Here’s a funny entry to highlight the difference between marketing a mere 8 years ago and today. Marketing around the Olympic Games used to be a like a 100m cakewalk. You pay a gazillion dollars to the Olympic Committee and then another gazillion to show off your products on television and print.

Of course, that was only the Coca Cola’s of this world who managed to do it, while the rest of the smaller business world were left salivating like Pavlov’s dog. Eight years on and Beijing 2008 rolls by and we can already see the effect mobile communication has.

Even Coca Cola realized this and were one of the many companies to introduce mobile advertising and marketing to create awareness of their product around the Games. Their method: A simple Bluetooth connection in thousands of locations in around the Olympic stadium, focusing on the youth market and delivering video commercials directly to Bluetooth enabled handsets.

NBC who were gifted the sole rights to broadcast the Olympics in the US have pretty much covered all bases of mobile communications. “Consumers”, as we marketers tend to call normal people, have an array of mobile alerts programmes to choose from. Among these are daily news alerts, real-time information, and breaking news, to athlete alerts, medal results, event reminders, video highlights and a photo of the day- categorized by sports category. This is profound and guaranteed to drive advertising revenue through the roof.

The fact is people, a mere 8 million consumers will pass through Beijing alone during the Olympic Games and it is estimated that each person would be confronted with about 3000 advertising exposures per day! This is not even mentioning the television and radio commercials. This leaves mobile marketing, a channel that is purely permission based, for companies to secure loyalty and dedicated brand exposures to their consumers.

There’s certain opportunities that come along every once in a while that positions businesses to maximize their advertising spend and show greater return on brand exposure and consumer loyalty. The FIFA Soccer World Cup hosted by South Africa in 2010 and the London Games in 2012 among the obvious.

Where previously, smaller businesses where left out in the cold due to the extreme nature of advertising price hikes, most of them could simply stand on the side and watch in vain. Today however, a combination of the internet and mobile communications has opened a world of opportunities for these companies to engage with their target markets without employing bank breaking budgets to do so.

Digital marketing has leveled the playing ground, resulting in a more competitive market where the smartest and often the simplest from of marketing would succeed. Gone are the days when your marketing budget determined your success.

This should be an eye opener to businesses all over. What they do with this information will determine their fate.

In a recent article in the popular Afrikaans Sunday paper, Rapport, Marlene Malan covered the effect advertising has on children.

This topic has been referenced ad nauseum, but I couldn’t help but question the essence of the article and the featured guests’ interpretation of advertising aimed at the youth. I’d like to highlight a couple of statements and give my personal opinion on this.

Marlene initiates the article by recalling some popular television commercials, among others a carbonated drink promoting and encouraging youngsters to participate in a singing competition.

Another features a very popular sunglass commercial with a sexy blond presenting the youth with the image of being cool and sexy.

Go like there’s no tomorrow, Get in on credit and a host of other catch phrases infiltrate the minds of the youth and persuade them that inner happiness is borne from outer appearances. I have no objections with the crux of this matter, because advertising is meant to influence.

However, advertising is here to stay. And children will be confronted with more direct advertising, greater influencing messages and stronger reference to celebrities as the industry becomes more competitive and product suppliers increase.

Dr. ST Potgieter, a Cape Town guidance counselor believes it will benefit parents to realize that the advertising industry has now become a science. Extreme research is conducted to increase the effect and influential values of advertising.

Ezelle du Plessis, the coordinator: internal communications at the Northlink College in the Western Cape reckons parents are faced with a daily battle against powerful media exposure to the youth.

Mobile marketing, print media with strong reference to idols and celebrities diminishes the importance of basing decisions on social relationships and moral values.

These are valid points, but it’s the undercurrent of the article that annoys me and places a very competitive advertising industry in a bad light.

“Before children can even speak, they start mimicking television commercials. Parents brag about how well their little ones handle a computer long before they can even read.”

It’s odd, but something in this message indicates that it might not be the advertising industry that allows these children to “pollute” their minds with this supposed nonsense.

“Our children’s social manners are also skewed, because they’re constantly occupied by Facebook and Mxit. Where it was previously bad manners to sms in company, it is now acceptable.”

I don’t recall when it was ever acceptable to sms during conversation or when in company of others. The reason kids do this, is simply because they weren’t disciplined. It’s a bad habit and again I fail to see how Facebook or Mxit made these manners acceptable or even constitutes such behaviour.

“Condom advertising carries the message that it’s ok to have sex when you’re young, as long as you do it safely.”

I simply do not recall a single condom commercial (at least on SA television) promoting teenage sex. Most of them are geared toward the prevention of AIDS. If you’re going to engage in sex though, be sure to have protection.

“It might contradict family values, but (advertising) conditions a child to believe that these actions are actually OK.”

“Parents don’t know their children well enough. In addition to that it is the messages that movies and television portray that violence is a problem solver and that material belongings bring happiness.”

We live in a world where advertising, the media and even people from the street have the ability to negatively influence a child. It is up to the parents to educate them in a manner that instills family and moral values.

The real problem here is parents who switch on the television for their children, or buy them expensive mobile phones to keep them busy, while they rush off to their Pilates classes.

“It is easier these days to satisfy a child’s demands borne from advertising, than it is to teach them moral and social values.”

Now that I can believe…