I remember being taught that advertising occurs at the intersection of art and commerce. The combining of such intuitively opposing forces; a diverse range of people finally attempting to reconcile the intangibles of ideas and creativity with the very tangible of clients' business outcomes. And perhaps even agency profit. However, advertising is increasingly approaching an existence at the confluence of entertainment and commerce, and the businesses that can learn to capitalize on the benefits of this powerful new position will emerge victorious. Advertising that becomes entertaining. The advertising sector has always used entertainment, but we were previously subordinate and marginal. People would line up and pay to watch whatever new inventions the entertainment business developed, from vaudeville to the moving image, wireless to cable TV. And our advertising business would symbolically join in, singing and dancing to divert these consumers' attention away from what they truly wanted to see. Branded content has a poor reputation in many cases, rightfully so but it's truly about brands giving enjoyment, whether content or not.
Brands that do not dilute a consumer's demand for amusement, but rather actively contribute to it.
Ad-blocking software is becoming increasingly popular around the world, and people are learning to avoid commercials entirely, consciously opting to tune out and switch off. The fact that there is an entire business model based on "pay to go ad-free" tells a lot about the state of our industry. Consumers are willing to pay us to leave, rather than buy the products we sell? Something is wrong here. Marketing will grow and evolve into an industry focused on producing experiences that people enjoy rather than tolerate. When it comes to entertainment, however, customers can detect and taste the difference in intent. Unlike marketers, who stress variables such as market innovation or brand identity, entertainment showrunners, writers, and artists focus solely on the creative component of entertainment value, which makes all the difference in generating great storytelling. The quality of entertainment is vital, and as branded content becomes a more important marketing channel, brands that rely on the entertainment sector for competence, conceptualization, and direction will gain traction. For example, Hollywood regards 2014's The Lego cinematic as an improbable cinematic success story. But all I see is a 90-minute commercial in which people deliberately lined to pay to view.
Aren't these the same customers that used to take a toilet break when my 30-second commercial aired on TV?
This content was plainly created by a company, but it did not turn consumers off. The only criterion is that the content be of high quality. Who cares whether it comes from a brand, a movie company, or a celebrity? And, as customers get more choice and autonomy, the future belongs to companies and marketers that can create stories, services, and products that people want to seek out and use. As a result, marketing will advance and evolve into an industry focused on generating experiences that people enjoy rather than tolerate. In summary, brands that behave in the same manner as the entertainment sector. The entertainment business also needs us. While brands and marketers can acquire invaluable insights from the entertainment sector, there is an increasingly symbiotic interaction between the two realms, with entertainment industry professionals looking to advertising for assistance. As media shifts to a direct-to-consumer model, younger consumers are increasingly interested in streamable material available on mobile devices or tablets, and firms such as Comcast and Disney are making more money from cable, streaming, or product lines than from movie tickets.
The current competitive market structure necessitates a strong business mindset, which is not necessarily present in the behaviors of creative entertainers.
Executives in the entertainment industry are increasingly having to figure out how to package and communicate their content in a way that speaks to consumers, and they can look to the advertising industry for insights into a wide range of effective marketing and sales strategies, from leveraging customer behavior to responding to market conditions more effectively. An entertainment property must truly permeate culture in order to gain traction in such a fragmented market, and this has always been our industry's priority. For example, ABC's Scandal took off when the cast began live-tweeting the episode, pulling fans into the action and increasing word-of-mouth. That may have been a pleasant accident, but it was the type of ad business thinking the entertainment industry had never seen before. Looking ahead, as the worlds of entertainment and advertising converge, both businesses appear to have more potential and will need to learn from and rely on each other in strong ways. The future belongs to brands that learn from and work alongside the entertainment industry rather than against it. The entertainment business may also benefit from our expertise. Perhaps, in time, both will meet in the middle, creating a true confluence of entertainment and commerce.
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