The big watch out: who not to believe in this brave new media world

Every speech has to have a big finish. Here’s mine for the talk given to the Madison AdFed on March 22nd:

As every old man must, I issue a warning.

As I dug into all the articles and books and blogs about the “future of advertising,” I developed a slight case of déjà vu. I saw a disturbing trend, perhaps a fundamental mistake albeit in different verbiage:

“The world is awash in advertising clutter. For decades marketers have been spending more and more to try to get their message out, only to find their pitches drowned in a sea of noise…” This again from David H. Freedman in Inc. Magazine.

Well, here’s our watch out. If you recall what Bob Pittman had to say, you’ll remember that Generation Y, the Millenials, the Echo Boomers, like the Baby Boomers before them have learned how to play they game. They have grown up with ad messaging the way Daniel Boone grew up with the sounds of the forest. They know which “sounds” are important (to them) and which are not.

Frankly, we think the issue of “media saturation” and “ad clutter” is a non-issue.

What’s this mean for us? It means creating ads or choosing media just to “break thru the clutter” is a fool’s errand. Instead, understand who you’re talking to. If you know what they need to hear (remember what we said about insight?), have no fear. They will hear you. But if you miss that step, all the logos in the world won’t save you.

As diversity and technology feed upon one another, they every group and even every individual to see, hear, buy and be what he or she wants. But that same diversity and technology engine requires us to live together and tolerate each other’s freedom.

In order to fulfill ourselves as many, we must live together as one.

Is that an oxymoron? Or an opportunity?