thoughts on advertising.

I am quickly beginning to realize the future of advertising is going to be purely digital.

personally, i love interactive advertising (specifically, the Internet). when i first interned with IMC2, i was able to think in a visual capacity, as well as a print medium. and the merging of both created a very interesting and exciting space and place for our message to get across.

As of late, i have noticed many buses carrying these sweet billboards that move. and glow. and provide excellent stimulus to my senses. and even when i was in school, and home in texas, i noticed billboards which changed every 10 seconds or so.

i say this because once, a long time ago, before newspapers were dying, and people didn't have the internet, people read. they read magazines. books. the paper. so i wonder if what people saw on a printed piece of paper, they went out to experience for themselves first hand. after all, an image can be a very powerful thing.

we now have billboards, first done by mini cooper which show RFID technology being used to relate to consumers.

And more importantly, we have fast food menus, television monitors at the box office using digital imagery to entice consumers. which don't get me wrong, is nice to see popcorn and a DP being all delicious looking, but i can get the same sensory satisfaction looking at a well-shot picture.

and late last year, Esquire magazine created the first digital cover to hit mainstream.

we are moving into a generation not content with stationary objects. and that isn't bad, per say, but i think my real worry is: it might eventually take the fun out of experiencing an event.

basically, i think there is a time and place for all advertising. and i think we need to tone down the digital bits. we need to allow user interaction across many mediums, instead of having an explosion all at once. a good campaign has the user seek out the product. gain information.

as a creative, i hope we don't lose touch with the past. someone once said my portfolio lacked "punch. it was boring, because it was print". and i was floored. i was sad. i was angry. i covered a lot of emotional ground in the span of 5 minutes, trust me. but looking back on it, i realized how wrong he was.

print advertising is HARD. it's difficult. it's a process. we are not able to merge visual (moving objects) with the print. we have one way to reach our audience. and it's what i crave. maybe people use both to hide behind their idea, thinking "if we tease them with moving objects, they won't notice the ad sucks."

once you get a good print idea, the rest just falls into place. and a great ad doesn't need a lot of layers. and if the digital parts work, as with my above example with mini cooper, than i say why not. just don't let being digital take precedence over what could become a good ad. and a great campaign.