Don't take our word for it. We've only been saying it for about...EVER. Click here for a transcript of a New York Times Magazine panel on the state of the ad industry. Attendees were digital ad heavyweights Benjamin Palmer (CEO of The Barbarian Group), Lars Bastholm (chief creative officer at AKQA) and Robert Rasmussen (executive CD on the Nike account at R/GA). For our take, hit the jump.
Here's our takeaway of what was said in the mag article. Let us know if it sounds a little familiar (trust us, it will):
Brands have become transparent, and that’s changed the tone of advertising. Now you have to try to be more authentic—even if it’s just authentically acknowledging that what you’re doing is advertising.
So, advertising is by necessity a fractured narrative. We have a story we want to tell, and we use different media channels and different touch points to tell it. We have to rely on the consumer to pull the story together. But that process became too transparent. Now our job is to have a conversation with consumers about whatever story it is you want to tell about the brand.
Some of these big advertising agencies are managing their own demise. They’re becoming less relevant, less profitable and less necessary...what we are saying is we’re being adaptive to the way consumers take in and interact with brands. And is that advertising or is it marketing or is it participation? Those lines are getting blurry.
Edwards: “Nike’s not in the business of keeping media companies alive, we’re in the business of connecting with consumers." That sums up digital pretty nicely.
Rasmussen: Clients are not saying, "Make us ads" or "Make us Web sites," they’re saying, "Create interaction between our brand and our customers." That’s our job now.