Just What I Was Thinking

I found the following via Buzz Machine. It’s a quote from a report from Canne by Liz Hoggard of the Observer. A gorgeous little nugget about where we’ve got to go. When I say ‘we’, of course, I mean the ad industry.

“This means a new bar has been set for advertising, says Davis. Not only must their output be fresher, cleverer, edgier, but ads must become an art form in their own right, or at least move closer to the entertainment space. ‘The challenge to us is to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in,’ he says - or ‘make coitus interruptus the real intercourse,’ as Huffington puts it bluntly. That means goodbye to internet pop-ups, which drive the consumer mad, and more investment in ‘360-degree’ communication strategies - emails, text messages, flyers, chatrooms and podcasts which the consumer chooses to view. Customers are now co-authors of a brand’s ‘story’.”

As I’ve said before, both on this blog and in conversations with co-workers, friends, industry types, anyone who will listen… 1) It’s an art (+ some science). Let’s start treating it that way, and others will follow in kind. 2) Advertisers don’t own brands anymore. People do.

Advertisers that understand this are going to have a much easier time reaching people. Duh. It’s easy to say that. But while we always strive to make the messaging relevant to the consumer, elevating what we do to ‘art’ will make the industry relevant to everyone. And if we can let go of our brands — or at least offer to share the steering wheel — we’ll end up making people happy and selling more stuff. Let’s get to it!

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