Technology is neither good or bad; nor is it neutralÂ
What is Digital Advertising?
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Advertising Media
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1925 - 1929
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1930 - 1945
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1946 - 1959
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1960 - 1969
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1970 - 1979
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1980 - 1989
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1990 - 1999
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2000 - 2009
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The Present
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Conclusions
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References
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“Technology is neither good or bad; nor is it neutral.” What an extensive and indefinite statement. This Law of Technology by Kransberg (Boyd, 2012), is a simple sentence meaning so much, but simultaneously, so little. This arrangement of ten seemingly mundane words are fixed in such a way that makes one question; if technology is neither good, bad, or neutral, then what is it? So where does this leave us? Technology is everything but nothing?
This statement can be in relation to the, “…same technology hav[ing] quite different results when introduced into different contexts or under different circumstances,” (Sacasas, 2011), and I must agree, especially when in relation to the evolution of advertising and its digital advances. In order to complete this ever evolving and mutating circle of digital and advertising, a look into the fundamentals of advertising is obligatory.
To define advertising would be an awfully great effort, as the area is so boundless and lends itself to a vast range of vocational as well as educational areas. The Advertising Association of the UK defines advertising as, “…any communication, usually paid-for, specifically intended to inform and/or influence one or more people,” (Bullmore, 2016). This statement does encapsulate advertising as a whole, yet also eliminates more meaning behind the industry. Bullmore says himself that even after 40 years, he scraps with himself over the terms; advertising and advertisements. The struggle to distinguish the two is a battle that some believe is an unnecessary one, and that pedantic thoughts are the stem of this, and the, “…distinction is a false one and entirely unnecessary”. This process leads us to the congregation of all the corners of the advertising industry itself; agencies, media, copy editors, visualizers, brand managers, researchers, creative heads and designers are only a partial part of the larger team in creating an effective work of influence; advertising campaigns.
Yet, if a highly reputable and remarkably clever agency fabricated an utterly beautiful campaign idea and ran it in today’s cut throat environment, without involving any digital elements, they would suffer some great difficulties in reaching target audiences, reducing efficiency. Building an integrated marketing communication strategy into an advertising campaign through utilizing technology is an overarching and inescapable element in reaching consumer’s, and is an incredibly influential tool on consumer behaviour. In turn, since the first acknowledged advertising agency founded in 1786 by William Taylor, digital media has evolved extensively, transforming advertising into a substantially different practice through formation, growth and development.Â
Digital advances were not sudden, but were in fact established over a vast time frame. If we collectively take a step back and considered this with a clear mind, and solely pictured the timeline from the first form of advertising, of Ancient Egyptians carving into steel with public notices of upcoming weather, it still abides by our previously stated definition of communicating in order to inform an audience. Â If we look at the time frame in regards to the considerable advances of advertising media, it would begin with outdoor, leading onto print, radio, television, and finally the internet. Â The evolution of advertising is not only subject to these forms of media, yet also the progressions of society through historical events that enabled advertisers to communicate over multiple digital platforms. Â
Before the 20’s, advertising was a budding industry, only able to do so much with the tools invented. Print and outdoor advertisements were the soul of an advertiser’s creations. This era was the time of Rosalie Adele Nelson who featured in advertisements as the Lucky Strike poster girl. We now reminisce on and appreciate the authenticity and rawness of these classic newspaper advertisements. These advertisements hold a certain taste of nostalgia with consumers, as they resonate with us. This is due to 69% of advertisements in the era of 1925- 1929 containing humorous messages that included wordplay (statistics from The OBIES annual outdoor advertising awards, the oldest award archive of any American advertisements). Only just with the invention of commercial radio, did the evolution of digital media advertising begin to flower.
“By 1925, 40% of the U.S. workforce earned $2,000 or more a year, and the six-day workweek was reduced to five,” (Ad Age, 2003). People had more time on their hands, and since the depression hadn’t yet hit, disposable spending was at a historical high. Women were allowed to be women, cosmetic use rose, and along with an increase of car usage, where by 1929 four of five households owned a car, the radio had become a mass form of communication technology. The origins of radio advertisements began with a single sponsor of the station that was briefly mentioned and the beginning and end of radio shows. However, station owners began to recognize that selling small air time to multiple businesses would generate a greater revenue, and so radio advertising enters the mainstream.
