Example from Google’s Art, Copy & Code team’s EA Sports gif campaign.
What does the future of advertising look like? That’s a great question, and one we hope to get a closer answer to in this week’s MIMA event featuring Google’s brand lead, Vikram Tank. We all want to be ready for a future of advertising that may look drastically different than what it appears to be today. We all want our brands to be relevant, agencies to succeed, and to be a part of the conversation. But what does that mean for us in today’s advertising landscape? And what does it mean for us in tomorrow’s?
To get a better idea of where the future of adverting might take us, let’s take a quick look back to see how advertising has evolved over time:
- In the early 1700’s newspaper ads were being printed, and by 1870 there were more than 5,000 newspapers advertising products such as soap, sugars and haircuts.
- In 1838, advertising saw the first billboard.
- Volney Palmer opened the first advertising agency in Philadelphia in 1841.
- In the early 1900’s companies such as Ford started using flashy publicity events to advertise their products.
- In 1922, a New York City realty company paid $100 for the first radio commercial, on station WEAF.
- In 1941, Bulova watches did the first television commercial. It cost them $9.
- It wasn’t until the 1960’s, however, when focus groups started turning advertising into a calculated science.
- By 2000, ads were appearing alongside search results on the internet and for the first time, consumers could pick and choose which ads they wanted to see.
When advertising first began, it was a simple suggestion for something you might need. Today, it has become a war for consumer attention. It’s not just about the product being advertised or the channel that is used; it’s also about the evolution of human communication, the art that you’re displaying and the brand story you’re conveying.
But what does this mean for advertising moving forward? That’s what we’re about to learn from the experts at Google’s Art, Copy & Code team. In just the past year, Google has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the advertising industry (which, let’s be honest, isn’t a huge surprise coming from Google). Their campaign withThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was pure brilliance. The five-part video series portrayed “district voices,” featuring different popular YouTube creators whose channel aligned with a specific industry from one of the districts of Panem. Each spot was recorded at the YouTube Space LA facility and presented as programming from the Panem government’s official “Capitol TV.”
Another campaign this Google team conducted was EA Sports’ Madden Giferator. EA Sports created its own in-house GIF generator using the Madden game engine – letting those who use it see how powerful the game engine is, and the detail of the graphics. EA Sports then partnered with Google to generate real-time ads, meaning that when something big happens on during the game, the GIF ads that are displayed change to coordinate with what just happened. This real-time, visual, and interactive marketing is unprecedented and something that will likely dictate the future of how up-to-speed us advertisers and marketers need to be.
Want to learn more about what the folks at Google are up to and how it’s changing the advertising game? Register here and join us on Wednesday, April 15th at the International Market Square at 5:30 pm.
