Where is marketing going in the 21st century? - Part 1

The idea of advertising has always irked and interested people in equal amounts. Some people consider it to be a clever way of swindling people whereas other people look to it as an avenue of that demands creativity to be wholly successful and in that case, it is not swindling but rather an intelligent way of selling something. In actuality the answer lies somewhere in between. Yes, people in marketing and advertising have been known to use unethical ways of selling their products but in many and most cases it has been the creativity that really stood out as the element influencing success. In the 1960’s and 1970’s in particular, advertising experienced a golden-era in the United States which stemmed from Madison Avenue, New York City and included many advertising firms in the area competing and coming up with increasingly bold and creative advertising campaigns that have since been known to change the advertising industry forever.

However, the situation of the marketplace has changed drastically in the 21^st century. Gone are the days of advertising on billboards and newspapers. The days where creativity was often the only defining factor needed to get the consumer’s attention. These days, people have limited attention spans due to their over-reliance on technology which makes getting their attention an even tougher task. Studies have shown that most people just change the channel during commercial breaks whereas; no studies are needed to prove the fact that the majority of adolescents don’t even read newspapers anymore. All this makes advertising and marketing all the more difficult which is why digital has emerged as an avenue where marketers have looked to gain the attention of the consumer.

I think it’s wrong to say print media, billboards and television ads have lost their influence completely. That is simply untrue. However, their influence has decreased significantly in modern times especially compared to digital marketing which is on the rise. Why is this though? Besides the obvious reason that consumers should be targeted on the platform they spend most of their free-time on.