All that glitters is not gold

Whenever some new fancy pants piece of technology or innovation emerges these days there's usually a great deal of clamour and unqualified nonsense from digital evangelists and neophiles that this piece of technology or innovation is brilliant and will change everything.

Remember when the "Red Button" was going to change advertising for good? We were told that with  this amazing, innovative functionality, people would actually stop watching the programme a commercial was actually interrupting to magically interact with a piece of advertising [i.e. sign up to take a test drive of a brand new Mazda or some shit like that].  Would they heck as like.

Similarly, there's a lot of kerfuffle about Vine right now and you get the sense that this is yet another bandwagon to be jumped on as these neophiles scurry around trying to convince us all that six second video clips are the new Holy Grail.

There's a ridiculous belief held by many, and not just the fringe lunatics, that just because something is new it must be better than what has gone before.  That just because something is new it is therefore ripe for commercial exploitation by marketers who can reach a valuable new audience for very little or no investment.

Just because you can use something for the purposes of advertising doesn't necessarily mean you should. Anyone clicked on a banner ad deliberately recently?

It beggars belief the amount of time, energy and money that advertisers in low interest categories spend trying to "engage" their audience on Twitter, Facebook etc.

The most frightening thing in our business right now [apart from the dearth of great creative work] is the dangerous assumption that most people are already interested in what we have to say and want to take part and get involved in some kind of conversation or relationship with a brand.

There may be a tiny percentage of hardcore advocates of a brand who fit this bill.  But not many I wager.  If in doubt, always refer to Poliakov's Pyramid Of Engagement 

Most clients spending their valuable shekels on advertising need to recruit new users for their brand or product.  Our primary job is to use our creativity to get them interested in that brand or product in the first place.  Yes, that might still mean communication that is more one-way "interruption" rather than a two-way dialogue, but when done with charm, craft and reward this type of advertising is a far, far more effective use of advertising investment. Full stop.