What's The Future Of Advertising? It's Still The Idea, Stupid.
What's The Future Of Advertising? It's Still The Idea, Stupid.
Advertising's survival depends on it.
(As the Cannes Festival of “Creativity” begins, it’s a good time to post this.)
Last week, I said Advertising Creativity is as good as dead. But an influx of creatives who understand the importance of original ideas could still save it. But, I’m not hopeful.
Currently, there are a lot of “experts” out there with opinions and declarations about “the future of advertising” [2.5 billion Google results]. A lot of articles, a lot of podcasts, a lot of events. A lot of noise. A lot of nothing.
MarTechies and DigiTechies, who know all the buzzwords but nothing about how advertising works, say they can deliver the right message to the right consumer at exactly the right time. “Message” is the most important part of this digital wet dream advertising model. Because “technology” does not create ”deep” “immersive” “hyperconnected” engagements to consumers. Only messages (aka, ideas) do.
None of the following are the future of advertising are: AR; VR; MR; ML; NFTs; MarTech; Web3; 3rd-party data; next-gen streaming platforms; gaming; Tik-Tok; blockchain; programmatic; influencers (macro, micro, nano); “content”; crowd-sourcing; the Metaverse (LOL); “cagencies”; bots; influencer bots; programmatic bots; copy bots; brain chips; moon projections; “purpose” advertising; and…especially, AI.
Accenture, a $60 billion business consultant, now also calls itself an ad agency since “acquiring” David Droga and opening Accenture Song. Ask Droga if AI is the future of advertising. If he says yes, he’s lying through his teeth. AI does not “create”. It rehashes. Remember your great ideas, David? I do.
Why are “Ideas” still the future of advertising? I lay it out below, including a fail-safe formula for creating great idea ads. (To read further, please buy a subscription here, $50 a month, that less than a dollar a week.)