People hate ads.

Unboxing advertising in 2020

Yes, you heard it right, people hate ads.
In the predigital days, advertising agencies were full of confident creative directors who crowded on costly client contracts and sometimes created campaigns that set a cultural agenda and bewitch the public. Nearly every piece of that equation has changed. Agencies, today fueled by data, are better informed than before about consumers. But many of those consumers, specifically the young people prized by advertisers, hate ads so much that they are paying to avoid them. As advertisers bombard consumers across conventional and to-be conventional platforms like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, television, billboards, newspapers, OTT platforms, and more, consumers are trying to get away, signing up for ad blockers and subscription services. This is easily possible in the digital ecosystem. Amidst all this, companies are struggling to adapt to a changing digital environment where Google and Facebook reshape ad delivery and Netflix tempts for ad-free entertainment. This makes us rethink how flexible is the digital-only advertising space which is being talked about in the last few years.

Things are really messed up and are creatively covered up by the ad agencies to maintain their importance and existence. Standard ad messaging and conventional creative executions and placement are rapidly becoming outmoded. But there’s a ray of hope in this, to think of new exciting opportunities, which can also be existing but unexplored possibilities. Timing, targeting, and placement are more valued than the quality of the message itself. What we still call advertising is turning into well-placed prompts.

Open for discussions. Keeping it short; much more to consume around.