Advertising: You've had to be alive to be dead.

Yesterday in haste, I posted a comment-less link to LinkedIn. It was to a New York Times article that was headlined: "The Advertising Industry Has a Problem: People Hate Ads." You'll find it here.

I am surprised by the percentage of reactions to the post.

The article starts with an inherent misconception that people once liked ads. That's bullshit - except for a few times a year (Super Bowl in the US, Christmas in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, you get the drift). 

Imagine this: it's Friday night, and you settle down with a glass of cheaped red to watch reruns of Jersey Shore. Then to your excitement, an auto commercial for a new car that's 'going to change the way you drive' interrupts your viewing pleasure. Delightful? Just what you've been waiting for?

I love you. I hate you.

I hate to burst your bubble, but people hate the interruption method of advertising.

We need to stop believing advertising is a gift to humanity. People have always resented ads and advertising. In a 2012 Gallop poll, advertising practitioners ranked 3rd last out of 22 career choices for honesty (I hope my mum/mom doesn't read this). Jeez, imagine your life if you were an advertising practitioner specializing 100% on used auto dealerships! 

Yes, advertising has become harder, more complex, and is continuously changing and reshaping. It is hard to keep up, it is hard to reshape, and it is hard to learn continually. And the pressure on people is immense. Holding groups are centralizing, decentralizing, and wondering if small is the new big. And not forgetting the chatter about in-house agencies.*

In-house and consulting will rule?

Advertising and marketing generally work on a 3ish year cycle. The average tenure for a CMO is now between 30 and 45 months (average up to 3.7 years, while a CEO 7.2 years). RFPs tend to be every three years. Starbucks has built and burned three in-house agencies in 10 years. 

Recently I've had meetings and strategy sessions with large consulting firms. They have the same questions: What is the future? Where are we going? And what do we do with commerce?

All-in-all, everyone feels the confusion. And in three years, we will have reshaped again. I am not saying, "Ride out the storm." I am saying this is a chance to grow, learn, and adapt.

To quote @Chuck McBride, Cutwater's founder, "The gloom and doom is greatly exaggerated." "Things are messed up, but there's an opportunity in this."

Permission to learn. And fail.

Advertising and clients love bright and shiny objects. We loved Google Glasses. We loved Tumblr. We loved NFC. While my stint at Amazon was one of the sharpest learning curves of my life, one of the biggest takeaways I left with was: follow the customer, not the tech, data, or product.

As advertising practitioners, we do not spend enough time obsessing over the customer. Consider the trusty Creative Brief, advertising's version of a bible. Briefs tend to be written product-forward. a) What are we selling? b) Why is it different? c) What is the competition doing? d) What is the key message (or USP)? e) When do we need it? I have worked with teams and companies on flipping the strategy and brief, and testing the results. My suggestion is to spend more time on the audience and their wants, needs, and desires, rather than flogging them a product they may never need. Or manufacturing a product we will never need.

Ideas, above all the chatter of AI and ML, are still the currency of the industry. They are the one truth that's hard to take away.

Are we dead yet?

Comfort and growth can not coexist. To change, we need to be uncomfortable. And we are uncomfortable now! Clients are incentivized for predictable results - making it hard to take significant steps. I agree we need to "disassemble what remains of an outmoded model." We must earn the customers' attention rather than demand it via a barrage of ads. The pay-for-service fee with clients needs to be broken down, and partnerships need to be reformed.

Is advertising dead? Far from it. We are just going through a three-year cycle.

* That's a story for another day.