Digital media has dramtically altered the way content is created, and it has opened up new opportunities for individuals to compete with giant corporations for market share. Michael Steckler, Northern Europe Managing Director, Criteo, takes a look at the importance of creativity in the changing digital landscape.
Historically, creativity has been a key element of advertising – it may not be the only, or even the most important, but it’s what gets noticed and remembered. What’s changing in the new world of digital engagement is that the creativity being unleashed is not of the corporate content creator but of the hundreds of millions of people communicating every day.
This fundamental change is turning established content creation on its head. Effectively it’s about two things – the fall in the cost of high quality digital production and the increasing sophistication of the services available to the average consumer. This means widening the potential reach of any brand where the ease of creating content online has opened up new audiences, from the technophobic to the silver surfer. This sophistication of technology and plug and play nature of new devices driven by companies like Apple means that anyone can shoot a video, edit it and upload to a blog or a social media site.
This has had an impact across all media. We’ve seen feature films like Monsters made for a few thousand dollars going head to head with studio productions, we’ve seen viral videos remade into prime time advertising, we’ve seen books published for free online bypassing traditional publishing altogether.
While the business models for this fount of creativity may not yet be in place, they are causing enormous upheavals to the content and advertising industry. Cloud computing is changing the way in which users can access server power. Crowd sourcing solutions to creative and scientific problems is increasing, and there is a growing awareness that traditional business models can be fundamentally changed.
However, it’s not just changes to the way in which we do business. We’re also seeing a change in the way in which we engage with existing audiences. Online this has meant a shift in creativity from publishers to audience, which makes different demands on businesses and audience alike, and forces a realignment of the relationship.
Whether in devices or for the content and personalised services created for those devices, branding is still vital. But the real challenge remains how we face the increasing simplicity of communications for the audience with the complexity of addressing consumers as individuals. User expectations of personalised services relevant to them are growing and it’s possible that as creativity shifts towards the audience, it’s the platform that’s going to decide the future of marketing.
What’s definitely going to be needed is a means of real-time interactive response to consumer behaviour, one that can take advantage of the new standards – creative audience, immediate personalised response, and a company agility to be ready for whatever might be next on the horizon.
By Michael Steckler
Northern Europe Managing Director
Criteo
www.criteo.com
