The Spring quarter has come to an end for my Digital Campaigns class at the Miami Ad School (San Francisco). I had a great time teaching the class and I am already looking forward to next quarter.
But, this class was very different from the previous quarter... different in that one of my main challenges was to get the students excited about digital. As I learned on the first day, many of the students only wanted to work on traditional advertising and thought that digital was "boring." Hmm, boring? Really? I have faced this at the more traditional agencies I have worked at. But, this was the first time I have experienced it with students who practically grew up with a mobile phone and PC on their laps.
As I learned on that first day, the students thought of digital as "banners." While I was able to get the students thinking outside of banners and developing integrated digital programs that spanned numerous digital vehicles, the concept of "Digial = Banners" really disturbed me. It disturbed me because this is exactly the approach that many traditional advertising agencies take when thinking "digitally."
I know a lot has been said in the past about how to get traditional agencies thinking digitally. For me, it begins and ends with education. Educating creatives, account management, planners and management on the "what, when, why, how" of digital is critical. The longer agencies, and clients, define digital as banners, the longer the agency business is going to suffer.
- Chris
