So I read an article the other day from the columnist Jessica Valenti of the Guardian US, which entitled ‘My daughter won’t ever know of TV commercials – and I’m surprisingly sad’. The piece was all around how we’re moving into an age of where streaming and buying your TV programmes are becoming the norm. Things such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV have fuelled this new era of moving away from the traditional television set and actually using alternative platforms to stream their videos from iPads, to iPhones and whatever people can get their hands on. The article points out that paying for programmes and stuff that you want to watch works out to be very economical and financially beneficial as you watch what you want, when you want without any hassle of advertisements.
The columnist then writes about how she took her 5 year old daughter to the doctors, to which there was a TV placed up for all the patients to watch whilst they were waiting. On the TV, an advertisement for a toy came on, and this 5 year old went crazy. It instantly sparked excitement and enthusiasm around the product which after which after all, is the ideal result of this form of advertising.
After reading the article, it really puts in to perspective of how the younger generation who are being brought up in this current digital streaming age are missing out on TV advertisements. After all, TV ads have always been an integral cog within the mechanics of large scale marketing, but will this change? Will TV adverts become obsolete in the next 25 years? Are we moving to a digital age whereby TV advertisements will not be sufficient?
All these questions come into play when you read something like this and it questions the whole age of marketing. Already, we’re seeing a natural progression to marketing via digital platforms, but will it come to a point of where TV ads are just not done anymore? It’s very upsetting to some extent as TV ads often spark excitement for both marketeers as well as consumers – I mean, imagine a life without a John Lewis Christmas advert coming on your TV?
However, the flipside of this is that this could ignite a new revolution of marketing as we speak. It’s essentially part of the product cycle. TV advertisements may be coming into the maturity/decline stage on the timeline, and this then provides us young, fresh, and enthusiastic (and good looking may I say) with an exciting new challenge; Finding alternative ways of marketing. Maybe this could make TV advertisements more effective? By making TV advertisements extinct, it will in turn make them rare, and as the great poet Juvenal once said ‘Rare is the union of beauty and purity'. TV Advertisements could become so rare, that people value them more as seen with this 5 year old kid...
But how about the bigger picture? TV advertisements are a great way to get a whole different perspective of things. I mean from my personal experience, watching the Cadbury’s Gorilla advert sparked so many things. Just seeing a Gorilla drumming away to Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight was absolutely epic and for me, I was sold instantly. My imagination and creativity just elevated and my whole perception of marketing had been transformed.
So this poses a great question on society... will the kids of tomorrow become ‘less creative’? Will there be a national shortage of marketeers? Will there be a global shortage of marketing professionals?
Okay... I know that was slightly over the top, but you get the picture right? Overall, a crazy debate into what marketing of tomorrow will actually become...
Read Jessica Valenti's article below:
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