As a child of the digital age (hey I had an intellivision when I was little…that’s sorta digital…right?) I’ve been on the wave of online digital advertising over the last 5 years and watched it evolve daily. With the onset of online users beginning to create more content than a simple blog and the term “social media” resting comfortably on the tongues of every marketer – it is a band wagon almost everyone one seems to want to hop on. Trouble is, many are just getting to the station now and like a Monday morning on a subway the first time you ever used it – it can be a chaotic and frustrating experience. Everything in our industry is “digital” per say. I can admit other than one horrible experience in school I’ve never had to manually design typography. Yet like any growing movement there are those who remember when advertising played out like an episode of Mad Men. I have a crushing reality for you if you don’t work in the industry…it’s not like Mad Men. Though there are still a few who may wish their job relied on an hour of scribbles, a tag line and a pat on the back followed by “now you go and make that a website champ” – they are now finding themselves at a cross roads. I know because I’ve spent the last few years watching their brow wrinkle as others who followed this new medium called “Digital Advertising” tried to explain why even though you may have 15 seconds in that banner ad – you can’t simply make a commercial and call it a day. A painful lesson if you are unwilling to bend and evolve yourself.

This is a conversation I’ve had a lot of late. What is it about the world of digital that has so many in the Mass side of marketing (Radio, Print and Broadcasting) so blindsided about? Well in truth many of them aren’t. Yes there are a few who still refuse to work digital. But over the last 2 years as the economy’s bottom fell out and many brands turned their attention to cheaper ways to reach large audiences online through online marketing and social outreach – those who still wish to work in the industry are beginning to alter their perspective. Believe it or not we’ve seen brands go completely digital over the last 12 months and agencies go from 40% digital to 80%. There is another reason I’ve seen interest from “Traditional Advertisers” who have started to realize they need to get on board – and it has nothing to do with the changing in numbers or budgets. They are working a little harder at understanding…us.

Why would anyone be afraid of a digital advertiser? That was a question I thought about for a while and have had half a dozen conversations about this year alone. And I came across a thought: unlike Mass – Digital evolves. And it evolves fast. Think about it for a second. Other than better sound quality what has changes about how to approach radio? Other then better editing and the introduction of CGI as an affordable production tool for commercials…they are still usually 15, 30 or 60 second linear stories. Now take a look at digital? It is still young but it is growing and evolving at a terrifying rate. Ten years ago when I started making digital websites, they were ugly static HTML tables with big chunky text and animated GIFs. I still remember when we got image rollovers and javascript – man I was excited. And when Flash first came out my first flash site was only 300pixels by 200pixels to match the average users screen. It was also 6 megs and a mess. But it was an evolution.

As we’ve gone from clunky 90s home computers to fashionable Apples Computers and super powered home gaming rigs – our ability to see more content has been matched blow for blow with that of online media and content. We are now ok with watching 50 meg videos, loading flash hybrid sites with 3D engines that are usually massive (though built to load in small segments to optimize the experience). And for an advertiser that means something that is a profound thought…us, the digital guys have done commercials. We’ve done radio. We’ve done print. It was simply on a screen. Whether it was a static banner ad or logo design or a full web episode or a narrated web spot – we do it all now. A few years ago I would have had no idea what video shoots looked like or how to direct 3D productions. Or working with copywriters to develop voice-overs and scripts…all for online. So while we’ve been taking over in other mediums – some in Mass have started to notice and become curious about trying to understand digital. And I commend you – you’ve got the right idea and are also evolving. Now Digital is asked to be at the table from the beginning of an idea. Something that simply didn’t happen before.

We are an industry that is in constant evolution. It just changed a second ago – did you miss it? And to stay in the middle of such a forward motion you need to have a hunger for challenges beyond creative ideation and now into planning for what hasn’t been invented and how to use what came out yesterday. Much of it is useless. I’ll be the first one to admit that I’ve seen nothing commercially viable done with augmented reality that would help an experience and not hinder it. And papervision is choppy and ugly as sin. But some of the new things aren’t useless and we are always looking at that something and thinking… “How could I use that?” And since much of what we do is based on user interaction – we talk to a reactive audience not a passive one who is only listening, reading or watching media – we have also started to delve heavily into new areas to understand out audience. Behavioural science, social interaction and user reaction. They are not simply big words – we do actually think about it when we plan out and poke holes in our own ideas.

I admit I am filled with curiosity. And it has served me well. I for one enjoy instability. I like when a developer tells me he doesn’t think it’s possible to do something. It brings forward some of the best collaborative efforts and selfless creative problem solving I have ever experiences. Although I love some of my brands – If I slept at an office it wasn’t because a project was late, or because it was broken – it was because we knew we could do better and hell or high water, no one was going to see us fail.

So where is it going? Honestly, I have no idea. But I’m sure it will be interesting as it always is. Personally I think the future of digital is all around us and many advertisers strange as it is have not seen it for what it is. Digital is everywhere – so why aren’t your ads? And better yet – why isn’t your state of mind? An open mind will accept the impossible and make it reality. A mind that wants to stay rigid will block off potential and in the end cage itself. I do know where I would like to take it in my own work…experiential. Digital after all is not a website. It’s not a banner. It’s not your i-pod or i-pad. It’s electric. It’s interaction. It’s reaction. It’s a mirror of how we socially interact with each other. And where ever electricity is digital media can evolve to fit into. Now where’s my note pad…

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 1 08 am and is filed under All Blog Posts, Industry Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.