Don’t worry be happy
Here’s a little piece I wrote (you might want to learn it note for note) and I’ve been told by its reader to be more positive! It seems when things are difficult, the last thing people want to hear is the bad stuff. Fair enough. Here it is anyway:
In a nutshell there are two dynamics at work in the digital communications industry that have never existed before and thus make this situation entirely unique:
- Lack of skilled people who (most importantly) understand how to operate in an unprecedented marketplace.
- The pace of technological change.
There are too many senior people in the industry who should by-rights and through their vast experience be able to steer successfully through the new world. Through no faulty of their own, however, the second problem - the pace of technological change, has created a dynamism that has never existed before and thus the rule book should have been ripped up. Unfortunately, almost everyone is still abiding by the old rules.
When new media invaded the commercial world a decade or so ago it created a clash of cultures that still exists in many ways today. This is the clash between technology and it’s development and communications & creativity, executed via the “agency model”.
One of the fall-outs of this meeting of two very different worlds was an exacerbation of the frisson that has always existed between agency/supplier and client. By adding technology into the mix, which neither side fully appreciated or understood, the opportunity for misunderstanding exponentially rose.
Much has been achieved in ironing out the wrinkles and chasms that existed in this unholy marriage. However the situation exists today of the different “silo’s” of digital providers still operating largely exclusively of each other. These are the full-service agencies furiously trying to add digital capabilities to their portfolio but unwittingly leaving one arm tied behind their backs; the digital specialist agencies who are unencumbered by legacy agency practice, but who are at times naive in the arts of communication; and software specialists who are very poor at getting themselves heard and seen in the right places.
The problems that exists today in the industry are well-known, articulately voiced and frequently debated. Yet they persist. Why?
Any agency trying to develop their digital capabilities and credentials has to understand the dynamics at play, learn from the well-charted pot holes and most importantly take a fresh and bold approach. From the big agency networks to the small Through-The-Line outfits, good intentions are repeatedly being scuppered by misunderstanding and misguided arrogance. Still nobody has got it entirely right, and therein lies the opportunity.
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