I’m not exactly sure when the unbundling phenomenon began in advertising. That is the splitting of media and creative services into their own separate companies…15 years ago maybe? I believe the thinking was that somebody realized that media buying and planning could be their own profit centers alongside the traditional revenue generated by creative work. I think?
Now years later in a trying financial climate, agencies, both media and creative, are facing the same challenges brought on by the economy. However, with the genesis of the digital era comes a whole new dynamic. Or, in my mind just made crystal clear a situation that existed well before we all began to swim in the ocean of one’s and zero’s. Namely, that developing ad creative, and media buying and planning need to work in concert in order for the orchestra to work best.
Keeping with the musical analogy for a moment, it’s like having fine craftspeople build beautiful instruments without really knowing how, where, or for what purpose they’re going to be used. So then the arranger (aka “the planner”) begins to write his/ her orchestrations. The musicians ready themselves to execute these fine arrangements on these beautiful instruments (aka buyers). But, if the craftspeople (the copywriters, producers, and directors) don’t know how their creations are going to being planned, and ultimately used, it could make for some odd bedfellows in the orchestra pit. Yes the music will be delivered, but will it be the best consumer experience possible? Will the audience clap? Will they want an encore? Will they buy tickets for the next performance?
Luckily the music community has had a lot of years to fine -tune their art. And all of the people involved in the production of a musical campaign are usually very knowledgeable, if not skilled in their own right, in the other areas. Of course there is also a lot of discussion about what the other is doing with much comparing of notes.
Music doesn’t necessarily rely on empirical feedback to determine ROI –though ticket and record sales are some measures used by the “suits”. But think of how much music there is that continues to be performed and produced without any real sustaining profit. Think of all the working musicians around the world who continue to create, are in-demand at some level, and keep doing it for very little financial recompense …”this is why day-jobs were invented”.
The art of media is not so entirely different except that the pay is a little more consistent. Therefore we have to ask ourselves “how can a media campaign be successful if the creative is dissonant to the actual delivery platforms of choice?” Rarely are buyers/ planners brought into the creative process. Yes there are some of us with strategic planning and execution backgrounds who have been fortunate enough to be involved in creative development. However I believe “the unbundling”, was that dynamic’s undoing to a great degree.
Now the dawn of the 21st century brings us: economic woes; hope, in the form of new leadership; and even more possibilities from the world of digital media. Though it can seem like a foreign language to many, it is really not that hard to understand if you break it down to digestible amounts. As we look to develop strategies for the web – especially video based ones – we begin to examine all the elements that go into it. Things that we have overlooked, or taken for granted, when planning a traditional campaign like “what is the creative execution? Or “what can we do with the creative that will maximize the media implementation” or vice versa.
Though digital media can make your head spin and be off putting, I believe it gives us a whole new canvas on which to design our message to the consumer. We can all be creative; we can all be strategists, we can all be friends.
We can apply what we already know about other traditional media, mix it with the new possibilities inside the digital recipe book and have a dialogue with the consumers that can be unparallel. We can. Remember a house divided against itself will fall like a deck of cards. In these painful economic times we cannot afford to be scattered across the floor. Instead we need to be an aesthetically pleasing, structurally sound house that we can all live in. “No McMansions please.”
— Matt Feinberg, President/Matt Feinberg Media, Inc.
