I had an interesting talk with some advertising people yesterday and some very interesting points were raised. Now I won't bore you with an hours worth of talking condensed down into one mediocre blog post for my two and a half readers to look at. Needless to say, big words were used.
Anyway, one point that did interest me concerned writing in advertising.
Where the hell has it all gone? Look at any D&AD annual from twenty years ago and it will be full of long copy print and press ads, and radio scripts as long as your arm. (I have long arms).
Fashion plays a big part in it obviously. Cannes style advertising has been 'in' for a few years now. And the hectic and fast paced lifestyles that we apparently all live probably don't help either. But what the hell do they mean when advertising people say we have a hectic and fast paced lifestyle?
Apparently nobody has time to read a long copy ad anymore. And yet, like one of the ad people said yesterday, the tube is always full of free newspapers that people read on their commute. And the internet is full (weird thought) of blogs - so people like myself must also have a bit of spare time to write as well.
So I'm wondering if that is the problem - there is too much writing out there? Now that anybody in the world can get their words published in one way or another, are people's words less important? There is now a greater quantity of literature, and the quality has suffered? It happened with art direction a few years ago too: when Macs became popular and creative suite software became readily available, everyone suddenly thought they were designers / art directors. Art directors were no longer masters of their craft because Average Joe could photoshop a logo onto a picture dead easy. And the work suffered.
I was just wondering what people in advertising will be moaning about in ten years time. Personally I want to see all the lines blurred - what the hell is advertising anyway?
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