As 2006 opens, rather than do a blue-sky, I thought perhaps it’s time to sit back and reflect on the status quo of the ad and communication industry in general.
Worldwide advertising is trying to redefine its role and the “packaging” of its message. Often successfully, sometimes not. Challenges to communication of a commercial nature are coming thicker and faster. Technology has started redefining how and when information, programming and media in general is consumed. Personal choice and tailor-made niche media abound. And it’s getting harder and harder to have a long term strategy, because it’s impossible to predict media or consumer behaviour three years from now.
Fortunately, things move a little slower in South Africa. But believe me, we’re just as vulnerable as the rest of the world’s communication industry. Maybe a year behind here, six months there. But reality is dawning as there seems to be little in the way of evolution when we look at how we communicate.
Perhaps the key question is this: Is the world of the 2000s the same as that of the 1960s? If it isn’t – and PCs, microwaves, DVDs, CDs, MP3s, I-Pods, mobile phones, the internet and a host of other wondrous technologies would all seem to suggest that it isn’t – then it would be safe to assume that the consumer of 2006 is very different to the consumer of 1960. So can someone please explain one thing – why the heck do we still communicate through the same old media formats?
In today’s world we are faced with an increasingly sophisticated consumer. One who is ad-savvy, and knows that “whiter than white” is hyperbole, not promise! Someone who realises that, in all honesty, product A and product B are 90 percent the same and, at very best, 10 percent different. A consumer who has immense time pressures and is expecting some reward – tangible or intangible – for giving you their attention for however short a period of time.
But this evolution in the consumer, in how they think and react, seems to have passed the communication industry by. We appear absolutely incapable of changing the paradigm. Of moving up a level. Of moving onto a different plane of communication, more in tune with the demands of the 2000’s.
No matter how we look at it, the majority of revenues still go into full page magazine and newspaper ads, 96 sheet billboards, and 30″ TV and radio executions. No questions. No thought.
And the less we innovate, the more the response to advertising is going to flatline. Media owners have failed to come up with better offers, ideas or methods; or else they have failed to market them – take your pick. Agencies have either failed to grasp new opportunities, create them, or sell them. Nor have they in turn marketed new concepts successfully. The nett result? We do it like we always did! And guess what? Repetition is boring – and the consumer has found this out.
So let’s for 2006 get brave, inventive, and sell innovation. ‘Cos we’re not doing it at the moment. Perhaps all the hype I heard ’round the Loeries was the greatest indictment against the industry. I heard what a terrific jol it was, how the organisation was cool, how welcoming the locals were, how we now have our own Cannes. But unfortunately I heard bugger all about how great the ads were.
Harry Herber is group managing director of the MediaShop.