• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, August 10, 2006

The online ad industry is booming. Revenues are way up. Salaries are way up. Traditional media is in disarray. Traditional media executives are scurrying to develop "digital strategies" to save their companies and their jobs. Venture capitalists--and their money--are everywhere, and the valuations that they are paying are skyrocketing. Top business magazines are turning our entrepreneurs into poster boys and girls. Good feelings are flowing.

We've seen this movie before... in 1999. Back then, we didn't like how the movie ended. The bursting of the dot-com bubble caused an awful lot of pain.

Of course, there's a lot that's different this time around. Online advertising actually works now! It's delivering results and ROI that have never been seen in this industry before. Our advertisers are traditional marketers, not dot-com start-ups. We have real audiences and, in many cases, bigger audiences than broadcast and print. We have seasoned executives. Many have been in online advertising for 10 years now, and some of us for 15 (yes, back before the Web, when we were selling ads on proprietary online services, bulletin boards and information voice response systems, aka, audiotext).

It's great being the belle of the ball, but we should take to heart some lessons from the last time around.

We have a long way to go yet. It's great that our industry is doing well. It's great that we've had some recent success, but the game is far from over. This is no time to be celebrating victory. It's too premature.

We have a lot to learn. Ten and 15-year track records in advertising make us babies compared to the leaders in other media. We have so much to learn yet about how clients operate, how to deliver great results year in and year out, how to provide consistently great customer service, and how to build long-term sustainable businesses. We can't forget that we really know so little yet of what we will need to know to be truly successful.

Our market positions are tenuous. Many still wonder if online advertising is just the newest flavor of the month. It's hard to believe when you are a $12 billion annual industry about to be a $16 billion one, but it's true. And, unfortunately, many that are uncertain of our continued success are the same ones that fund our industry--agencies, investors, and even the marketers themselves. Many of them are still wondering if something better might come along next month or next year. Many of them will abandon us in a second if they find something better or if we're hit with another ad recession. Traditional advertising and media companies may be slow and cumbersome, but they've all weathered their share of recessions and survived the fickle attentions of clients and investors.

Arrogance is destructive. There is nothing wrong with being confident. There is nothing wrong with being a bit cocky. There is nothing wrong with showing some swagger. However, nothing good comes from arrogance. Last time around, many in the online advertising industry were arrogant idiots. They did some stupid, unforgivable things. They did some dishonest and illegal things, for which we're still paying the price. Many people were alienated. We cannot afford to do that again.

We've seen this movie before. It's going to turn out much, much better this time, particularly if we stay focused, work for the long term, and keep our egos in check.