Digital CW and The Need to Grow Up

The opportunity to be a part of this transformation of the media world is something I am very thankful for. There truly has never been a more invigorating time to be part of communications.

But as someone of the older set in this business, I do feel it is appropriate to critique the manner in which the conventional wisdom is created in the space. Our world unfortunately has a tendency to think and speak and move in terms of black and white, rather than recognizing that most of life and work and enterprise and selling and serving and operating lies in the grey area in between.

What do I mean by that? Well, consider how what’s hot and what’s not get defined and parroted across the web. I am thinking for example of the “gotta have a widget” craze of exactly 12 months ago, when a few people were predicting the complete widgetization of all forms of content, and dozens of companies poured into the space. Everyone wanted a widget, though few actually had a well defined business need that made pursuing widget development for their brands a sensible or even rational marketing strategy. Because most brands don’t have content that anyone in their right mind wants constant access to. Or, generate a steady stream of content that makes having a widget at all valuable for the consumer.

But damn the torpedos. Full steam ahead. So out come the bajillions of widgets, most boring and useless. Six months later, a few writers talk about the death of widgets. And because of the structure of the way our digital media stories move and spread, hundreds of other follower pundits take the mort du widget as fact instead of opinion. And inside half a year, the CW goes from widgets are the second coming of the Messiah (or first coming if you are a Jewish person) to widgets are a smear of turd on a square of Charmin. Widgets are miraculous. Widgets are shite.

When the reality of course is that widgets are neither. They are a remarkable way for consumers to access some forms of content, which relate to some brands, or not to others. They are not a substitute for websites or TV ads or what have you. They will not supplant all established forms of marketing with their portability and magically simple UIs. Of course they won’t. Rather they are another tool in a crowded arsenal of marketing options. Quite a productive tool in some cases, I might add. But no more the be all and end all than anything else. There is no be all and end all in a fragmented market.

Before I give you the impression that this post is about widgets, let me point out that this is but one example of this black and white parroty CW. Want some others?

- "I gotta have viral. Viral is the be all and end all. Six mos. later: Viral is a pain to produce and doesn’t work."

- "My brand needs a chat. Chat is a great way of connecting with customers. Six mos. later: Chat sucks."

- "OMG OMG OMG. It is the year of mobile. Mobile is going to be bigger than anything this
year. Six mos. later: Mobile is a waste of time and effort."

- "Gotta create an ad network. We can make huge money as an ad network. OMG OMG, drop the words ad network from the web site immediately. All ad networks are doomed."

I have a few old guard marketer friends that look at the digital space and laugh their asses off. One recently said to me,

“How can you expect me to take you and your brethren seriously? Inside of a single brand planning cycle an agency will recommend 4 things and then unrecommend them six months later. A lot of these so called digital experts are just parrots following the buzz online and changing recommendations as fast as they make them.”

She’s right, you know. She’s also using the immaturity of our space as an excuse for not leveraging digital, of course, and I told her that. She admitted as much. But she has a point

So let’s move on to the next area of black and white. So many people try so hard to be visionaries in this space – some day there will be no ads, the consumer is in control. That second one really gets to me. If the consumer is in control of your brand marketing plan, then WTF are they paying you for? I recognize and indeed am thrilled by the idea of consumers having greater options and influence on the overall marketing environment. But the idea that we as an industry should accept consumer control as absolute and indeed desirable is ridiculous.

Here’s is what the consumer wants. Everything, now, for free.

Which perhaps explains the “monetization models” I sometimes uncover in my little company reviews on this blog. But mostly it points to the need for people in our space to grow up and evaluate businesses and ideas as businesses rather than as religious visions.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to write.