EVERYTHING you Love is Dead

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Taking a note from Seth Godin, I’m going to admit, my title is bogus and a small shot at the all too common blog posts declaring “X” dead. The things above aren’t dead, their status quo is dead. People crave seeing that which is unique. They need to hear stories. They want help discovering what’s new. They can’t help share their life through melody. They seek to be part of a community. This hasn’t changed. The means in which those needs are satisfied has.

The following is a short but hopefully positive and helpful list of examples of how "dying" industries (and more importantly, the people who work in them) shouldn't be so worried. (Side note, feel free to listen to MCR: Dead while reading this post)

"Creative is Dead: You can crowdsource all your design needs."

Sites like Haystack and Crowdspring are driving prices down for graphic design work, yes. Will this change, no. Is there a huge demand for talented designers to carry brands and organization's aesthetics from start to finish? A resounding YES. Do you think projects like THIS or THIS were crowdsourced? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against crowdsourcing creative but it has its place. You didn't get into graphic design so you could spend your days designing logos. You want to be building something of magnitude. And social media isn't killing the need for design, it's only making it stronger. 

"Journalism is Dead: Who needs reporters when everyone is a reporter?"

OK yes, those 15x22 drab looking sheets we call a newspaper are going away, and the profit model for selling those things is gone. But what industry has been able to sell a single product for hundreds of years without having to move on to a different focus? If Listerine, Kodak, or Ford sold the same product that long they would be a blip in history. The definition of journalism is "the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media." Let' dig deeper into that definition. How do you define "news" and "media?" In my mind, news equals stories, and media equals any entity in the world that can distribute data, words, or art.

Even if the bloated current state of journalism is changing, the people who are passionate story tellers are still going to be in demand. The reason that everyone can get their news through RSS and Twitter right now is because someone is scooping the story first. if that goes away, so does the "easy access" to news. There's going to be a smaller population of incredible journalists supplying us with breaking stories. There's also going to be a need for the rest of journalists to tell the stories that aren't being told. Reporters have become obsessed with getting the latest headlines around murders and balloon boys. There are a lot more interesting stories out there that need the public eye and instead of being first, journalism is shifting to being unique.

Twitter handles are getting book deals. News outlets are selling iPhone applications. People still spend money for quality journalism. The fat is getting cut, but the industry is far from dead. 

"PR is Dead: There's no one left to Pitch."

The biggest misconception about public relations is that if mass media dies (newspapers specifically) so does PR. That couldn't be farther from the truth. PR has always been about getting someone else to tell your story. That second degree of separation of PR Agency > Media > Consumer is now being replaced by direct conversations with the consumer. The PR professional has a great deal of work to do to revitalize the industry, but they are in a prime position to take the role of shepherds of brands in the social space. Start reading the likes of Tac Anderson, Brian Solis, and Daniel Honigman. PR isn't dead, it's growing into a front runner as the kind of agency leading the next phase of communication between brand and consumer. 

Music is Dead: You can’t be a musician; people just pirate your music for free"

As my friend Brian Mazzaferri from I Fight Dragons says, "It's a great time to MAKE A LIVING as a musician." Perhaps the days of the mogul musician and the overpaid record producer are over, but I have no doubt in my mind that MORE people can be a musician today than they could 10 years ago. Let's call it a redistribution of music wealth. Every musician now has a direct line from their mouth to your eardrums. They don't have to fight to get signed by a record or get radio plays. And who cares if people are downloading their music for free? Don't be fooled into thinking you're hurting the actual musicians. The major source of revenue for musicians are LIVE shows and merchandise and you can't download that. 

U2 and Foo Fighters streamed their concerts for free. Radiohead and NIN gave away their albums. These are bands that are established and have "the most to lose" from their industry being flipped on their head, but they are taking these actions because they know it will build their fans base, and thus the size of their live audience.

"Local is Dead: It’s cheaper to shop at big box stores that have everything in one place."

Have you noticed that the largest stores you shop in do everything they can to feel more local? They create custom subsections of their stores and host events for their neighborhood. They do this because people want it. Sure we're in a recession and people want to find the best price, but all is not lost.

The entire city of Austin Texas is living proof that Local is very much alive. The organic food movement is driving up the number of farmer's markets across the country. And when it comes to fashion, local stores define the best you can get. The digital age continues to push us into being as unique as possible. Local is epitome of unique. 

"Media Buying is Dead: No one clicks on ads anymore."

Banner ads continue to have lower click through rates and new reports show that less than 20% of users are even doing the clicking. But is that from ineffectiveness, or a lack of evolution? Look at some of the latest trends in banner advertising for luxury auto or consumer electronics. There are claims that media buying can't drive sales anymore. It can, but planners need to be swayed by relevance and creativity, not by which vendor takes them out for steak.

Social media is the rising star gaining attention and ad budgets, but it needs support with media buys. There are creative ways to boost a brand's efforts in social media and the planners who discover this sooner are going to be in high demand among media agencies.

"Art is Dead: No one appreciates art, and no one will pay for it."

It may have taken him a decade to achieve the fusion of art and entrprenuership but Hugh McLeod is living proof that art is very much alive. His cartoons led to a book, and a full digital art store, which based on his tweets, is moving lots of product. 

I've given up a top spot on my blog (see widget the right) to showcase Hugh's art so he can gain awareness and sell more work. Art is dead? Far from it.

"Blogging is Dead: Posterous and Twitter have a better ROI than a Blog."

