For the Love of Advertising - Stop Making Ads

Back in early January, I received a request to become a jury member for the British Arrows. A random, misaddressed email, I thought – a case of mistaken identity? What possible value could the chief technology officer of a digitally-focussed company like AKQA offer to an industry that has been disrupted by the very thing I have championed and loved for so many years?

But as we all now realise, technology has changed the way we act, the habits we form, the devices we use and the social scenarios we love and enjoy.

Technology has moved us away from our living rooms and the boxes we used to stare at. Want proof? A study by Enders Analysis reported that in just one and a half years, viewing by four to 15 year olds declined by 22 per cent and viewing among 16 to 34 year olds went down 15 per cent. Even my own children only really know Netflix and their iPads now.

Out of the box

In my opinion, television advertising has simply been (for the most part) pointless – a convention we’ve had to endure. A format forced upon us in a world that has dramatically changed: where people expect everything just the way they want it, when they want it, where they want it.

In today’s world, the ad has to be exceptional and completely original to do what it’s meant to do. To resonate and to gain brand affinity, to be shared with the people you love.

Think about it. Do you really watch every ad on TV and enjoy it? The answer is no. Does each ad make you want to run out and buy the product? (I say ‘run out’ as in the traditional sense of ‘popping to the shops’, which is not quite the case anymore). The answer again is no.

This leaves TV advertising in a potentially lonely and desolate landscape. The family at home is simply fast-forwarding through a brand’s labour of love and marketing budget.

The future’s bright

I know this naysaying is going to piss a lot of you off, ridicule some people’s existence, make you want to hunt me down on the Cannes Croisette this coming June and punch me in the face.

But please wait. Before you resort to violence, read on – I might just have seen the light. I believe the future is an exciting one, full of fresh thinking.

It occurred to me that the legendary British Arrows is not frightened, but excited about technology and how it can contribute to the formats and ideas that now resonate. How technology, if harnessed properly, can make things bigger, better – and still more – gain interaction.

So I accepted jury duty, because like so many millions of people, I used to love TV advertising and hoped I could bring a different perspective to it. In my naive and arrogant world, I thought I’d help move it forward.

The truth is I didn’t need to change anything. I walked away from the judging and now see that the industry gets it already – big time.

From the executive producers to the creative directors, the lack of acceptance of mediocrity is rife – and the desire for the industry to capture new thinking and formats abundant. The thinking and ideas to harness technology within the ad of today, and especially tomorrow, is exciting.

Tweaking TV

I have always believed that (through new technology) a different channel mandates the need to reimagine experiences in the digital world. For example: you don’t just take an iPhone app and put it on the iPad.

Advances in technology mean the context will be different too, and it’s clear the leaders of the advertising industry believe that formats don’t transcend from channel to channel either. YouTube alone offers so much more to the creative mind.

Generic TV advertising, which the traditional marketing director commissioned to push a product, will diminish.

The industry is not holding on to the past, but the very opposite. This acknowledgement, this new wave of thinkers, will bring the ad back as a topic of conversation down the pub. It won’t just be: ‘Have you seen this new app?’

For many years I have said advertising needs to add value, to entertain. With the new thinkers and new breed of advertising executive understanding the differences and opportunities that technology brings, the ‘ad’ will do so once more.