Are Advertising and Marketing Campaigns Missing the Mark?

As part of a generation that are completely consumed by advertisements and marketing techniques everyday, I have to ask whether or not the bulk of these marketing campaigns are reaching generation Y, and if so are they proven to be effective. Young adults ages 29 and below are somewhat experienced bystanders of multimedia advertisements, that is compared to our elders who have not had the privilege of growing up in a media-diverse society. These days, social trends point out that young people are constantly influenced by what they consume online, through television, and through text or RSS feeds.

A generation that is head over heels for multimedia mash ups, telecommuting, and anything that is advertised as free continues to find themselves the victims of the newest schemes and ideas concerning marketing in a highly technological day and age. Can ad companies and marketing campaigns keep up with such a curious crowd? A group that has already put mass-marketing, beaten search paths, and traditional office culture in the back seat. Wasting no time replacing them with googling, you tubing, and networking through the social yellow book of the 21st century, face book.

Yet, questions arise from this rush to find the "ultimate" methods of advertising to such a technologically diverse group of people. Sure, the monopolies of the online market are enriching lives on a day-by-day basis with the newest videos of individuals running into oncoming traffic so that their worldwide audience can share in a few seconds of humor, and personalized g-mail accounts with inbox space large enough to satisfy the needs of small African countries. However, what are the rest doing? How are they staying afloat and promoting their products to a consumer base that will inevitably be their target market someday? It seems to me that a multitude of these industries are not catching the eye of those that they need to be. Sure television ads are useful, but they are overdone and tend not to be remembered for who or what they advertise but instead for the action or speaking part that eclipses that particular thirty second time block.

There is potential for an untapped market that still remains to be attained by many companies. Generation Y is busy My spacing and Face booking, while many companies flaunt sexually intense ads that are created for young adults, yet rarely reach them due to the fact that their placement and methods of reaching their targets audiences are far off and unrealistic of where young people tend to be when surfing online.