About the chick in the egg

Column The advertising block is dead, long live
the TV commercial! Instead of an end-time mood, the agencies should be happy about
The new power of television consumers is about to reign.television consumption is about to become
revolutionize. Innovations from consumer electronics, with the
entire advertising blocks can be faded out, offering the consumer
completely new possibilities. After decades of advertising dictates
TV producers realize that power no longer resides in the control rooms.
sitting at home in front of the television. Experts speak of the
new voluntariness.

In future, it will be even more difficult to predict whether the person who
sitting in front of the television belongs to the right target group. "10vor10"
is no longer watched at 9.50 pm, but at 5 after something; the
Blockbuster with the help of the
time-slip function and consumed without advertising. It is
Obviously, the classic advertising block is a discontinued model.

The good thing about this is that it is also the end of the pushiness. No manufacturer
can force us to watch its mind-numbing advertising any more - and
he still pours so much money into his media budget. For the spot as
But new channels will open up. One way leads via
Internet. Commercials that spread virally are already
no longer a rarity. Why accept high switching fees?
when you can use a free (worldwide) sales channel?

Advertising on the Internet will no longer focus exclusively on advertising.
but with Hollywood. This development could in turn
have a positive impact on production costs. Because: Sven
Epiney can be beaten with a 50000 franc commercial, but not
a Jerry Bruckheimer.

E-papers also offer new opportunities for the spot. Advertising becomes
placed as an advertisement in the electronic newspaper: If you click on the
display, a commercial starts, and if you click on it, you land on the
on the manufacturer's website. Even the much-maligned pay TV offers
Consumers and advertisers suddenly have a conciliatory outlook. With
Films with advertising can be offered at a reduced price or even free of charge.
be

And finally, there is communication via mobile data carriers
such as the cell phone and, most recently, the portable Sony Playstation. In
The first soap opera for cell phones is already underway in Holland: The
Jong Zuid" ("Young South") series has already sold 50000
Subscribers. Five to six photos with short texts make up an episode,
which is announced twice a day via SMS.

In short: the commercial mutates from a pure one-to-many instrument to a
One-to-one communication with interactive possibilities. The advertising block
will die, but the spot will live on. But as is often the case in the
history of progress, the crisis of the egg is also an opportunity
of the chick.

Alexander Jaggy is Managing Director Creation at
Jung von Matt/Limmat and member of ADC Switzerland, ADC Germany and
in the English D&AD.