Being old enough to remember when Apples (aka Macs) had a built in 9″ monochrome screen and were coined “Classics“, I have been lucky enough to be taught in both traditional methods and with the tools we use every day to create, communicate and reboot. Skip forward to 1994 and when Mindspring changed the landscape by offering great service with a slow, but reliable internet connection to my home and many offices in and around Atlanta. So what has happened in these 13 years since we would start the day by the lovely sound of the modem? We all know that a lot has happened and changed, but my question is less related to what has happened but to how it has affected our media and communication landscape.

Recently, I polled my students and recent graduates at The Creative Circus with some questions around “Traditional” and “Digital” advertising, design, media and strategy. Figuring that this generation of marketers, advertisers and designers will most likely experience an even greater shift in how we relate to media.

The Question:
How do you see “Traditional” advertising and media changing in the next 10 years?

Some of their Answers:

1.) “Consumers will have more control over the choice and content than they do now and brands that engage consumers as active participants will be successful.”

2.) “I don’t think there is ‘Traditional’ advertising anymore.”

3.) “More media channels, more ways to reach people, more interactive experiences and more brand interaction. Hopefully less User Generated crap.”

4.) “I don’t think anyone can answer that question. The only thing you need to be certain of is that your ideas communicate with an audience in an interesting way. Don’t let the media do the work.”

5.) “More out of home, experiential and true interaction between the audience and the advertising itself.”

6.) “Traditional will be a support role. It will only exist because it has always been there.”

7.) “I think it can go two ways… either it could go back to more traditional forms, as the interactive market becomes saturated, or it could go the other way where traditional becomes a program on the history channel.”

8.) “More interactive/online experience focused.”

9.) “A drastic overhaul of TV and more of a move towards viral.”

10.) “Media will become even more scattered.”

With these answers and our own insights, we all know “Digital” will become a driver within the next 10 years. The real question that excites me is what will “Digital” become.