No Spoilers.
Lately I've been thinking about how YouTube.com has blown up. It has video's on just about every blog that I have been reading. They are everywhere. I stopped by their site today to find a link to that iPod designed by Microsoft video that is on Gareth Kay's blog, and I immediately saw how they've done it. They provide you with code that you can plug into your blog that creates a player that holds the video.
They've made their website viral by helping bloggers use their content. Smart.
Microsoft is going to abandon PowerPoint.
Uh oh. I guess its time to bite the bullet and get Keynote.
Almost every speaker we've had at Adcenter has expressed that advertising is dead. Art Directors and Copywriters are freaked out that someone is going to edge in on their near godlike "creative" designation. Planners are freaked out about any number of things, they spend more time wondering about their demise than anything else. Media people are all freaking out that not as many people watch TV anymore, and that they want to be more involved in the creative idea process rather than being tacked on at the end. It's all just crazy. Everyone wants everyone else's job and everyone else is freaked out about someone coming to take their jobs away from them. I think that we all just need to relax. In the end, if you have a brain, this industry needs you. What it doesn't need is people obsessed with titles and job functions and taking credit for things. What we don't need is ultra defensive and sensitive people trying desperately to keep everyone else from edging in on their job function. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, advertising is a team sport. Advertising agencies at their best are just large buildings full of creative idea people. The best ideas are going to come from everyone working together, not from some archaic chain of responsibility, handing work off linearly like some assembly line where you never see anyone else. The industry is going to be just fine, but I think those agencies that realize that we are all on the same team, no matter what our job title is, are going to be the agencies of the future.
I know that you're going to fight it, but you remember watching Demolition Man with Silvester Stallone. I just saw it again while I was eating lunch, courtesy of TBS, and one thing really struck me. The first time I saw it, the idea of Taco Bell having won the franchise wars and every restaurant being named Taco Bell seemed funny because it was possible in some absurd way. They had so much momentum. Today when I saw it, it was funny because it was odd. It didn't feel true anymore. Taco Bell was a powerhouse back in the 90s but they've lost their brand momentum. I wonder what happened. It might be related to the conversation that I have with someone every time I go to Taco Bell, you know, the "remember when Taco Bell was cheap" conversation. Remember the 59, 69, 79 menu? They used to stand for cheap but good, but now they don't stand for anything. Their brand is so muddled now. Am I the only one who feels this way?
