Heart and Humor.

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I sadly see a future, probably way before the sea levels rise, when advertising becomes almost completely programmatic.  Not just ad buying but creative. Why is this? Because we can. Sports stories are written by computers. Machine learning is to the point where self-driving cars can avoid accidents (in labs) without human control.  And marketing metrics are plotting success at rapidly growing rates. 

Advertising agencies are expensive. Employing humans to write and produce mediocre ads has been a billion dollar industry for ages. The shops that do good work probably amount to 7% of all shops…and even their outputs aren’t always perfect.  So marketers will ask, “Why not let the algo write my consumer pitches? “Why not put the money saved toward the bottom line or into more media?”  “Why pay a premium for people, when machines can do mediocre?”

This is going to happen. Trust me. But the reason if won’t work well is the algo can’t nail heart and humor.  Or surprise and artistry.

In this future there will be machine advertising and a little bit of old school bespoke advertising. Priced accordingly.

I can wait.                                                 

Peace.