The advertising industry has come a long way from the days of Mad Men.
Here at Cannes Lions, the ad industry’s biggest event, executives are facing
a lot of questions about the future of their business - and they don't have a lot of answers.
We surveyed the field to find out what experts here think are the biggest talking points in the advertising industry.
The first thing we found?
Digital means people are taking in content - and ads - anytime, anywhere.
We need to embrace technology.
We need to embrace the fact that our viewers are consuming content everywhere, whenever they want.
It’s a complete frustration of mine that digital is still something you tag
onto the beginning of a word when it’s actually the world.
We all have phones, therefore we are digital.
That brings us to our second theme:
Historically you would put money out there
and there was no way to understand if you actually got anything in return.
And now there’s very, very easy opportunities to spend a dollar
and understand if you made two dollars or three dollars.
New players from consultancies to blockchain startups are working to track and monetize data in advertising.
Brands and creators have become a little bit too concerned about owning all the data
and they're trying to make too much of the data.
One thing that might curb this data addiction?
New privacy rules like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation - or GDPR.
If people don’t comply with the rules, there's real consequences,
where in the past that hasn't been the case.
Another major topic?
Brands want control over their ads.
For many companies, this has meant teaming up with influencers
who create their own content on platforms like Instagram or YouTube.
So in some ways, they're better than some of the brands might be at creating that content in the first place?
They've created amazing content for their own brand. So they know the brand guidelines themselves.
They create aesthetically pleasing content. And then they know how to distribute,
they know how to get an audience because they've created this audience.
Other companies have ditched ad agencies to produce their own content in-house.
Do you think that those agencies that aren’t keeping up, could they become irrelevant?
I mean, I think there is the possibility of that happening.
And I think the speed in which we need to evolve today to keep ahead is faster than it's ever been.
The bottom line?
Advertising is evolving quickly - and companies that can’t keep up might be left behind.
Hey everyone, it's Elizabeth here. Thanks so much for watching!
Be sure to check out our other videos from Cannes over here.
Leave us any other ideas in the comments section, and talk to you later!