Advertising Needs Its Own Driverless Car Revolution

Advertising Week is upon us The industry has converged on New York City for its annual confab about the latest and greatest in advertising things like header bidding the latest in the social media platforms saga mobile this and that and whatever other whizbang jargon weamp8217ve concocted over the past yearBut selfishly Iamp8217m thinking about television advertising Weamp8217ve come a long way since the worldamp8217s first TV ad aired 75 years ago when Bulovaamp8217s amp8220Time Checkamp8221 ad opened up a new world of possibilities for supporting at the time an emerging new medium But in a world where video has gone everywhere amp160heck even your Internet of Things fridge can stream Netflix innovation within advertising has not kept up for the most partThere will be breathless conversations this week about what the future holds for the television advertising business but we for the most part are talking about how to fix the problems of todayamp8217s realities in advertising Iamp8217ve always subscribed to the notion that the best way to predict the future is to start building it todayOur original sin as an industry is establishing the notion that advertising is something we inflict on our audiences that they have to amp8220put upamp8221 with it in order to get access to the content they want But what if advertising was actually something people desired What if advertising was invited into our world like a good friend What if advertising could help people lead better lives What if it could make us better husbands parents children What if advertising could help the planet and feed the hungry This sounds relatively ridiculous from todayamp8217s viewpoint We just sling ads not cure cancer after allIt doesnamp8217t have to be that unrealistic Itamp8217s no less impossible than a car that drives itself around and helps you run errandsamp160and if adopted widely could possibly lead to a large reduction in the more than 13 million people that die in road accidents every year around the worldWeamp8217ve already seen large investments in that idyllic predestination Googleamp8217s selfdriving car has logged over one million miles amp160the equivalent ofamp160180 trips from New York City to Los Angeles and back Audi Ford GM Toyotaamp160and every other major auto manufacturer are building selfdriving cars and will likely be productionready by 2025Itamp8217s possible that in less than 10 yearsamp160many of us will be driving amp160ahem amp160sitting in a car that drives itself Itamp8217ll probably get 1000 miles on a fullycharged battery and will probably feature more technology than in todayamp8217s airplanes These cars of the future will also be the new living room Without having to navigate traffic weamp8217ll be free to watch more video programming inside of it than anywhere else in our lives Make your morning commute great againAll this is to say that the auto industry is imagining a society in which travel is done in a wholly different way just like the same industry opted to invest in wheeled selfpowered motor vehicles over a hundred years ago rather than simply breed faster horsesSimilarly we as TV and video advertisers publishersamp160and other stakeholders should refocus the conversation we are having about the future of our business on the actual future we want rather than just the incremental step to next year and then put the people processesamp160and products in place to help build it If we are only creating faster more complex systems to support our businesses for today amp160one where consumers are increasingly blocking and avoiding ads might I add we will continue to drive a wedge between ourselvesamp160and viewersIn Wharton professor Jerry Windamp8217s insightful book Beyond Advertisingamp160he portrays a world where advertising is welcomed not avoided where advertising is considered by consumers to be helpful not intrusive This might sound like marketing Nirvana but it shouldnamp8217t beWe have a long way to go but weamp8217re already seeing great efforts to advance our craft today things like Home Depotamp8217s use of augmented reality in their mobile app to allow shoppers to see how certain products fit into their home and the ecosystem of connected fitness apps and hardware Under Amour has built that showamp160advertising can bring value to peopleamp8217s livesNo one party has all of the answers to get to where we need to go which is why Turner Ad Lab and other collaborative efforts are criticalamp160The same way a car can and will do more than take us from point A to point B advertising can be reimagined and do more than persuade us to buy things With that realization and selfawareness in mind weamp8217ll be able to build the future of advertising everyone can hitch a ride onThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Advertising Needs Its Own Driverless Car Revolution

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Michael Strober

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

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Advertising Needs Its Own Driverless Car Revolution

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Michael Strober

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

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