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The three most overused words
in the advertising biz this year are “data,” “agency” and “TV.” All three
are core to the current status and future direction of the entire
industry.
Being a writer at heart, I
think it’s important to analyze these three words and possibly offer some
better ones to consider, maybe looking at them in the context of whether
they are product or benefit. Are they leading or lagging terminology?
First, let’s consider the term
“data.” Data is central to everything now, because it creates the
opportunity to know the audience better, offering insights. It can
be viewed as both targeting data and measurement data.
Hundreds of companies are
focused on creating value with data, with every company under the
Lumascape using it in order to define or differentiate them. Data
is now table stakes in order to play in the game.
We may not be able to stop
using the term data, but maybe we can focus more on what the data
becomes: knowledge. As someone I have a ton of respect for recently
said, “Companies don’t need more data. They aren’t even using all the
data they already have, so why would they need even more?” He’s
right – it’s not about having data, but what you do with the data.
If data is the product, knowledge is the benefit.
Then there’s “agency,” defined
as “a business or organization established to provide a particular
service, typically one that involves organizing transactions between two
other parties.”
Today’s agencies are in a
state of evolution because the value and service they used to offer is
different from what they will offer in the future. The agency is
still playing a mid-transaction role, but it’s less about the strategy
for reaching a target, and more about understanding that target.
The role of the agency is to
create benefits from the products and tools around them. In the case of
data, they should facilitate the understanding that comes from the
knowledge derived from the data.
Agencies are morphing into
service providers, translating basic fact into knowledge in a way that
creates value for their clients. They’re more akin to consultants
that also offers executional capabilities — even though, more and
more, clients are choosing not to take advantage of those executional
capabilities.
If I were to refer to agencies
in a different way, I would look at them as consultancies. That
term is more aligned with where they are headed and the value they are
likely to offer. Plus, it recognizes the fact that consultants are
looking to encroach on the agency business.
Finally, let’s evaluate the
term “TV.” In the old days, a TV was the specific appliance that
sat stationary in your home. That’s not the case these days, as the
term is clearly becoming a broader one that refers to programmed video
across any host of devices.
TV is also becoming the most
talked-about platform because everyone wants to get onto it. The
chaos of competitive programming is increasing, with companies like
Facebook and Snap getting into the mix.
TV is the new black, so to
speak. Because of that, I might recommend still calling it TV, but
understanding that the word has a different meaning.
The future of the ad industry
is such that these three terms are interwoven into the fabric of
everyone’s business. Data is core to creating knowledge, agencies
are morphing to become consultants that create value from that knowledge,
and TV is the primary platform, whether it be on one device or another,
where that value creates tangible benefit. Together, this is the
new paradigm for the future of the business.
What are some other terms that
may be getting quickly outdated?
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