'New Media' vs 'More Media' - Discuss

I attended a very interesting lunch yesterday hosted by Adify. The lunch was an opportunity to discuss the current position of advertising within the new media space and the debate was as good as the food and wine. Thank you to Adify and Soho House.

A key topic was about the phrase ‘new media’ itself.

Paul Brown, Media Director at Ogilvy argued that “it’s not new media, it’s just more media”; this is a man of experience, having been in this industry for the birth of commercial television and heard the same phrases of ‘new media’ and ‘revolutionary’ used back then. Indeed, he referenced a rather good quote that centred on the belief that an entire generation would have to die before commercial television took off.

His argument, and one that he did not have to champion alone, was essentially that advertising on the internet should be considered as simply another advertising channel, simply an alternative method of execution to TV, Radio, Outdoor and Print. I can follow part of the logic of that, and it is important that any advertising is done with at least knowledge and understanding of what advertising is taking place in other channels as overlap will occur and every channel influences all others.

That is where the ‘more media’ argument stops.

For brands and agencies that focus their efforts on fixed length start-stop campaigns this may be true, but the opportunities for digital are far more reaching and complex than any other form of media to date.The reality is ‘more media’ for push and ‘new media’ for pull... and focusing on the more media side means you might be missing the real opportunities this space provides.

Cast your vote: I have placed a poll on this topic (top left) that will run for a month or so, please cast your vote on whether you think its new media or more media.


:~Dax~:

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