"In the past, you might have had a copywriter and an art director sitting together to create an idea. Now, you have a copywriter, an art director, a social media person, a creative technologist and a strategist sitting there. Digital is at the core of everything we do. It can’t be sticking out of the appendix. It has to be the spine and the heart.”
Tony Granger, global chief creative officer at Young & Rubicam in New York
Looking at advertising and what it is now, it’s pretty easy to see that it’s nothing like it used to be. Sure some elements remain the same, there’s a client, an agency, a brief, and a creative execution, but the channels, the platforms, the programs, and the strategic thinking have all changed drastically over the years.
It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came in too late for that. I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over. Advertising will never be the same. I think many Americans think that way. I think many advertisers do too. The good thing is, I don’t think this is the end of an era. I think it’s the beginning of a new one. There’s a lot more opportunity around the corner, we just need to realize that things aren’t quite as easy as they used to be.
Edward Boches, chief creative officer at Mullen, has a lot of great insights on the topic of what it takes to be a successful agency of the future. He states, “Digital isn’t about technology, it’s about the people. We want to do business with people, not companies. The focus shouldn’t be on telling a story, it should be on getting other people to tell it for you.” With all of this, I couldn’t agree more. As consumers, we have new sources of information (RSS, Delicious, Twitter, Buzz) and the platforms and tools to create quality content (flip cams, blogspot, wordpress, web cams). The goal is no longer about producing the content ourselves. It’s about conceiving ideas that generate content from consumers. It sounds easy on paper. Getting it to happen is a different story.
In the past, advertising was about buying impressions. The future is all about earning them. As agencies evolve, we will continually need to focus on adopting new practices that cater to this new, radically different business model. The consumers have spoken, and continue to get louder and louder as they go. This isn’t going to be easy, it isn’t going to be fast, but we must evolve. If you can’t be a digital native, at least be a digital immigrant. It would’ve been easier from the ground level, but it’s far too late. This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. There’s still much more to come.
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