Out With the Old, in With the NEW
ADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — Agencies love standards. Standard units, standard costs, standard benchmarks. It’s easy to understand why. With standardization comes a measurable way to determine success, and with that comes a way to determine value.
Without realizing it, even agency creatives have thrived on standardization for at least 50 years. Despite the very real and very vocal desire within most creative hearts to produce something that is new and different, breaks through, becomes pop culture, or at least gets enough attention to warrant a pencil or a lion — creatives are very comfortable with standards. Because advertising creativity, for a very long time, has been judged by how well the idea plays within those standards: It’s the best 30-second spot in the break. It’s a great 30-sheet. It’s the winner of the four-color, single-page category. Standard units of creativity define the playing field. Or, they used to, anyway.
It seems like almost every day I read, hear, or get drawn into another conversation about how some sort of creative standards should be developed and applied to the things we make for the web. Not technical standards — those exist, work, and evolve, as is evidenced by the fact that you can use your browser to read this. No, I’m talking about creative and production standards. How much to charge to make a minute of online video. How many minutes to make an online video. What kind of creative should drive a viral attempt. How often to blog. They’re interesting discussions. Except, most of the time, they miss one of the most important realities of the space: There are no standard units of creativity on the web. Not really, anyway.
A case can be made that banners have size constraints, PPC has a character limit, and pre-roll is bought in standard runtimes. But those are all just units of measure that apply to select properties on the web. Popular properties, yes — but not even close the only ones available. Another case can be made for best practices, as defined by usage data. Until, that is, something new comes along and changes the way people use things. That happens pretty regularly, in my observation.
The truth is, the canvas that the web represents, when you’re talking about the things you can create to advance a client’s message, is as blank as blank gets. The old expression, “Think outside of the box,” in addition to being dated and hackneyed, isn’t even relevant anymore. The box you were supposed to think outside of doesn’t exist now. And that can be scary to some people. Some companies. And some industries.
It’s natural that an industry used to living with, and charging for, success that can be measured by standard units would want to attempt to bring some sort of standardization to the creation of things in this new, scary place. If for no other reason than to simplify explanations when you’re trying to explain what you want to do to your client. But there’s a flaw in this thinking: You can make up rules. But not everyone is going to follow them.
There are lots of differences between the old media and the new, but there’s one that stands above all others. There are no real gatekeepers in new media. Which means technology, and creativity, is free to innovate in any direction — and is accountable to users, and only users. Put simply — the competition for people’s attention comes from all angles now. Not just from competitors doing the same things as you.
What that means to agencies is exactly what I’ve heard agencies demanding for years and years: Work is now judged on the idea. While it might be a case of, “Be careful what you wish for,” the principle is quite simple. You make something — anything — and the people watching or interacting with it will tell you, in no uncertain terms, whether they like it. Not whether they like it better than the other thing that was right next to it. Or the other thing that’s in the same category. But, whether they like it at all.
There are no more standard units. No more comparison between different ways to fill the same measure of seconds. There is now, simply, competition for attention and notoriety — and it’s won by the best idea, regardless of the shape that idea takes.
The new Standard Unit of Creativity is: The Idea. And the best ideas, as we already know, are the ones that are anything but standard.
Reader Comments.
Standards for online video are still to be determined. Long-form video, which looks like a TV show, has in stream ads, are working for Hulu. For shorter form video sites, like YouTube and Newsy.com, pre-roll ads and overlays will continue to be tested.
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