The Future of Advertising
Lies in art.
With the advent of the internet and the progress of convenient technology, audiences are becoming more and more empowered in choosing which advertisements to review and the medium in which they’d like to engage in. Hulu uses this model when they ask if you’d like to watch one 90 second commercial, rather than three 30 second commercials. You see it as advertisements on Facebook and other social networking sites begin to gear their material towards audiences more likely to receive and utilize it.
In any case, people are finally realizing they can choose something else– they don’t have to have Billy Mays (bless his Oxycleaned soul) yelling at them about oxygen bubbles tickling the red wine stain from the roots of their carpet. They can fast-forward their TiVo. So the dilemma for them becomes How to Get People Genuinely Interested– and here enters artistic appeal. Innovation and creativity will be our higher calling– well, it always was (or should have been), but now the providers of our beloved commercials are being forced to step it up.
Here’s a fantastic example of a possible cutting-edge photo shoot promoting makeup and beauty accessories:
via fffffound.com
via fffffound.com
via fffffound.com
via fffffound.com
I can’t seem to find the actual artist on the behance network, but this stuff is fantastic. See more crazy creative works here.
My hope for the future? Advertising as enjoyable, thought provoking pieces that promote their products in creative, innovative, and relevant ways.
<3
Gracieee
Tags: ad, beauty, blogs, fffffound, internet, makeup, MIND EYES SEEN ART, OooLaLaa
October 27th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
& you know I cannot resist a counterexample to (your?) thinky advertising and high fashion: product placement (e.g., films like Transformers, shows like Top Chef, and soccer matches). One response to audiences’ growing dislike of actual commercials (as interludes or intermissions) is to simply embed advertising into the event or medium itself. An entire film is essentially an ad for a car company. A contestant in a reality TV show becomes her restaurant. Or a team plays just as much for a company as it does for a city.
I wonder if such ploys might be one reason why “fashion” proper often distinguishes itself from mere “clothing” and consumerism . . . and use. (No one would actually wear make-up like it’s imagined above, right?) As it goes, fashion’s high art, not craft? A lot of it tries to resist trickling down to popular (egad!) domains, where “average” people wear typical clothing with practical use in mind.
But Chanel’s little black dress was affordable from the get-go, right? I’m not sure. Regardless, it’s 1920s simplicity stuck. I’m thinking of when, down the time line, Audrey where’s a little black dress (by Chanel?) in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Then there’s … oh my.
I’m always stuck between things for the people and aesthetics, or between design and art, or blue-collar-y and snobbery. What’s cool is when a thing (like the little black dress?) is both.
That said, the future of advertising could lie in art. But art always lies.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Ahem… “Audrey wears a LBD.”
October 27th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Look I don’t know who you think you are, Mr. Jentery– you and your snappy conclusion sentences are as good as an artsy car commercial spouting environmental sermons. Advertising *is* a type of art. The forms may be dull, tedious, boring, gimmicky– but that’s not the point. It reaches out and attempts to engage with the audience. While some may point menacing fingers at Propaganda, it’s the same concept.
I feel like you’re interpreting the “high art” as above the general public. Why can’t the general public appreciate “high art”? No one *wants* to feel like the schmuck across the street, the plain Jane cashier that works at Safeway (sorry, Jane– who/where ever you are). People already place a high regard in feeling special– different– above others. Even the ones that shop at JC Penny.
I get where you’re going with product placement. Will the quality of our art be reduced to sales and marketing ploys? But this is where the advertising agency can utilize human emotions to connect with certain demographics. They need to “step it up” to make it seem like they genuinely care about a single mom struggling to juggle home and professional life– so much so, that they create a disposable moist towelette that will “destroy dust”. They need to be subtle and nuanced about approaches to these product story lines. And to do this, you need to appeal to basic human emotions– love, hate, blah blah blah. Compassion.
Maybe my posted pictures don’t convey that, but they do convey a sort of mystical awe– the theme of transformation fits well with what makeup and beauty accessories do. Everyone wants to be Cinderella to the point where they’ll bid for the perfect extra-long eyelash maximizing mascara wand for more than it’s worth. It’s not like people will be any happier with staple rations of duplicate tubes of black paint. So blame the system that fosters and encourages this type of elitist thinking (capitalism), and leave my ads alone.
October 28th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
PUHLEEZ
October 28th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
woops, i accidently submitted that last one too soon:
PUHLEEZ
Are you trying to say that elitist thinking is capitalist or that the system encourages elitist thinking that is inherently capitalist?
Either way, capitalism isn’t the subject to blame here coming from your perspective as all the examples here are essentially capitalist and attempting to “market” something and woo customers into believing that they need something that they actually don’t.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Andy Oh, my darling, where are you in my life?
And “need” is an entirely subject thing. It’s like in 10 things I hate about you. I Love my gucci shoes, but I love my prada backpack. Ok, I just wanted to quote that, but the point is that no one needs anything… but they *want* it.
And I mean, c’mon, if they believe they need something because of a commercial, there’s probably more concern in how intelligent they are anyway