Dave Morgan
Sir Martin Sorrell, the CEO of WPP and one of the most well known people in the world of advertising, wrote an opinion piece recently about the digital revolution for The London Times. The bottom line to him was that those operating in the traditional advertising business who have fears about what the Internet and the digitization of media means to their businesses and jobs, have nothing to worry about.
He says that the digital changes that are going on today are not really any different from when television was introduced. In his opinion, the Internet is simply one among many mediums that will only have a short term effect upon advertising, and will eventually move in next to other media as another player in the field.
Dave Morgan, CEO of Tacoda, responded to these thoughts in an article for Ad Age Digital.
"The world of advertising is in for a much bigger storm than most can even imagine. And almost certainly some of the media we know today will not continue forward.
Sir Martin Sorrell/ ECR Europe
"Marketers are shifting away from advertising, which favors media, to direct marketing and promotion, which do not. While this has been happening for decades, the digital revolution has helped accelerate the shift. This means less advertising in the future and less money for media -- all media. That's a reality.
"Is a digital magazine still a paper magazine? Or is it a website or an e-mailed copy? Definitions and traditional 'siloed' differentiations we use today, such as magazine or newspaper or television or direct mail, will become meaningless to most consumers. To them, it will just be news or information or entertainment or games or great offers. Most folks in traditional media are not prepared for this -- and they are powerless to stop it."
Success for those in advertising, like any service business, will demand that the company operate leaner and meaner. They will have to be fast and quick, something that the current traditional advertising media don't have, as they are weighted down by their cost structures.
Because all media is being digitized, this means that "real-time interactivity and response and conversation" will be not only possible but desirable and demanded. Many companies will not survive this change because they are not operationally set up to be able to do it. It will literally be physically impossible.
The result will be that consumers will give their business to those that respect their wishes and marketers won't be funding those who won't change.
Why is all of this happening? One reason only: The consumer is king and the consumer demands it. Only those that respond will survive this extraordinary climate.
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