Technology and Advertising and my two cents
Researching and writing for What Next each week at BCM, I’m continually on the lookout for technological innovation used to great effect in advertising. Surveying the landscape, I’ve begun to compile a list of the new technologies we’re increasingly seeing brands use to create distinctive experiences for people.
Facial recognition technology, used to target a selected demographic (e.g. Astra Beer) or create an opportunity for audience involvement (e.g. Women’s Aid).
Augmented reality, used to provide a more immersive experience (e.g. Queensland University of Technology, National Geographic and others).
Virtual reality, used to provide an intensely immersive experience (e.g. Patrón, Samsung, Dior).
Drone technology, used for entertainment value (e.g. Pepsi, Cirque du Soleil) or to facilitate ad creation beyond normal limits (e.g. Patrón).
Finding this unfolding future of marketing fascinating, I recently started watching Black Mirror - a satirical series about the unanticipated consequences of new technologies and our “codependent and contradictory relationship” with technology and the media. Prima facie, Black Mirror may present a dystopia we hardly connect with reality; in truth, considering our current technology consumption and the rate of digitalisation, by process of extrapolation it’s not a stretch to see that world as the future we’re headed for.
Sometimes my thoughts turn to ‘kids these days’ - those of Generation Z growing up during these fast-paced, technology innovation times, reliant on and familiar with a multitude of devices. Simply through repeated exposure and immersion, they’re learning technology by osmosis. Like absorbing a foreign language in your younger years, it comes naturally. These digital natives are fluent in technology, and sometimes it intimidates me! Me, who in my mid-twenties hasn’t had a smartphone or tablet for the entirety of my adulthood, let alone my formative years. When new ‘stuff’ comes out, I need to make the effort to pursue it and learn about it.
In 1952, John Steinbeck wrote East of Eden and warned that the trouble with mass production was that “the mass method is bound to get into our thinking and eliminate all other thinking.” He advocated for the “free, roving mind” which he feared was being blunted and drugged. And he said this:
“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.”
It occurs to me that although I may not be learning in the same, instinctive way these kids are, one advantage I do have is critical thinking, that tool of adulthood; honed at university, maintained by curiosity and the deliberate choice to detach from 24/7 connectivity. And I realise this: beyond knowing the technology, continuously thinking in order to understand its effect on people and the significance of this - is something that can also be appreciated.
