I was listening to listening to Mix 96.9 yesterday and what I heard was the preachers of social media and their impact on advertising prophesy come true. The country generally being a little behind on the Internet I was pleasantly surprised to hear a popular night spot, Jumbies, on the even more popular St. Lawrence Gap advertising a Facebook Friday evening bash. The ad was calling on the SUV group and all ‘facebookers’ to bring their Facebook home page with them for a special entry fee. They advertised Vampire shots and Slayer Martinis. My heart sang a song. I have been singing this song to my clients and everyone who would listen for a while now. There is a new information revolution going on around the world.
Traditional modes of information dissemination are under threat. And this may seem a little blasé because we have been hearing this for some years, however there is clear and present danger on the horizon. Around the world a number of traditional media conglomerates have embraced the new dissemination modes but in the Caribbean, I would love to say we are playing catch up but really we have not fully woken up yet so no serious catch up has started. Everyone has the token website but the use of the social media techniques and other web based services does not even appear to be on the horizon. With our open door policy to the rest of the world our media houses are clearly making themselves vulnerable. The recent bid for Microsoft and Yahoo to join forces against Google is a sign of the impeding storm of mergers and acquisition for the all important advertising dollar. It will be interesting to see the survivors and their corporate strategies.
