Socialmediaworx

The headline in the New York Times article almost says it all.

Organizations with some of the most important messages are beginning to understand what it means to engage their audience. No more throwing up a 30-second spot and calling it a day. They need to be where the audiences are.

A nonprofit organization that produces some of the most familiar public service advertising is joining its profit-making counterparts in radically rethinking its media choices, reflecting substantial changes in how its intended audiences consume media.

The organization, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, is making a major commitment to reaching the public, particularly parents, through the Internet while reducing the amount of advertising it runs on traditional television outlets like broadcast networks.

In addition to using the Internet, the Partnership is experimenting with ads on cellphones and is even looking into opportunities in the new media, like ads in video games.

“The risk is not being useful to this generation of kids and parents,” said Steve Pasierb, president and chief executive at the Partnership in New York.

“Even if we’re on the 6 o’clock news with the greatest of spots,” he added, “we’ve missed the target.”

It’s great to see more organizations finally understanding and responding to what their customers are looking for. Last money quote from the article:

“We follow the consumers,” said Nick Moore, chief creative officer at Wunderman in New York, part of the Young & Rubicam Brands unit of the WPP Group. “If they want to be on a mobile phone, that’s fine with us.”