Our new slogan (along with a new logo and brand) here at the APC-NYC is “The Future is in Production,” a statement with which I, as a board member of the APC-NYC, agree. If I were going to add a tag line to the slogan, it would be “The future is certain to be very different from the immediate past.”
Advertising production traditionally has been viewed a connected component of the process of advertising. The production department was usually right down the hall from or a floor to two below the “creative bullpen.” One could have said that these two departments were linked at the hip, and though they did not walk in step, they did not tear each other apart either. They were ends of a seesaw on which the account manager balanced perfectly by straddling the center.
But in the future, advertising production is not going to be linked at the hip with the process of advertising or even balanced on a seesaw. The future of advertising production will, in my not-so-humble opinion, celebrate the innovations offered by a newly devised digitally-based advertising production sector. The newly minted multi-tasked talents of the advertising production person will drive the need and be based on a model of innovative creative/production community interaction.
Advertising, like other legacy businesses, has undergone and is undergoing massive changes. These changes will impact every aspect, every tool (yes, advertising production is a tool) used to conceive, compose, create, and produce the marketing big picture. The new era of advertising production will also need to address ROI, measurement, and repeatability.
Scott Belsky (Adobe and Behance) stated in a recent article that the agency business would one day be separated, with the management team, account executive team, and small creative team under one roof. The balance of the needs, which he labels “distributed creative products,” will be just that—distributed. Sometimes this is called outsourcing or de-coupling.
Distribution, in Belsky’s terms, means not being in the same building, the same town or city, or even in the same country in which the “agency” is located. This has already happened. Many USA-based publishers are managing their production overseas. In fact, when I entered this business many years ago, nearly all the “color separations and related proofs” we needed had been produced for the agency in Italy. So the process is not new; it is just more transparent and leaves no stone (i.e., no production task) unturned.
“One day you may be composing an ad from 16 different photo images, while the next day you will be linking a micro site to a personalized multi-media campaign and structuring the tracking attribution process.”
I see the future as being in production, but I see the future as a production hub. For example, one large advertising production group could be located in Brooklyn, handing the advertising production needs of perhaps dozens of small agencies. Or an advertising production group located in the top 25 cities of the world, might provide their services for say the top 10 worldwide agencies. Firms such as eg+ worldwide have this model up and running. This future will also impact the colleges that teach advertising and advertising production. And will also change the order of importance, with the production person gaining in stature while the creative person will decline in stature.
Want to challenge that statement? Go ahead, but look at the magic a talented advertising production person can provide to make the dream or vision of the creative talent come true. Get used to it; the future is here, and it is a more balanced future not only based on creativity but also on ROICP (Return Of Investment on the Creative Process.)
Google Images Mediabistro.com
Being digital is a critical element of the new business of advertising production, but the term “digital” is well worn and means different things to different people. In short, everything is digital; even if the file starts analog, it’s going to be produced via a modern media workflow and converted to a digital file. What being digital means is that once converted to a digital format, that file can be repurposed, reused, redeveloped for nearly any other media or process. Yes, tracking, measurement, effectiveness and ROI can all be magically added to the role of the converted or not converted digital file.
The concept of being digital has a major impact on the topic of multi-tasking. The digital-savvy and multi-tasked advertising production person needs to understand ALL the media (legacy, new, and emerging) that are used and will be used. The new advertising production person needs to be ready to recommend expanded uses for the digital file, simply to make the effort more effective.
I look at a digital file as the subway system of modern advertising production. Like the NYC subway system, once you pass through the turnstiles you can reach nearly any part of the city you wish. Add to this massive scope of underground travel, the NYC bus system (free transfer) you can, via a single point or entry, (the digital file) can arrive at nearly any point in the city or that same file can be used for nearly any digital related (re-purposed) need.
It is my experience that many designers refuse to consider new or emerging media in their designs if they feel it will negatively impact the design. In contrast, the client may want as much exposure and consistency in content and context as possible. In many cases, that means repurposing a design (revising as needed) to fulfill a newly discovered use. For example, the addition of QR codes to an existing ad, when the ad is repurposed as a poster, or the inclusion of a technology like Digimarc, or other AR functions.
The responsibility to add these and other tools to provide an interaction or an increased response tool will fall on the new advertising production person. This field is changing so fast that, between the approved design and placement or use of the creative, a new technology may need to be considered and added to the file.
An additional positive is the need to be more than a multi-tasking production talent; in the future (the future is here) you, yes you, will need to become an integrated, converged, multi-tasking, mix-media talent. Meaning that one day you may be composing an ad from 16 different photo images, while the next day you will be linking a micro site to a personalized multi-media campaign and structuring the tracking attribution process.
In addition, since you will no doubt be working for a worldwide client base, you will need to have talents that are acceptable worldwide and be able to “sell” your talents worldwide as well. That introduces a new process. Portfolios online or not will, in my opinion, be replaced by interrelated community-based pools of talent review.
“You will need to become an integrated, converged, multi-tasking, mix-media talent.”
So as the APC-NYC slogan states “The future is in production,” but that also means that the future is in a myriad of interrelated skills, talents, and innovative advertising production-based strategies that will convert the title of advertising production person from the “Oh, they are in production” to “WOW! That is the team that translates the creative dream into creative reality.”
That is the future of advertising production.
Thad Kubis | APC-NYC Board Member
Founder and Chief Integration Officer, i4 Worldwide