The Science of the Art of Advertising

Measurement, impact and adland’s torrid pace – Carl Warner

Spray mount, X-Acto blades and rubber cement picker-uppers were just some of the tools of our trade when I was hired as an art director at The Richards Group.

I suspect there are two generations in this business who view those tools the same way I might think of a horse-drawn plow or hand-cranked engine — as tools of a dark, dusty period from long ago. I must come to terms with the fact that a new employee directly from school probably views me the way I did my grandparents — I’m from the advertising equivalent of the Depression Era. In their eyes, I’m Tom Joad, George or Lenny.

That change in technology is indicative of how far the advertising world has moved and also analogous to the pace of its transformation. One day you’re seated in a bright room looking over an editor’s shoulder as he hangs strips of film with clothespins. As little as a few weeks later, you’re ensconced in a leather sofa in a dark room, using Avid to edit film while shifting your attention among several monitors and reviewing dozens of thumbnail-depicted scenes.

When I moved between these technological worlds, it felt as though I’d left the dust bowl of the advertising world and entered the post-sledgehammer-impacted world Apple’s “1984” promised; bright lights and nothing but possibilities.

Since that time, our business has changed many times over.

X-Acto blades and hand-spaced type are long gone, and the Avid has been joined by other cool editing toys.

All of which serves as the somewhat ironic backdrop for this story: as I spoke to a class of creative advertising students a few months ago, one asked what has been the biggest change that’s occurred since I started in this business. My answer surprised them — analytics.

Even more than technological advances, the most significant change I’ve seen in our industry is that now we have the ability to measure the effectiveness of our communication.

CMOs don’t have the luxury of not knowing which half of their budget is wasted. Today’s Wanamakers have to deal with CEOs, boards of directors and ROIs.

Continues at: The Science of the Art of Advertising.