The Sky is Falling...

Over the last 35 years, the advertising world has changed dramatically. Let us take a quick look...

The Seventies

• Cigarette broadcast advertising was banned.
• Cable TV starts in a small town in Pennsylvania.
• FM radio was in its infancy.
• Hard liquor advertising (self-regulated by the industry) was banned over the air waves.
• Six-color printing was introduced.
• Three commercial networks. Monday Night Football propels ABC.
• Boutique agencies sprout.
• Fuel crisis starts the down-sizing of automobiles and the first wave of of Japanese imports.
• Informecials come into vogue, creating a new channel of distribution.
• Direct Mail Agencies and Promotion Agencies start making a name for themselves.

The Eighties

• The start of media proliferation. Cable TV fueled by ESPN, CNN, and MTV grows. USA Today and People hit the stands.
• Super stations WTBS-TV and WGN-TV are born.
• Live satellite broadcasts emerge on a regular basis.
• The start of deregulation of various industries, including banking.
• Fallon, Chiat/Day, Martin, Riney and others start making a name for themselves.
• Established agencies start merging, while some die.
• Omnicom, an advertising agency holding company, is born.
• The U.S. represents 82% of all advertising expenditures.
• Sports broadcasting becomes a 365(6)-day-a-year happening.
• The Super Bowl becomes more than a sporting event, and Apple (1984) establishes the game as the "advertising watching program."

The Nineties

• The emergence of FOX, the fourth commercial network.
• Globalization of "everything."
• The concept of "Account Planning" born in England, crosses the Atlantic Ocean.
• The separation of media departments from larger agencies.
• The birth of Internet Marketing (thanks to the www.)
• The boom of dotcoms.
• Media mergers.
• New marketing and advertising terminologies mushroom.
• Disintermediation becomes an imperative for many.
• Branding becomes the most important issue, and brand consultations emerge.
• e-commerce develops as a new and viable channel of distribution.

The 00's

• Hard liquor may be advertised on television.
• The dotcoms of the late nineties bust.
• The Internet takes over the world.
• Satellite TV poses competition to Cable TV.
• Network TV viewing erodes.
• Rampant growth of cell phone usage.
• China, Korea, and India emerge as marketing powers (manufacturing and consumers.)
• Procter and Gamble starts flexing its muscle, threatening every media outlet.
• Crispin Porter + Bogusky is what every marketer wants (just like the Chiat/Days, Rineys and the Fallons of the earlier decades.)
• The consumer starts becoming the center of attention.

Many of these events brought out Chicken Little crying, "The sky is falling! I must go tell the king." Except Chicken Little did not know who the king was.

Yet, the industry survived, and at times thrived.

Change is inevitable, and the only constant is change itself.

No, the sky is not falling!

Today.

• Television viewing habits have changed dramatically. The major networks do not command the audiences of even ten years ago.
• TV viewers tend to recall a particularly good (or horribly bad) commercial. However, they do not necessarily remember the featured product/brand.
• The audiences are splintering -- too many choices. Getting their attention has become increasingly difficult.
• The choice of products/services available is multiplying.
• Consumers have become more skeptical about product claims.
• Consumers have the power to pick and choose as never before.
• The ability to get information about whatever you want, whenever you want, has given consumers unprecedented strength. The digital marketplace has truly made the claim "The Customer is King" come true.

All of this led Sir Martin Sorrell, Chairman, WPP Group to say in 2004, "This is the age of disruption. Technology is driving this change. Agencies have to deal with this reality."