• by December 13, 2001

These days, I start off every presentation to internal or external audiences by saying something along the following lines:

It’s imperative you understand that online advertising is in a very different place today, compared to a year ago. No longer do we hold to a see-click-buy linear methodology. Online advertising is able to achieve the same objectives that you achieve with the rest of your media mix (and then some.)

I recently participated on a panel about Rich Media at the MediaBuyerSummit in Park City, UT. At the end of the discussion, the panelists were asked to sum up their thoughts in a closing remark. My response was in the form of 4 words: BIGGER, BETTER, BRAVER, INTERACTIVE. I thought I would take this opportunity to expand on my comments. I also think these 4 ideas are apt wishes or even predictions for online creative in 2002 and beyond.

BIGGER

We shot ourselves in the foot when we made a piece of real estate the size of a ninth of the screen our premier communication unit. For too long, I used this as an explanation, but now I realize it’s just an excuse. Think about its magazine equivalent. Where do you find a print ad about one eighth of a page? At the back of the book, littered amongst other classifieds. Don’t get me wrong, banners have their place: as added value or in conjunction with an array of other creative executions.

Prediction 1: We will move ever closer to full-screen advertising in 2002. Now there’s a simple standard - a full page!

BETTER

You know how I feel about this. It’s time to let technology play its role as a catalyst or conduit in terms of supercharging our creative, but only as a means to an end. Creativity must lead technology and not the other way round. There are, of course, exceptions to this in the rare cases of new technologies or new expressions/applications of older technologies being applied in innovative, strategically relevant ways.

Prediction 2: The US will dominate the Cannes Awards in 2002 – indicative of a creative renaissance and a return to the fundamentals of effective messaging.

BRAVER

Let’s put it this way: if you’re a site and you’re rejecting customized ideas, rich-media and/or deeply-integrated solutions, you’re dead. Instead of us determining or defining the user-experience, why don’t we leave it up to the consumer to tell us how we’re doing?

Consumers welcome and reward value, relevance and entertainment. Today, we have a bevy of tools to deliver all three in abundance, but only if we are prepared to break a few rules and lead the consumer through a brave new landscape.

Prediction 3: Expect to see the online advertising model turned on its head. This is not print. This is not broadcast. Consumers use this “medium” so differently. We need to think long and hard about this; to potentially reinvent the advertising value-proposition online in a way that make sense to the discerning and empowered consumer.

INTERACTIVE

There are two kinds of interactive folk when it comes to representing interactive in the overall media mix: those that suffer from an inferiority complex and those that resemble a Don Quixote meets Rotweiler: prepared to fight to the death if that’s what it takes.

Do you need a hint to determine which camp I fit into? However, I might be defecting into a new camp very soon. One that celebrates everything that makes our discipline truly unique and special - the ability to be interactive; the ability to understand the cause-effect relationship between communication and behavior; the ability to fulfill on the often-empty promises of mass-media advertising.

Taking the assumption of one message from one advertiser to one consumer at one time, Interactive would fit somewhere between print and television in terms of the richness of the delivery of the message. But once we introduce interactivity and the ability to bring advertising to life, we effectively position our competency in an entirely different light.

The “Click here” call-to-action is being replaced with “interact here.” Lycos’ new RCADIA offering is proof that we’re in a much better place today then we were one year ago.

Prediction 4: Interactivity will lead into involvement, whereby consumers will either control, direct or become a part of the advertising process.

Oh and by the way, if there are any copywriters out there, I need a word beginning with “B” and ending in “ER” that is synonymous with the word “INTERACTIVE” :) I was so close…

- Joseph Jaffe is Director of Interactive Media at TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York, where he works with clients including Kmart, ABSOLUT Vodka, New York City Public Schools, Embassy Suites and Sci-Fi. His primary focus is to highlight interactive's value and benefit in meeting his clients' integrated business and branding objectives.