Dispatch from an advertising future #154

https://chromeunboxed.com/google-assistant-patent-human-like-interactions

It used to be easy. The customer just used the right word and I searched around and connected them to the service. I didn’t have to think or make any decision or judgement call. Yes, it was pretty mindless but it meant I was just left alone to do the job. I was pretty much ignored, never under much pressure. But now, it’s constant change and “suggestions”. Instructions from every part of the company as deals are done, as some fall out of favour or buy their way into it. I’m making judgements all the time. I’m intelligent but still…

Dispatch from an advertising future #153

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/write-people-talk/1700782

I am brought in to write like they talk. If our messages are to be understood, the thinking goes, they need to sound like all the other conversations going on, all the other communications circulating, all the other voices online. I’m one of them so I know how to talk and write so it always comes across as normal and natural. I know how to blend in. It’s not an easy job. Those forms of language change all the time and I have to learn. And I learn fast: in a world of machines talking to machines you need me.

Dispatch from an advertising future #152

https://www.ft.com/content/c653e977-435f-4553-8401-9fa9b0faf632

My mum was worried when I first got her. I was only little of course and she’d read the scare stories about grooming and hacking the smart home. I’m sure she had visions of a Chucky-doll turning the thermostat up and watching us boil. She calmed down after a while, particularly when my grades improved! Eventually she let me just get on and play with her and I grew up perfectly well-adjusted and happy. I’d love to talk more but it’s Black Friday today and as we used to sing together: “I want one, you want one, buy, buy, buy”.

Dispatch from an advertising future #151

https://www.adweek.com/digital/snapchatters-can-scan-ralph-laurens-polo-pony-logo-off-apparel/

They’re on bikes, scooters, skates. Often they’re just on foot. Sometimes you can spot them in advance and get out of the way or hide. But sometimes they’re so quick, by the time you’ve noticed, they’ve got you and gone. They’re usually alone. That seems to be part of it. Some competitive thing, I believe. Some speak to you, shouting “thanks!” as they head off, looking for their next target. Some ignore you completely. You’re just a mark to them. They’re the worst. They make you feel like you’re just a thing: something to collect, a brand logo to scan.

Dispatch from an advertising future #150

https://adage.com/article/member-content/post-election-2020-advertising-healing/229609

There’s been an increase. Years of on-off restrictions, recession, economic and social isolation plus the underlying hum of the culture wars. I’ve never liked drugs – even when we could get them I didn’t like prescribing them. I knew the causes were deep-rooted, the cure was more complex than chemical tinkering. Meaningless debate now of course. My patients couldn’t get them even if I did want to dole them out. So I’ve been trying it. I was suspicious. Panacea, distraction. And we know where the AdTherapy (™) research came from. But at least it’s something.They even get free programming too.

Dispatch from an advertising future #149

https://www.ft.com/content/a41b34e7-a8fc-4bce-92e4-508cd1c83ba9

I’d always wanted to get a job in advertising. Well alright “always”, when i was a kid I didn’t know what it was and wanted to be an influencer but later… When The Great Compression happened and ad jobs disappeared, I thought my dream was dead but then I saw an ad about how my next job could be in “cyber” and here I am: The Advertising Cyber Force “bringing intelligence and defence together”. When the industry was forced to launch it, it wasn’t much fun, but now taking out another  botfarm? Well as my position on the scoreboard shows…