What’s next in communication?
Which platforms are we going to be using in five years? 10 years?
How does technology integrate further into our lives, culture and marketing efforts?
From the beginning until the end of time, these questions have and will be asked many times. Sure, some of the answers will shape how we spend our money or who we target. The Futuristic Snapchat of 2035 will not look or feel like platforms we use today or have ever used. More likely than not, the primary purpose of tomorrow’s platforms will blow our minds. Will screens be extinct? Will we be sending smell-texts via cyborg Siri pigeons to our friends? The future is a beautiful place, but it’s so bright we can’t see it yet.
However, one thing will never change.
Our fickle industry (which pervades every industry) isn’t about digital vs. print or creative vs. data or any other past or future comparison that weighs effectiveness vs. efficiency, and so on and so forth. Communication is more than that.
Communication in every form in every era is a war for attention.
No matter what tools we don’t have today or won’t need tomorrow, we’re working every day to crack the code that gets us to human emotion and decision-making. Gary Vaynerchuk, who talks about day trading attention, says, “I try to figure out what you’re going to do before you realize you’re going to do it.” That, to me, is the truest form of what we should be doing. Of course, this requires research and instinct and emotion in everything we do.
It’s not about the era you’re in or the resources you have. It’s about sticking to your guns. Stay true to your unwavering commitment.
Explore territory beyond the tools and gurus of today.
Forge your own path.
Fight the war, not the battle.
Toucan is a New Orleans-based advertising agency.
