Global ad experts okay traditional media
Advertising experts across the globe have agreed that the traditional media will still remain relevant despite the wide embrace of the digital media.
Chairman / CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Amusement Park, an ad agency in Southern California, Mr. Jimmy Smith, said advertisers should look beyond the platform being used but rather focus on the idea. “It doesn’t matter whether it is digital or traditional; the bottom line is ‘what is the big idea’? There are zero borders for a good idea. A good idea travels through digital, through online, TV commercials, print, outdoor, whatever and that is never going to change. Big ideas have no borders.”
Smith added that there was really no such thing as traditional or non-traditional media, stressing: “It was the same thing when it was only print medium-that is newspapers. The traditional was print and the non-traditional was radio. Then TV came along, and traditional was radio and print and the non-traditional was TV. Now, people need to stop talking about digital or non-digital; it is all advertising. We just have more platforms and more places to express and get out our client’s message. They are like twins, so it is more love on the work, more love on the idea.”
The president of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr. Kayode Oluwasona also added that the relevant question advertisers should ask is: ‘how do people consume media now’? He further explained: “When social media started, we were hearing things like ‘online is going to kill advertising’. I was almost a lone voice in the industry. The reality of it is that there is really nothing like ‘new media’. At some point, TV was new media. Have you thought about that? Up until 1959, television was not in existence in Nigeria.
“What I see is that technology is bringing yet another platform for brands to connect with consumers and that is digital medium. We are no longer talking about TV commercials, but screens. The screen could be on your wrist as your wristwatch, your phone, your tablet – digitalization is going on. The person that used to watch television during the family belt with his family doesn’t do that anymore. He now consumes that information on his phone, laptop or tablet.So people now carry content around, instead of going to content (by sitting in front of a television). Advertising is meant to do the work of ensuring that there is connection between brands and consumers. So whether online or offline, digital or analog; advertising is supposed to play a role,” Oluwasona added.
In the same vein, Creative Director of FCB, South Africa, Susan Credle advised that practitioners should not be ashamed of traditional advertising, stressing: “We should be proud of pure, traditional advertising, that is print and film that is not five minutes long but 15, 30 seconds long. The quick form communication of a brand or product is a noble business when done well and we should get back to it.
Although the world seems to be fast evolving, Credle added that things that were applicable in the 50s and 60s are still applicable in the advertising world today. She said: “It was in the 1950s and it is still going to be so forever because the principle of what we do remains the same”.
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