Where to for advertising?

Thanks to social media, consumers increasingly trust social networks versus traditional advertising.

As a consequence we're now seeing agencies radically re-think their campaign creation process to suit this new context. In this excellent video Nick Law from R/GA paints a compelling picture about how campaign creation must move from telling stories to designing systems with multiple touch points across many different mediums. Within this model agencies must spend more time building and nurturing an online community based on trust, relevance and authenticity. Traditional story telling and push advertising programmes have a complementary role in the new model.

This opens up new possibilities that reshape the traditional role of agencies. Through managing the relationship with a brands online community, agencies become the custodian of a brands reputation. In this position, advertising agencies are better positioned to respond to briefs typically given to PR agencies — historically where the biggest money has always been.