The Irrelevance Of Digital

There's been a few things I've read recently questioning the relevance of the word 'digital' in marketing, suggesting that in light of the digitisation of all media it is losing its meaning, that the days of specialism are over.

I think Marc Cridge is right when he says that 'digital' played to a different set of rules, and that social has now changed the game again, and that "you can’t simply take the old ways of doing things and apply them to any new medium in exactly the same way".

But I also think that the distinction we make is getting less meaningful. And as I've said before, people don't think in channels, they think in terms of entertainment, information, enjoyment, usefulness - being able to get what they want, when they want it. As content becomes unhinged from legacy devices, as media 'channels' become blurrier, so the separation between 'platforms' becomes less and less tangible.

As Mark Anderson has said, content is already at the point where it has few or no boundaries, where it is provisioned for every device, where it is increasingly less defined by its 'platform', and in that way becoming more invisible. By expanding, the web disappears.

Image courtesy

Russell made the point that this all gets really interesting (or scary, depending on your point of view) as more products start emiting data streams, as objects start communicating and get more informationally connected, and that this is what advertising and marketing and media people really need to get afeared by: "All this web stuff is going to look like a picnic compared to the horrors that will be dealt to the agency and media businesses when every product has a communications channel built right in."

To quote William Gibson: 'One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real'

And yet the majority of advertising content is still provisioned by channel, media is planned and bought by channel, and I agree with John - it often seems that common sense is not so common. Or put another way, we can't afford to take for granted that the things that we take for granted are taken for granted by everyone else. If that sounds a little pompous, I don't mean it to. But the point again is that the view from inside the world of advertising and media is not necessarily the same as that outside of it.

I don't have the answer. But I suspect that the question ain't going away anytime soon.

Comments

[Edson Pavoni]

That is the question. Thanks for asking.
I will too.

[Carl]

Irrelevant from a people and cultural POV I would agree with you. This is something all agencies need to concede, but I think it's dangerous to suggest that traditional agencies have cracked it as some of the posts you reference seem to suggest.

Most of this comes down to the doing part and the other 80% of digital that isn't just about advertising and campaigns.

Cannes isn't a great indicator of digital at all. If it was AKQA would have won hands down.

Things like CP+B's Whopper Sacrifice is good. But it's essentially a Facebook app. AKQA have developed something that no traditional agency would have the desire, intention or capability of delivering.

It's certainly an interesting debate. Great post

[eskimon]

Great post Neil - your questions provoked even more questions in my mind, and helped connect a few thoughts too.

Our continued, myopic view of the world from our own, self-centred perspective stops us doing precisely what we want to do - i.e. connect with people.

Rather than fill your comments section up with an extended rant though, I've posted my thoughts here: http://eskimon.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/think-outside-yourself/

Would be great to hear your thoughts too.

[Joseph Francis]

Irrelevant now, maybe, but soon it will have retro cachet again, like 20th Century Fox.

:D

I know one thing - the oft-used term 'digital domain' died a sudden death as soon as Cameron named his company Digital Domain. No one wanted to remind their clients of a competitor.

http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2005/07/american_cinema.html

[AdLand Suit]

Well, thank Christ for that. Digital is dead. Long live ideas, enjoyment and being useful, wherever and however you happen to do it.

[Mikej]

great post

I think I love Carl's point about one cannes cant show that the world has changed. Droga made the comment that he was beginning to see digital ideas this year becoming more a part of a cultural movement... not just an app on facebook. Which begins to show its power but also a greater understanding of the broader context, which in the past has been something that the bigger agencies have tried to own. But it doesnt mean they all have infused that type of thinking in their business. Remember all the agencies are from smaller networks (otherthan dusseldorf bbdo) so they are agile and nimble enough to change.

Taking into consideration the comment you have included from Kevin Kelly and Clay Shirky's view on email. It is when it truly becomes invisible and a simple way of life that we truly cross the divide.

I believe the truth is that the industry shouldve changed a long time ago... but we were making enough money and things werent moving that fast so we could get away with it. The onset of additional marketing services was kind of nice and could have been an opportunity. The likes of M&B and Naked jumped onto it. But it took the networks a while. It was also limited. Digital came in quick .. a little bit of a side bet... but it didnt quite work the first time.. so we walked away. Thinking it was over. Then it came like a freakin hurricane. We all grabbed what we understood and some people had the guts to ride the storm. Now we are all trying to move over to the new town they have created. Some of us have built houses but a lot of us are still holding onto the scraps of the old one. I hate to be cheesy but Rome wasnt built in a day... even if the day was 2009.

big agency networks, as networks, are still behind. But if you ask me... it just makes it more interesting

thanks for letting me rant neil,

[neilperkin]

Great comments - thanks all. Carl, Mike - agree that one Cannes does not a changed world make. Interesting point about a cultural movement, though I guess we will have really got there when an idea ceases to be a 'digital idea' and becomes just 'an idea'...