over Skype about what kind of attitude could make the advertising industry a better place to work in and what makes a promotion great or awful. For those who don’t know him yet, first of all, you’re welcome! And then here’s a short bio: Bob is an author, speaker, and partner in Type A Group, a consultancy firm working with agencies and marketers. He is the author of "101 Contrarian Ideas about Advertising" which is the top selling advertising book on Amazon. Bob is also the author of "The Ad Contrarian" book and "The Ad Contrarian" blog, which was named one of the world's most influential advertising and marketing blogs by Business Insider. In 2012, Bob was selected the Ad Person of the Year by the San Francisco Advertising Club.
IQads: Hello, Bob. Can you see me?
Bob Hoffman: Yes, can you see me? Am I gorgeous? How are you?
IQads: Yes, just as I had hoped :). So let’s start. One of the very refreshing concepts on your blog is the ‘troublemaker’ and the need for troublemakers in the advertising industry, so what would a serious troublemaker have to say about promotional campaigns?
Bob Hoffman: Actually the title of my next book is going to be “Advertising Needs Troublemakers”. That's not specifically about promotions, it’s about the advertising industry in general. There’s too much agreement on everything, there's not enough controversy, there aren't enough people saying ‘wait a minute, let's think about this before we accept what you say as the truth’. A perfect example, in AdWeek, one of our primary advertising magazine, there was an article today titled You won't believe how big TV still is. Now, for 10 years, here in the States, the same publications have been writing how no one watches TV anymore and television is dying. Now, all of a sudden, they're waking up and they're realizing that all along that was baloney. And we need people to stand up to the experts and to the geniuses and say ‘no’, ‘the facts are not congruent with what you're saying’, ‘you're wrong’. The advertising industry has been consolidated and there are just a handful of huge agencies that control so much of the advertising in the world. I don't know how it is in your country, but here in the States there are 3 huge global entities that control over 70% of the advertising and they're dictating what the conversation is, they're dictating what people believe. So there is a need for troublemakers who say ‘no, you're wrong’, for more people who stand up and argue against what is conventional wisdom and what is commonly believed in the advertising industry these days.