The Great Depression Unemployment: 20% World War II Enlisting’s
Radio officially overtakes outdoor and magazine advertising spending’s. Advertisements deploying humour jumped from 21 to 36% in an effort to boost national moral. The rise of Jack Benny, American comedian, and later actor, began featuring on radio stations, introducing celebrity endorsements to the advertising world. The flower continues to flourish, but as World War II dwelled, the digital realm was put on hold.Â
The 50s followed.
Seven years post war emerged radio’s better looking sibling with the birth of the television, and subsequently the uprising of television advertising. Television gave advertisers vision and inspiration. There was a new toy to play with. Advertisers realized that an ever evolving digital world was the one that we lived in. New doors began to open as gold light shined through the cracks, oozing with endless advertisement possibilities and opportunities. Mentalities spiked like that of the Gold Rush, and following the conclusion of the war, the market began to boom and the growing middle class pursued. By the 1950s television advertisements over took radio on advertisement spending, now being the primary medium for influencing the public.
Assassinations Desegregation Consumer movement Women’s liberation Drug culture Counterculture Anti-war Black power Youth culture First ever Super Bowl. The 60s. The first advertising agency known to have been founded in London 1850 by Edmund Mather merged with New York City agency in 1964 that was founded by David Ogilvy. More famously known as Mather and Ogilvy, now one of the largest marketing and communications companies in the world, by revenue. Stan Freburg introduced satire to advertising. The two-piece swim suit was introduced, sex sells escalated.
Emails. Email first entered the market for use in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that it had taken the form it is now recognized for. From this time, email has since escalated as a fundamental aspect of human communication, let alone being a vital aspect to direct advertising. Today, Gmail alone has over 1 billion users, and it is expected to grow to 3 billion users by 2020 (Statista). Oil prices inclined. The stock market took a turn for the worse. Sexual revolution transpired. Creativity suffers in a market ruled by strategy.
Cable television. The mobile phone. In 1983, the first commercially available handheld mobile phone became readily available to the public. Since then, now in 2017, 80% of internet users own a smartphone (Smart Insights). The mobile phone breached the boundaries for advertising opportunities with its new capabilities. The mobile itself has evolved with advertising, now with smart phones and over 2 million applications on Apples App Store, (LifeWire, 2016). Through the development of these applications, touchpoints with consumers are able to be reiterated continuously. Consequentially, in 2017 mobile marketing campaigns are penetrating the realms of advertising in ways that were only seen in dreams in the 1980s. Â
Cameron Clayton, CEO and GM of The Weather Co, achieves one billion weekly mobile views by reaching consumers through location services on their mobile. Through deciphering the consumer’s location, weather forecasting for the area can be uncovered, allowing for Clayton and his team to utilize the technology allowing, “to reach consumers before the bad weather reaches them,” says Ed Gold, advertising director at State Farm. The data Clayton sources is employed to several applications and used in conjunction with brands including Toyota and Budweiser. The 1980s was also significant for film, as the theatre became a new and basic form of advertising. This was also when iconic movie ET the Extra Terrestrial was released. The film was an instant success, and at its time became the highest-grossing film of all time and was dubbed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant," (National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, 2007).
Honda saw this opportunity, and took advantage of the film’s phenomena, not by advertising in theatres, but by integrating the storyline into their own advertisement. They did so when advertising their “Hoehn” car by playing on the phrase, “ET phone home,” rephrasing the renowned line to “Phone Hoehn.” With the assistance of the digital advances in film in conjunction with Honda’s clever slogan, advertising evolved to be a more humourous industry. The use of humour in advertisements in 1980 spiked, with 36% of outdoor advertisements making humour attempts (New York Times, 2008). At this time, David Ogilvy also coined in, admitting that there was evidence from research that humour in advertising can help sell (Ogilvy and Raphaelson, 1982).
