New Media Isn’t New Anymore

Earlier this year I was at a conference that was supposed to be all about online and emerging advertising. The conference had some really good moments, but overall I was astounded at the number of people who really aren’t taking advantage of the best parts of social media, online video and other new channels. So many of the older attendees and presenters at this conference kept saying things like, “online video is just like TV,” or “mobile is just like direct mail.” What they don’t get is … they aren’t just like anything, that’s why they’re NEW media.

Honestly, I think the Web has been around long enough that we can stop calling it new media, it’s just media now. There are some great industry veterans out there that have been working in advertising longer than I’ve been alive, but like anything, it is hard to change your ways and get into a new mindset. Both agency and client-side marketing people need to recognize that there are many differences between traditional media and some of these “online things” that kind of resemble them.

Take YouTube for just one example. Anyone who just takes their TV commercials and puts them on a YouTube channel and says they are doing online video is kidding themselves. To do it right, you should be producing content just for the Web. Things that aren’t constrained by that pesky 30 second time period or over-analyzed in some agency creative meeting. Online video should complement and enhance your television campaign, as well as offer stuff that wouldn’t work in a TV ad. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have your commercials on your YouTube channel, but it certainly shouldn’t be the only thing on there.

Bottom line, think about each medium and its capabilities and plan individually. Just tacking on digital stuff to your traditional marketing is not a good plan. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t mind so much as my agency gets a lot of work from companies who don’t have a good handle on online video, social media and digital in general.

This post originally appeared on the Star Moose Blog.