The future of advertising is in the hands of the ad blockers
Young adults are hungry for the ad industry to be better, and by ad blocking, the next generation of creatives and strategists are going to make it just that, argues Laura Desmond.
“I block ads because I believe ads can be so much better.”
This was a direct quote from an advertising student at the University of Texas. I visited campus recently and had the opportunity to talk informally with advertising students from the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations.
What I learned affirmed my faith in the future of advertising. I also walked away with a strong sense that these young students, if given the chance to practice the craft the way they see it, would upend the whole industry.
Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
I hope that these ‘genius’ students are going to go out there in to the industry and revolutionize everything, making the world a better place.
Hopefully they are not just like 90% of people who like to criticize things without doing anything to change them.
The one thing I don’t like about this article, is it seems to insinuate that those of us working in the advertising industry of today, are happy with the way the industry runs. Hint: We aren’t.
I’d love to do away with pop up ads, I’d like to get rid of full page takeovers, but this is what brands want. This is what drives revenue, and businesses run on revenue generation, not rose tinted glasses.
It’s also going to be increasingly difficult for marketers to deliver ‘personalized’ advertising with things like the GDPR flying around.
Personalised advertising shouldn’t absolutely require the harvesting of personal information. It should be about hiring creatives that understand people and trends on a personal level.
I find it hard to believe brands won’t listen to reason on this. Surely its not that hard to explain to them that if they go down the pop-up/soft porn/auto-play options then in the very near future they won’t be able to access the market via the net at all. (My prediction – in the very near future a mobile company or browser will launch with ad-blocker auto installed, the market will follow suite and voila – now you have the same chance reaching the wrinklies as you did the kids – Buckley’s).
Honestly if they don’t get it – fire your client. They won’t exist in the near future anyway. At worst you suffer a quick dignified death (often instead of a humiliating death by a thousand cuts over time). At best you call their bluff and actually get to work with your head up high.
That can’ be in only one way that these youngsters don’t like these pop-up ads so they installed ad blockers but they can focus on the work in their hands at that time i.e. study when the use ad blockers. They don’t want to get distracted. After all, it is always better to get thorough training in a field instead of only experimenting.
I block ads for a much more elemental reason: I don’t want to see them.