Digibabble \ ˈdi-jə-ba-bəl \ n: The use or connotation of the word digital or any of its conceptually associated derivatives, such as mobile (mobilebabble) or social (socialbabble), as a modifier to anything giving the illusion of new; never before seen; radically different or worse, implying Luddite status as in…you are too traditional or you don’t understand.
Examples of digibabble abound every day in the news we read or see, the conversations we have, the conferences we attend, the analyst reports we receive, the company news that is released, and in general, the hyping and promotion of myriad digital business.
Truth is that the phenomenon of what-was-is-dead and what’s-new-never-existed-before is part of our human need to tout the uniqueness and first-time status of what we do. That impulse, I imagine, goes back to our earliest ancestors…yet in a world where most accept the basic notion of evolution as a given it seems odd to ascribe ex-nihilo presence to things like retail shopping, gossip and, yes, to our business of Advertising (there, I’ve used the word without feeling any obligation to say traditional…)
Having said that, there were some real firsts, no doubt – speech, writing, killing, sex…but from those points on everything was evolutionary with an occasional revolution thrown in that changed trajectory but not the basics.
For example – I’d argue that the internet is only the latest evolution of our DNA-based desire to have access to and share information. Think about all the stories we still pass on that began as word of mouth sharing around campfires, spread by caravan and single travelers…stories that entertained, educated and contained critical information…stories that spread further through the technology of the times – cave paintings, etched monoliths and tablets, parchment and papyrus scrolls, well-paved roads, printed paper, telegraph, steam locomotives, radio, airplanes, movies, TV…stories that we now read, listen to, watch on or through myriad devices that surely enhance our experience but don’t change the essential underlying message in the least – and, therein, is the issue of our time.
You see I believe that we have and are inhibiting the true potential of our digital world by ascribing powers to it that are not real…powers that lift stock prices to absurd levels; that confuse and befuddle the average person who doesn’t have two and more devices (we all do…and that is part of the problem); that limit true creativity by worshipping Digibabble (there I got the word in).
Let me give you an example – Retail.
People shop – shopping is one of the ways we acquire food, clothing and possessions of all kinds. And, to hear it from some sources today, shopping has evolved so much that we have changed its very nature. WRONG!
What has evolved is efficiency as in supply chain, inventory, purchase and payment. What hasn’t changed is the need to provide the right products to the right people at the right time. Again, I’d argue that the merchants of old were savvier to their customers’ needs than any software loop will ever be and that we have more to learn from them in the digital age than from the latest greatest “convergence of smartphone technology, social media data and futuristic technology…changing the face of retail in a way that experts say will upend the bricks and mortar model in a matter of a few years…”
For example, Tesco just announced a new video platform that they will offer loyal customers. This new Clubcard TV boasts the ability to give targeted advertising opportunities based on their tangible retail data. Nothing new about using data to understand your customers better, just lots more and interesting channels to leverage. Being smart about that takes more than a new digital platform, to convert this to sales will require better insights and better shopper marketing, not just technology.
Or Listen to Will Young the head of Zappos Labs – one of the benchmark digital businesses of our era – “Impressive as future technology might look, it will take good old fashioned customer service to boost those figures.”
Or how about this from TechCrunch: “What Google needs for these products is what Apple needed a decade ago: their own stores that they’re in complete control of to showcase their products” – Now wait a minute! Aren’t they in complete control in digital channels – don’t they create experiential experiences (now that is true Babble) that do just that?
Or even this from Forbes: “Brands may be drawing millions upon millions of people to their Facebook page, but just because people are 'liking' or 'retweeting' doesn't mean they're buying. And that is surely the end goal of brands developing and maintaining a social media presence. A social strategy needs to lead to increased desire for products and then drive sales.”
More and more, when the digibabble clears like early morning fog, marketers are seeing more clearly through the distractions of new technology to the power it can bring a brand — if and when it’s meaningful. However, they often see the ruins they left behind them becaue of their almost druglike need to rely on technology and not their own thinking and insight.
Remember when marketers sounded the death knoll to radio? They were wrong. It’s larger and bigger than ever through Pandora, Clearchannel and Spotify.
The bell tolled for journalism, too, but in fact the smartest newspapers are still doing great reporting and even deeper reporting across all kinds of media, using all kinds of tools. In fact, I’d argue that with the growing need for credibility ascribed to sources, some newspapers, like The New York Times, are potentially stronger than ever.
And some of the loudest bells rang for the death of advertising, poisoned by so many with the prefix of traditional (a word that is always a moving target). Yet look at some of the most innovative companies today — the Googles and Facebooks and countless other digital companies who are all trying to monetize what they do. And just how are they trying to monetize? Advertising, plain and simple.
They all have advertising departments and are eagerly trying to learn what they can by getting close to advertising agencies, the so-called creative agencies, who have been at the center of every media birth and resurrection since the beginning of time.
Skip the digibabble and mine for what endures — advertising’s ability to engage, to motivate, to make loyal consumers and, thus, create powerful brands.
I challenge you all to look past this generation’s version of digital newspeak. It serves to undermine the true value of innovation, which is to tell our story through the most compelling channel. Don’t swap powerful for new.
There are pockets of resistance. The New York Times just quoted an engineer at Google, a company that has clearly helped deify algorithms, as saying: There has been a shift in our thinking…A part of our resources are now more human curated.” That’s right, people, who bring ideas and insights and even instincts.
And the next time you see some digibabble, don’t get anxious that you’re behind the times, don’t get intimidated by its brand-newness. In fact, submit what you’ve read to this blog, I promise you the uniformity and inanity will be apparent. And that will keep us clear and focused on the real issues.
Advertising…Madison Avenue…is alive and well and will be long after the latest digibabble recedes into the murky past.
- David Sable, Global CEO, Y&R
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