There’s something to be said for owning your own territory. Twitter and Posterous are wonderful tools, but as Morpheus said in the Matrix, "they are still based in a world that is built on rules." A blog is yours and you can do anything you want with it. In social media you can get away with just having a presence on a few key tools, but in reality, you're not going to have the respect of your community. It's just too easy to game the system and without a blog, you've haven't proven you've earned it. Moving away from blogging is a recent trend, but it's being sold in by people who have spent years doing it. They earned their stripes already, but most of us haven't. Blog away.

Be a Phoenix. 

In case you haven't picked up on my tone, despite the skull image and the title, this is a positive post. I'm not one to write about motivational crap on this blog...that's not my thing. But I grew sick of reading posts declaring the death of industries and not lending any kind of advice on how to either redirect or transform all the great talent out there that people could apply to changing business models. You know how to do something(s) very well. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers out there, because even if the most common way your talent was needed is going way, there WILL be a need for it somewhere.

Social Media Savvy is a Cheap Commodity

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Breath easier agency creatives, business consultants, and lawyers. You are not getting left behind in the age of the social web. You might be noticing that those around you, offline and online are quickly growing their knowledge in the realm of "social media" and perhaps you're even nervous that your skills and business are going to be obsolete by the emerging group of social media gurus, experts, and so on.

Don't be worried. There is a unique difference between the skills of a such a person focused on social media strategy and yours: The skills required for your job cannot be googled. 

Now please don't take the above as a free pass to not get yourself educated on new technology, social/cultural implications of new media, and evolving business models. It is absolutely in your best interest to jump into these subject immediately so you know what they know (they = social media experts).

Trust me though, it is much easier for you to learn what "THEY" do versus "THEM" learning what you do. Take the knowledge you build (it's a relatively cheap commodity care of your friends at Google and the hundreds of blogs coveraging the topic of social media for free) and apply it to your own business. Improve facets of your company or your specific talents with the tools you have now at  your disposal, and then continue to use the hard earned skills of creativity, business strategy, financial planning, legal experience, etc that built your success in the first place.

Lastly, I want to highlight the brilliant individuals who compose the emerging practices at advertising/pr/design agencies who are helping drive brands into the future. This is not a shot at you nor a question of your value. You are the ones who have grown with brands, felt their legal/political struggles, lived through their fluctuations in financial stability, and helped transform their infrastructure. Boosting the valuable experience you have with knowledge of the social web will only make you better equipped to strengthen your partnerships and outwit your competitors. As my title indicates, you all have access to this cheap commodity of knowledge. Take advantage of information and stay ahead of others. See how it can overlap with what you are already doing. Invent smarter and more efficient ways of delivering your value. You don't have to start building a new house from scratch, you're simply adding a garage.

Silence in the Echo Chamber

Ironically, the topic of this blog post is something that has already been spoken of. It's the "echo chamber," the most common reference to the idea that much of the thoughts on the web are redundant or derivative. I find myself posting much less lately because I often will find fresh content that mirrors the ideas that I was planning on writing about. In effort to reduce the echo, I thought about what "walls" were being created that have stifled original content for myself and others:

The Walls

RSS Feeds: Those actively engaged with RSS feeds get a great deal of information (even in snack form) thrown at them. The topics in those feeds get our brains working, but it's often about the work or thoughts of other people. While there's great value in this kind of analysis, when brainstorming I suggest ignoring your feeds.

Livestreams/Microblogs: On Twitter today I posted the following: "Know how when you were a kid you'd invent things that already existed? To you, they were new? Happens a lot with thoughts now on Twitter." This proved true when three people replied to me saying that had just had that "epiphany" today as well. In terms of being a "wall" Twitter is still a mixed bag for me. It does two things, having it open forces me to think of creative questions and points, but it also leads me to read the same of others. Unless you can ignore your tweet stream and focus only on the "What are you doing?" box, I'd say close this up as well.

Lazy Reconfiguration: An author once told, there are 6 great stories out there when it comes to fiction books. They have all been written, new books are the same stories with new people, settings, and technology. The optimist in me doesn't want to believe that statement, but assuming it's somewhat true, it means that creative configuration of content is vital. It means telling the same story from a different perspective and adding your own analysis and critiques. (But also making sure your analysis/critiques aren't clones of other respondents)

Conferences and Mixers: Choose your live events carefully. Unless you are a speaker sharing knowledge, ask yourself a few questions. Is this conference going to bring something new to the table? Are the people here going to be different from the last one I went to? Am I going to act as a filter for the speaker and send out someone else's thoughts into the stream (conference tweeting) or am I going to listen to a unique perspective and then collect my thoughts and offer my own?

The above walls are not without value. They serve the purpose of SHARING content with those that can't access it or find it. But don't get confused and think that sharing content is the same as CREATING content. In the digital space, your audience is composed largely of people who do know where to get this information so instead of showing them the same film twice, write the sequel, do the remake, or add the directors commentary. 

What are your strategies for avoiding and not contributing to the echo chamber?

Are Web Standards Pointless Now?

TV, Newspapers, Billboards, etc were closed platforms. Publishers owned these entities and advertisers had to build their creative to fit the specs. With this mindset, the advertising industry moved forward into the world of online where we tried to keep this “box” mentality in place. Our rigid “Skyscrapers, Leaderboards, and Boxes” were the standard format that creatives worked within for a LONG time (relative to the lifespan of the internet).

Now it’s 2009 and we’re in the midst of the N.0 iteration of the web. Not only are thousands of publishers willing to let advertisers color outside of the lines, but thousands of consumers and startups are building web properties that don’t have lines altogether. Meanwhile there are groups that are working hard to standardize these ever-changing and evolving components of the web.

What’s the goal here? Is it to make the lives of advertisers better? Create a better user experience by limiting variables? Protect Consumers?