Making Sense of Advertising’s Paradigm Shift

Part 1: How did we get here?

Welcome to the paradigm shift.

It’s no secret that advertising is changing. Fast. So whether you’re pining for the good old days when you could squeeze the Charmin®, scrambling to learn how to Tweet or developing your Google-killer, it helps to consider how we got here.

The Four Catalysts (Or The Four Horsemen if you’re having a bad day)
    Internet
    Cable/Satellite TV
    Search
    Social Media

Runner-ups
    Gaming
    Mobile

Much of the upheaval started in the early nineties with a little-known phenomenon called the Internet. At roughly the same time, television’s holy trinity of ABC, CBS and NBC began to see their kingdom erode under the deluge of cable and satellite channels (Sound familiar, radio?). Throw in the proliferation of search and the recent explosion of social media and it’s clear that the advertising model that gave us the Marlboro Man, “Where’s the beef” and “Just do it” will never be the same.

Next --
Part 2: What does here look like?