• by Jim Meskauskas , January 3, 2002

When I was a kid, I used to be pretty imaginative. I had imaginary compatriots – my real friends would never conform to the rules and vision I had – that inhabited a fantastic environment. Scraps of wood from work sites became swords, crooked sticks became lasers; buckeye and oak trees became forts and spaceships. I would play the role of a number of different characters from a vast array of time periods. The past was invariably a medieval setting, sometime between the end of the Roman Empire in the west (around 476 CE) and the reign of Charlemagne.

Imagining the past was cool because the objects I had to imagine inhabiting it were easy to envision. They were ready-to-hand things that were at one time real and could be readily represented to the imagination.

Imagining the future, on the other hand, was more of a challenge. Certainly, you could take something you were already familiar with and repurpose its concept, but there was a limitless void to be filled with things not yet made. Also, just where in the future do you put yourself? As a kid, it was necessary to imagine myself in a future where I could see myself as an adult. The year 2000 or later would do, then. I'd be in my 30s, and that seemed old enough to deal with the unknown and young enough to encounter it with vigor.

Though I am now in my 30s, I'm still struggling to confront successfully those things that the future did give me, wondering if I'm indeed old enough to deal with the unknown and young enough to encounter it with vigor.

A new year is on us: 2002. The future I imagined had space travel, long life, and extra-terrestrial encounters. There were lasers and fusion fuel cells. It had communicators and tricorders. But it did not have email or the Internet or iTV.

I've spent the last 6+ years trying to figure out just how to deal with those things I didn't imagine, for those things I DID imagine never came to pass quite the way I'd anticipated and those I didn't have become more important than ever.

Spending the last few years in this industry, grappling with the future, I've learned a few things. Most of them are surprisingly simple lessons that have no futuristic sound to them at all. In fact, they are really almost anachronistic, for they are lessons that serve mostly to reaffirm that which we already know rather than demonstrating a new truth.

Here are some valuable things to keep in mind when confronting the future this industry is making. The Internet and the Web have done a great deal to change the world of advertising, but it is important to remember that there are constants in the universe to which that world belongs.

1. Always look at what the Direct Response marketers are doing.

I realize this may sound alt-modisch and oh-so 1997 in this era of newfound optimism for branding online. But let's not forget that selling product or service is the ultimate goal of advertising, and our DR brethren know a lot when it comes to moving widgets.

2. Bigger is better… but only to a point.

We've seen better recall and response rates when we use larger ad units on the Web. There is no doubt that the size of the canvas has a direct impact on the effectiveness of your advertising. But at some point, efficiencies are lost. In the print world, for example, spreads are more effective than single pages, but they aren't 2x more effective even though they usually cost twice as much. The beauty of the interactive ad medium is that we can gather data that tells us just how much is too much.

3. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Anyone who has ever read Frankenstein should know this lesson. Spam and pop-unders are everywhere we turn, and they have their place in the medium. The problem now is that they are having EVERY place in the medium, and that just isn't making for happy netizens.

4. Remember the audience!

This is the most important thing to keep in mind. Though it is incredibly simple and pretty much a 'no-duh' postulate, it is amazing how many advertisers and their agencies seem to forget that they are advertising to PEOPLE, not the devices used to deliver the messages. This actually relates to point 3 above to a large extent. Advances in rich media and alternative ad units have been extraordinary, but it doesn't mean that every new bell must be rung or whistle must be blown just because it is at our disposal. Plenty of folks are still surfing around on a 56K dial-up and there is nothing more frustrating to the human computer user than a slowed-down or arrested web experience. Human beings still want to be able to find what they are looking for on the web and get on with their lives. They don't need to be obstructed with large, complex graphics technologies just to be delivered an ad message that may not even have any relevance.

And if you are going to use some new technology to deliver your ad message make sure that A) it works and B) it is interesting.

There are a few more things advertisers should all keep in mind as this medium continues to gain greater acceptance and find itself as part of more marketing efforts, but I think these four are constants that will hold for a long time to come regardless of where the medium goes next.

Welcome back to work, everyone. Looking forward to seeing you all in the New Year.