Damon Stapleton: As the building changes, the Wild West approaches
A blog by Damon Stapleton, chief creative officer, The Monkeys New Zealand.
“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.” – Carl Jung
If we go back almost 20 years to about 2005 we started to see a different kind of work in advertising. Work, where the idea that you can’t interrupt what people are interested in but have to be what they are interested in suddenly became the way. Obviously technology and new media channels played a big part in this. Have a look at JZ Decoded from around 2010 or the brilliant BMW Films from around 2001 to see what I mean. There was a feeling everything would change. And it sort of did, but it also sort of didn’t. A lot of these kind of ideas would be at the end of a creative deck. Extra, a nice to have.
I have a theory a lot of this work never happened because it is much more difficult to present than a manifesto in a presentation. But that’s for another blog.
The reality was for about a decade there was an equilibrium between traditional ideas and new thinking driven by technology and new channels. Every year we would go to Cannes and hear somebody say advertising was dying. Normally, this was far more about the wallpaper changing rather than the building. It was cosmetic. The structure of advertising, ad agencies and media remained relatively untouched. Nothing had to really change.
But this year has been different. For many it has been very tough. And I know this from speaking to creatives at gatherings. There was an honesty about how the tectonic plates where shifting inside their companies. Most of the time creatives always tell you their agencies are fantastic and everything is fabulous. This year not so much.
There is an old joke that goes in a nuclear explosion only two things will survive. Cockroaches and advertising. As a business it is incredibly resilient and adaptable. However, I always knew there would come a year where there would be signs where the building was changing. Now, I know some of you may say these signs have been around for a while. Fair enough. But at the risk of incurring your wrath I thought I would put a few signs I have noticed this year that could change our business.
I think in the future we will look back at 2024 and see there was a major sea-change where not just the wallpaper but the form of the business had to adapt. Is this advertising’s Kodak moment? Will the structure of advertising which hasn’t really changed in almost 70 years have to change significantly? These are a few signs and some implications.
Sign 1. The first and most obvious shift is A.I. Yesterday, I saw Coca-Cola had redone their Xmas truck ad using A.I. Was it perfect? No. But it shows what is possible and A.I will improve. It asks massive questions about how content will be generated in the future. This asks difficult questions for ad agencies and production houses. On the other hand, it democratises high end content for much smaller clients who would never have been in the game before. You don’t have to be Nike or the like to do big productions. Both of these questions will change the structure of advertising forever. I know it will take time and there will be some car crashes. But this genie doesn’t go back in the bottle.
Sign 2. Another structural issue will be where people are and how you reach them. Recently, it was reported that podcasts during the U.S elections had more of an impact on the electorate than mainstream television stations like NBC and CBS. Combine a single individual like Joe Rogan with social media and he has more clout than a business that is almost 100 years old. This brings up all sorts of questions about what and where mass media actually is. And how you create content going forward. But it also creates many new opportunities. To reach them, however, will be an uncomfortable ride and a change in the structure of our business. You only have to look at what is happening with massive staff cuts at television newsrooms to see this.
Sign 3. Yesterday, Mike Tyson fought Josh Paul. What a weird sentence. At it’s peak this ‘fight’ was watched by 65 million worldwide on Netflix. A single event the whole world can watch. I know, Travis Scott did it with Fortnite. And I am sure somebody before that. But it is interesting how a single small event can impact and reach the entire world. These ideas have been at the back of decks for a while. But if I go back to some of those ideas of 2005 what they wanted was the technology of the last couple of years. And now it’s here. Technology will change the structure of advertising in a thousand ways going forward. And it’s going to do this whether we like it or not. Yes that is scary but it is also the biggest opportunity ever presented to us.
Bonus feature about the Tyson Paul fight. I am sure we could also have a long discussion about if this is the beginning of global entertainment platforms like Apple and Netflix owning most of the worlds sports rights. Let’s chat in 5 years. Big global brands will be fine. However, I think this will have a major impact on smaller national brands. Global vs Local. Where will they advertise? There will be a divide in how different size brands reach customers. This might mean all sorts of different opportunities for advertising.
There are many other signs I have not mentioned that tell me the building is changing and the wild west is approaching. Each sign says change is coming. To be clear, I believe ideas will always have value. And I believe craft will always be what sets you apart. But I also believe change is coming.
However, if there was ever a bunch of people that thrive and handle change it is the fine humans of advertising.
So, buy a Stetson and a horse. Saddle up. There could be gold in them thar hills.