FINAL WORD
Harking back
I grew up in New York but have since lived in London , for decades now . During most days ( before COVID ) I would sit in a quiet corner of The Groucho on Dean Street , looking out of the window into the bustle of Soho . The view was of London ’ s advertising industry moving in realtime around me . People rushed between the film and TV production houses . They had big ideas . Consumer brands flourished , as did the agencies , caught up in the excitement and the boundless opportunities . They got the corporate jet to Madison Avenue . They went to Cannes every June to win a Lion . It was exhilarating .
The goal was to take a product – any product – and wrap it with a wonderful association . You will feel younger . You will be more beautiful . You will finally be elegant and cool . Everyone was very sure of their world .
Harsh reality
Now , in 2021 that confidence and surety has fizzled to an all-time low . The tectonic plates have shifted . People in this creative world took too long to realise what was happening to their industry . They were still debating putting a URL on the poster when the building fell down . They had failed to keep pace with the astounding events and developments outside of their ‘ world ’. Whether it was the agencies or the brands at fault , it didn ’ t really matter – they all lost their footing .
‘ We ’ re going to sit at our desks and keep typing while the walls fall down around us because we ’ re creative – the least important , most important thing there is ’ – Don Draper to Peggy , after Heinz told him they were going to ‘ wait and see if you ’ re still in business in six months ’.
Fiction became reality . Google and Facebook seized the attention of the consumer . In the same moment , we all realised that 99.9 % of what ’ s shown on broadcast media was completely irrelevant to us as individuals . We realised – for a while at least – that targeted ads in social and search were less meaningless , and we started to click on them .
Getting to know me , getting to know you
It started to become clear , even creepy , where the personalisation was coming from . We were writing our own scripts , but that got normalised . Unbelievably intricate profiles ( like Muslim , Arsenal , Green Party , Crochet , Trans ) started to become manageable information as advertising personas . However , that level of personalisation has had a detrimental impact and now we are starting to feel overwhelmed , but things are likely to change . To what you may ask ?
It is demonstrable now that consumers are far less likely to have favourite brands . That got taken away some time ago as information about the behemoths ’ brands became more readily available to us , the public . The magic fairy dust evaporated and reality hit . Consumers are now far less likely to ‘ Just Do It ’ or shout ‘ Wassup ?’ at their friends or buy something because it is ‘ The Best A Man Can Get ’.
We don ’ t shop like that . We type exactly what we need into Google and , probably , we buy the thing that is at the top of the list . If we are reacting to impulse , the chances of us – a ) seeing something at random in a shop or in a magazine and buying it , compared to b ) being guided by the collective intellect of a million algorithms looking deep into us through the screen of our phone and choosing the right teaser ad to place into a social feed that we then click on – are so slanted it is difficult to calculate .
What brand ?
When efficiency replaces creativity , the need for engaging , entertaining , seductive campaigns fades fast . The ad industry got taken down by the ad business . The ad business has little time for brand stories . Or brand image . Or a brand ’ s meaning in the culture of now . It prefers data science . The ad business sees shopping as an engineering problem that has been solved by a logical workflow that ends with a shopper being presented with what they want when they want it . What happens to the brand when you do that ?
The relationship starts to break down is what happens . This abstraction of the relationship between a superbrand like Gillette or Heinz and its traditional buyer is only one of the pressure points damaging those brands ’ performance . Opportunities for others appear . ‘ Beanz Meanz Heinz ’ was an incredible campaign , but as the memory of that ad fades , the love doesn ’ t stand up to every grocery e-commerce site placing their
IN THE SAME MOMENT , WE ALL REALISED THAT 99.9 % OF WHAT ’ S SHOWN ON BROADCAST MEDIA WAS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TO US AS INDIVIDUALS .
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