In a world suffering from neophilia (love of latest trends), advertising is an industry obsessed with novelty. We’re constantly drawn to bright and shiny new things. Average tenures of marketing directors are shrinking, forcing them to ‘demonstrate value’ from the moment they settle into their chair. Under constant pressure to deliver against increasingly unattainable goals, they chase the holy grail of new.
In response, agencies strive to catch the attention of clients by promising the next big thing, the innovation du jour in the belief it will deliver a new edge. We frame everything interesting as new.
Disruptive; paradigm-breaking; meanwhile, the reality is that nothing is truly new.
So much of what we celebrate as novelty could be more fruitfully viewed through the lens of past experience. Isn’t the core of what we do exactly what it has always been – getting to know people better and talking to them in more effective ways?
So, how does the current crop of ‘the new’ look if we re-frame it in less obsessively nouveau ways?
In 1066, William the Conqueror commissioned the ‘Great Survey’ audit of lands, people and belongings. The Domesday Book was viewed with the fear and awe we reserve today for the likes of Google and Wikileaks. By gathering a large amount of data into one place, it allowed specially trained acolytes to make strategic recommendations based on a more comprehensive understanding of their world. Like big data today.
Perhaps the only term more opaque than big data for many marketers is real-time bidding. Suddenly our opportunities to communicate with consumers cannot be planned and booked in advance. We can’t guarantee time and place of messaging through the safety of fixed media spaces. Looking back on the golden years of advertising, this gives rise to a sense of unease, bordering on horror.
Since early civilisation, we’ve bought and sold in village open spaces – agora (Greek for gathering place). Yet, as advertisers, we have developed agoraphobia. We need to regain our passion for the lively speed, banter and dynamism of the marketplace and bring it to demand-side platforms and just-in-time media delivery.
How about dynamic creative? Disruptive technology also has messaging in its sights as dynamic creative becomes a reality across more touch points.
We can now build video content in digital and responsively construct interactive experience in outdoor panels. How long will it be before the 30-second spot falls prey and becomes bespoke, based on data about whoever is front of screen?
From door-to-door sales to Aristotle’s rhetoric and the influential Mr Carnegie to ’Yes’ men Fisher and Ury, it’s all there, but not in the world of advertising.
We need to bring the personal conversation back into adland and use it to breathe life into dynamic creative. In an industry obsessed with change for its own sake, remembering the past may be the most daring and adventurous choice of all.