Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
The word “traditional” means a lot of things to a lot of people. Europeans have “traditionally” hit the beach naked – while North Americans think the banana hammock goes too far (it really does). Some individuals traditionally have breakfast while others don’t. What my parents call traditional, I call obsolete.
People like the idea of “tradition” because it’s safe. And that’s not all bad all the time. But in marketing it’s a four-syllable word that causes a lot of problems.
We have “traditional” agencies and “non-traditional” agencies. We have “traditional” departments and “non-traditional” departments. We’re being asked to use “traditional” spaces in “non-traditional” ways.
The word, frankly, means nothing anymore.
Being in the business of ideas, I have a hard time labeling what we do “traditional” and therefore, “non-traditional.” Any truly innovative idea should, by definition, be “non-traditional,” right?
Now, imagine advertising without the word “traditional.” That’s what truly great agencies do.
They don’t differentiate by “traditional” and “non-traditional” departments. They hire awesome ideas people that specialize in areas of communication, who work together to bring an idea to life across the motherf-ing board.
They don’t assume that advertising needs to exist in a :30 spot between periods of a Leafs game. Nor do they only think in rich media banner ads on YouTube. They look at advertising as an ongoing conversation with people, all over the place.
They are the agencies pushing brands to be less talk, more action. To be transparent with everything they do and to have fun doing it. Their people are teachers and students, all of the time. And together they understand that the only thing traditional in our business is constant change.
Tweets that mention Busting up tradition « Big Orange Slide -- Topsy.com
October 26, 2010 @ 12:42 pm
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Ian Mackenzie
October 27, 2010 @ 10:31 am
“Any truly innovative idea should, by definition, be ‘non-traditional,’ right?”
Provocative statement.
Be curious to hear counterpoints from folks who support the traditional/non-traditional split.
Also, if the word “traditional” seems dusty, how do you feel about “mass” versus “interactive”? Same problem?
Jacoub Bondre
October 28, 2010 @ 6:30 am
I think I’m going to cry. Just beautiful man.
Jamie King
October 28, 2010 @ 10:35 am
I’m not so sure “mass” and “interactive” need to be separate. Ask a 14 what they consider mass media and ask a 30 year old what they consider mass media and I’m sure you’ll get different answers. Maybe ‘mass’ is now in the eye of the consumer.