Henry Copeland of BlogAds seems to think so. He spoke at Ad:Tech on Monday and said the online advertising model is faster to change and gives advertisers more control and even better, it’s much less expensive in both money and resources.
ClickZ suggested Copeland is basing thoughts on the idea of “disruptive innovation. They say whenever an industry is faced with an effective and cheap new way of doing something that is not being adequately addressed now, there is going to be explosive growth, which is usually not beneficial to the top companies in the space before the innovation arrived.
His premise does have some weight but it’s not 100% either. It stands to reason he’d be a big advocate of Internet advertising. It’s how he makes a living and he’s right in many advertisers are going to have to change the way they do things. The problem is there are still many people who rarely if ever use their computers. These people will be totally lost on the new advertising model.
While big agencies could learn to be more efficient and expedient, they are not over and done with. Television ads won’t change that dramatically any time in the near future. They already play on people’s emotions. Newspaper ads won’t either because while newspapers have to redefine their niche in the last few years, they’re still a presence. And weekly newspapers are still growing some. Dailies aren’t as strong as they once were but the weeklies are solid.
Magazines are the area with the biggest problems. The Internet has hurt them the most and continues to do so. Many magazines have high overhead costs and that can’t be made up in just a higher cover price. They must rely on ads and as more competitors vie for the ads, the tougher it is for those groups to continue.
While the advertising world is changing, the old isn’t dead and will last a while longer. While there are many people who embrace the Internet and all it stands for, there are just as many who see the Internet as an annoyance at best and would rather not have to deal with it all. When a new medium rolls out, most often they adapt and find a new role. Most likely, this is what will happen here.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
