#16 – How the ad industry is losing, demographics are shifting, and the world is changing
Good morning!
A new week brings a new round of Six Links of Inspiration, covering an already well-shared interview about the ad industry playing a loser’s game, a new study on consumer decision points, a few charts that show how the world is changing, and a NYT piece on how that same world’s demographics are shifting. It also contains a study that suggests that humans need to stop thinking they’re special before we’ll take any meaningful action for the environment, and a piece arguing that art might be better suited to provide soothing for our mental pains than many mental health apps.
Enjoy the read!
The rest of the ad industry is playing a loser’s game. Much has been written about the decline of the ad industry and the challenges agencies face. Michael Farmer shares a few of his key points from his last and new book in this interview. He talks about AI, and productising our offering, and that “selling creativity is a cop out.” There’s a lot to agree with in this piece. AI will wipe out margins, accelerate the shitness of most output, and make most of the creative industry and their pricing models look like an anachronism. I also agree that hiding behind selling creativity for creativity’s sake is a cop out – but I do believe that pointing creativity at solving today’s biggest business problems is the most effective fuel for longterm success. Admittedly, that doesn’t solve for how to price it.
Decision points: Sharpening the pre-purchase consumer experience. In June, PWC have released another issue of their Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey. It’s about where people look for information, how they want to engage with brands, who they want to buy from, etc. “Shoppers seem eager to have chatbots act as their digital assistants—but they are less enthusiastic about receiving communications from them”
Negative capability. A long-ish read in AEON magazine that argues that traditional self-help strategies focused on self-surveillance may lead to burnout, and instead proposes engaging with art as a way to shift focus away from the self and towards exploration and curiosity.
Human exceptionalism hinders environmental action, Northeastern scientists conclude. If you ever wrote a strategy trying to convince people to act more sustainably and responsibly, this study examines why it might not have worked. People thinking they exist outside of nature is potentially one main hindrance of making them take action for the environment.
10 Charts That Capture How The World Is Changing. Rex Woodbury has shared the July 2023 edition of his roundup of shakeups captured in charts. It talks about confidence, AI, the loneliness pandemic, and more. It’s a great overview of big shifts that will impact human behaviour in some shape or another – and therefore is compulsory reading for everyone who wants to influence said behaviour.
How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World. A long scroll through the ages, visualising the big demographic shift that will impact all our lives until 2050. Why all of us? Because most people who will be alive in 2050 have already been born. It’s the first time I encountered the term demographic dividend: “When birth rates fall, countries can reap a “demographic dividend,” when a growing share of workers and few dependents fuel economic growth. Adults with smaller families have more free time for education and investing in their children. More women tend to enter the work force, compounding the economic boost.”
I hope you enjoyed the clicking journey and I see you back here next week. Please, if you like, bring a friend or two along by sharing this issue with them.