Standardizing ads

Much of the new economic focus these days is on creativity and customization: "right now and just for me." But even in the I-Cubed Economy, the allure of standardization is great (and profitable). This is especially true as services attempt to increase productivity. One technique is the standardized template -- think Microsoft's document templates. Here is another example from the one of the most creative of industries - advertising - and one of the most personal forms - the political ad. Web Start-Up Offers Canned Campaign Ads - washingtonpost.com:

For $499 plus the cost of airtime, Spot Runner will plug your photo and personalized narration into a generic ad and air it on television in about a week. By comparison, traditional ad agencies can charge thousands of dollars, and the creative process can take months.

. . .

Spot Runner's political-ad division, which launched this year, is a small part of the online agency's "ready-to-air" ad business. A handful of young Web companies -- Spotzer, Pick-n-Click Ads, Cheap TV Spots -- offer similar template ad services to car dealerships, jewelers, fitness clubs and other businesses that don't have big advertising budgets.

The ads aren't for those looking to be unique. Templates are created mainly from stock footage and file photos, which eliminate the high costs of camera crews and filming.

However, there are limits to the holy grail of standardization: scalability --

Spot Runner promises clients that their ads will run exclusively in a given market to ensure that viewers don't see the others using the template.

Do the ads work? Well, that begs a larger question as to whether any political ads really work. In the most recent election in Virginia, one candidate who used the ads won and one lost. What TV ads like this is promote name recognition and awareness. So don't expect the big boys and girls to be using these services anytime soon. In those races, uniqueness is a major factor.

But for local races where getting your name out is half the battle, these low-cost ads may be a way to have a big time splash. As Del. Robert G. Marshall (the winner) is quoted as saying:

"I was in Costco walking down the aisle to get some maps," he said. "A guy stopped me and said: 'You're Delegate Marshall. I saw your ad.' "

And for a political candidate, that is a gold mine - delivered through a low-cost standardized product.

So, as services expand, look for this paradox: standardization and uniqueness running in parallel. Both are important factors in the I-Cubed Economy.