With hundreds of seminars and workshops to choose from, AWXII (Advertising Week 2015) left us with a lot of insights and information to digest. But perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of the week was the pull between keeping up with the digital while holding onto the traditional.
Of course, it’s no surprise that digital marketing, social media and data would play a big role in most, if not all, of the discussions. How can we better incorporate multi-media platforms into our campaigns? How can we capture more meaningful data to offer the best services and products? How do we keep consumers engaged in this faster, more disruptive environment? While the panelists discussed and bantered among themselves, it was clear that at the heart of these questions was a deeper, age-old issue: How do we tell our stories better?
Because advertising and marketing is about connecting, and no matter the platform, the most ancient way of connecting is through stories. We told our stories in stone arenas, marble halls and on wooden stages. Now we tell them from screens, links and likes.
While these ideas comprised an underlying force of the entire conference throughout the week, there were some seminars that addressed the union and dichotomy of digital and traditional head-on. This included the discussion titled “Impossible to Ignore,” moderated by Contagious’ senior staff writer Chris Barth, and “New Media. Old Problems.” led by the Fearless Group’s Jerry Judge.
Panelists on “Impossible to Ignore” tackled the issue of creating compelling content that’s able to break through the digital chaos and get people to take action. What seems like a daunting task is really, in the end, about touching upon human truths, something that’s been practiced for ages.
“New Media. Old Problems.” shed some additional light on the matter, lending insight into how the issues we have with creating digital content today are really the same problems we’ve always had in marketing and advertising. For example, just because people “like” a product (either digitally or emotionally), doesn’t mean they will take action. We need to compel consumers using traditional thinking, and marry that to the modern tech platforms.
So while today’s marketing concerns may be heavily invested in digital and data, one of the biggest takeaways from Advertising Week, whether unspoken or directly addressed, was that, despite the trajectory of the digital wave, there will always be a place for traditional thinking.
An aside: If someone from ancient Rome—the birthplace of rhetoric as we know it today—were to sneak into the back of one of the seminars and survey the room, they would likely be appalled at what they’d find: an audience barely looking at the speakers or the stage. But it wasn’t because audience members weren’t focused on what was being said. They typed on computers, tablets or phones—live-Tweeting or blogging right from their seats—all to share the experience and knowledge with the world. The way we digest and share stories has changed. Engagement has changed. But it’s still all about the story and the power to connect.
