David Droga, founder of ad agency Droga5 and AdNews Hall of Fame recipient, has one message out there for the ad industry: “people's attention has to be earned.”
Droga appeared on Nine's 60 Minutes programme last night giving his view on advertising in the modern age, which has a lot to do with breaking all the rules and blurring the lines between ads and entertainment.
Speaking to 60 Minutes reporter Michael Usher, Droga said the way people consume media has changed but advertising hasn't changed with it. Pointing to a lot of ads out in the market, Droga said that “most of them are pretty bad.”
“Sadly the way most people are portrayed in advertising, I don't know anyone that lives like that or looks like that or talks like that or sounds like that,” Droga said. “I mean every guy is a moron, every woman is a sort of one dimensional thing, every kid is perfect and everyone lives in these wholesome houses. It's crazy.”
“People's attention has to be earned. We can't just assume that we can bombard them into submission any more, which is what it used to be.”
Droga's 2006 campaign for Ecko, which featured a staged video of a group of artists graffiti tagging Air Force One, is one example of his philosophy of earning attention rather than buying it. Another example is the notorious Newcastle Brown Ale Super Bowl ad featuring Anna Kendrick, which despite never actually airing during the game, was named the favourite Super Bowl commercial that year.
The segment also showed snippets of an upcoming Newcastle advert, this time featuring Elizabeth Hurley.
But Droga believes key to all his success is his ability to daydream.
“It's pretty amazing. I'm trying to build the most influential ad agency in the world,” he said.
“I think daydreaming is an amazing thing because I feel like you explore places that textbooks don't go. Who doesn’t need a bit more daydreaming? We all do it, we just shouldn’t feel guilty about it.”
See Droga inducted into the AdNews Hall of Fame below:
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