It’s time for something a little different.

(Written on Sep 30, '07 10:24 PM)


A little over a month ago, I moved jobs. I had been in the advertising industry pretty much since I graduated, and was reasonably successful at it. But after more moons than I’d care to admit, it was starting to feel a little less interesting than it used to.

Partially it's a matter of personal relevance. To put it bluntly, I wasn't buying my own guff anymore. An ad agency generally makes stuff that goes on TV, radio, and print, and I hardly ever watched TV, listened to the radio, or read newspapers. Sometimes of course I’d drop by my folks house and we’d sit in front of the tube, but somehow it felt . . . dated . . . to switch from one channel to the next hoping something interesting was on. Or it was annoying to listen to the radio and listen to djs spew mindless prattle before they played a song I didn't like in the first place.

Like many people, I've increasingly gotten used to the internet as a medium for entertainment. And unlike any other medium, control over it is in the hands of the user, not the distributor. We can have exactly what we want, when we want to, and on what device we prefer; pretty much anything that can be seen, listened to or read can be downloaded and enjoyed on our laptops, our TVs, our iPods, our mobile phones, our cars. Availability, geography, time, and even language are no longer limitations. It’s a landscape that is fascinating, challenging, and (to phrase it with some degree of cheesiness) a rich source of creative inspiration.

The net. The "interweb", as George W. has been known to call it. It's the miracle of our age. It’s a magnifying glass through which humanity reveals the best and worst of itself. Granted, some of the things we do are quite ugly, but rumors about internet predators preying on our children, scammers stealing our money, and pornographers turning society into a state of bacchanalia have been greatly exaggerated. On the contrary, the net has convinced me that humanity is a largely decent bunch – that most people by far are kind, honest, and good.

For instance, Wikipedia exists because a huge number of people around the planet have decided to share information and knowledge without personal gain in mind. It constantly regulates itself to prune out inaccuracies - to be a paragon of truth. As of the date of this post, it has around eight million entries, around a dozen times as many as its “outernet” counterpart, the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Since we haven’t actually solved either global warming or South African debt, Wikipedia could be the most impressive cooperative achievement of our species.

EBay, Amazon, and pretty much any other commerce site succeeds because people whom you have never met still stand by their word, are honest about what they sell, and quite literally, deliver the goods. And anyone who has participated in an online forum knows that angels overwhelm demons, that one of humanity’s simplest, most endearing needs is to find others with like interests, and that jerks eventually get banished.

The internet has redefined how we connect with each other, how we entertain ourselves, how we gain knowledge, and of course, how we learn about, choose, and buy products. People want to be informed consumers, and now they can do it on their own terms. I think people like myself - people in the marketing and communications industries - should adapt accordingly.

It’s quite akin to the automobile industry. The internal combustion engine is proven, reliable, and perfectly adequate for the vast majority of people. So why are some car companies developing all sorts of alternate ways to propel a vehicle? Because the world is changing, possibly faster than we’d like, and someday these alternatives will no longer be the alternatives; they will simply be the way things are. And someday, waiting for the ads to end before you get to see your favorite tv show will be as common as tickling a carburator before you start your car.