The year the World Wide Web was invented by computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee. From this day, the digital world has since grown by 64%, as in 1995, only 1 in 10 U.S. adults were going online (Zickuhr & Smith, 2012). That consisted of only 14% of the adult population in 1995 being online. In 2011 this grew to 78% of the population being online, and continues to climb. The average person now spends more time online than with all other media outlets combined (Branding Bricks) sending the total spending on internet advertising to grow by 12.9% in 2018 as the internet is now the largest medium for advertising (MediaPost). Sexual orientations grew. President Clinton had an affair. Sex in the City was aired along with South park and Family Guy. Sexual innuendos and vulgarity grew tremendously with this era, as oppose to in 1952 when CBS prohibited the use of the word ‘pregnant’. The web enabled advertisers to reach selective audiences, resulting in an increase in sexual innuendos in advertising.
Facebook: 2004 YouTube: 2005 Twitter: 2006 The first social media platform was originally launched in 1997, yet concluded in 2000. Sixdegrees.com was the first online business where users were real people, using real names. The sites users lost interest as such concepts were to advance for consumers who were not yet a knowledge economy, ready to produce user generated content.
As a society, we have grown together in the ways we interact with social media. Yet, the way in which we use technology is not always up to you, as social influences come into play. Danah Boyd looks at this in relation to social media, more specifically, “what role does social media play in generating or spreading societal fear?” (Boyd, 2012). She amazingly managed to narrow this down to three claims:
Boyd has really encapsulated the way in which we use social media, and is especially commended for her for thinking in such a way that these claims can still be applicable four years after her original content was published. Attention economy refers to “treat[ing] human attention as a scarce commodity,” (Wikipedia, 2016). This statement is widely believed to be true, and that attention is definitely scarce. This belief is cemented due the way that today’s culture uses and interacts with social media. Today, Facebook has over 1.66 billion monthly smartphone users (DMR), and YouTube, on mobile alone, reaches more 18-34 and 18-49-year-olds than any cable network in the US (YouTube). Soon after, Instagram followed in 2010, and now in 2017, 32% of teenagers say Instagram is the most important social network.
Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar are two exceptional individuals, who have somehow created an absolutely beautiful emulsion of emotion, technology, social media, and art, putting the evolution of digital into a physical form. The two are the creators of We Feel Fine, “an interactive website, artwork, and book that searches the internet every 10 minutes for expressions of human emotion on blogs and then displays the results in several visually-rich dynamic representations,” (Wikipedia, 2016). Harris and Kamvar are celebrating those individuals who do not fear technology, and are using it as a form of expression to bare their emotions. We Feel Fine is exceedingly beautiful in a way that people are not ridiculed for being attention seeking at all. The We Feel Fine project took four years of their findings to produce a delightful and perfectly titled book, We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion, translating the digital world back to the physical. By compiling global emotion, We Feel Fine has achieved a great feat in the digital world.
Advertisers are continuously tasked with generating original content with the added pressure of increasing sales and attaining other marketing objectives. They are required to understand the socio-historical context and cultural knowledge of audiences in the hopes of resonating in the target consumers. These social, cultural, and historical influences evolve, and understanding this evolution is essential in deciphering what will capture the necessary audience. These factors differ in an abundance of ways, for example from country to country and gender to gender. If there isn’t a sound understanding of how they have evolved, the ability to use advertising tactics, like violating norms to offend, would not prevail. Such a tool would prove to be effective if the target audience’s influences were understood, yet if they were not, offending desired consumers would reduce sales and effect the brands image.Â
An individual that seems to artistically bridge the understanding of evolution is Lucas Beaufort, an artist who combines the mediums of print and paint to create the most enchanting works. He features raw, organic and natural aspects of creative life, and seamlessly includes technology to create an emulsified piece of work. Beaufort effortlessly encapsulates this notion of an evolution through the digital innovations and allows us to see the larger picture in relation to advertising. He states, “What can we say when we have already said everything,” which is very relatable for individuals in creative vocations. It is a very common mental wall for advertisers when scrapping over a new campaign, but by considering our historical events and how our mentalities have progressed through the era’s, we can see that originality will be ever achievable. As a society, we hit walls, and simultaneously blow them to smithereens with innovation, and concurrently, we evolve.
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