We are creeping up precariously close to my 22 year anniversary in the ad biz, and one thing I am struck by is how the basic agency model appears to be so ill suited thtoe times. Hey, now don't get me wrong, I am not ragging on big agencies as they are currently configured, as agencies have long been on the road to figuring out how to evolve to the new times that we face.
But what's interesting to me is that what constitutes an idea has evolved from an execution-centric piece of film -- either moving or in print -- to more of a genuine concept. When I started in the biz, and especially because I started in packaged goods, an idea really meant a demo or an executional pattern that could be burned into the head of Moms through endless repetition. Getting the consumer to PROCESS a message was largely unnecessary because we could use the sledgehammer of 10+ frequency to embed the message permanently in the consumer's brain.
Now that is of course nigh on impossible. We created Catalyst:SF because we understood that getting the consumer to process a message is now the critical challenge. We may get only one exposure to her -- or indeed we may need to get her to seek out her one exposure. Engagement, process...tomato, tomahto...what' we're really tlaking baout is elective attention.
Driving elective attention was a new skill to learn for many agencies, especially the sort of strategicy/accounty agency where I cut my teeth. We didn't generally produce awe inspiring ideas, but we were adept at sinking the anvil of a `demo into the skull.
That's not what it's about at all anymore. Isn't that awesome?
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