Media is an art, not an algorithm
The divorce of creative and media is arguably the crime of the century in our industry. A world where a media plan can suffocate and bury a good idea is crazy, yet it happens, a lot. Supposed efficiency of reach suppresses the effectiveness of what you want to reach people with. Yet what you say matters but where you say it is key to the resonance of what you are saying. Context creates meaning and impact.
At Electric Glue, we’ve always believed in the inherent importance of message and media together, not a process where great work is written by humans but then distributed by a piece of code out of context and losing its meaning. To illustrate that point, we’ve published a book full of creative examples of context collapse.
We believe that the planning of the right media partner to amplify the creative idea is crucial and yet mechanisation will cast work into the abyss and out of context. The major media owners now have a reach that is unprecedented; content-driven ecosystems become a home to helping creativity flourish at scale. We practice a philosophy of ‘sacrifice and overcommit’ to a genre in one or two of these ecosystems that best serve the work and its intended audience and therefore best serve our clients, giving our campaigns focus and impact.
The art of media
The fact that the recently espoused view that a media buying business should ’look more like a software company’ is frankly terrifying. If an agency is just there to procure eyeballs then they should give their own eyes a good rub. Self-serve can mean just that, but you need to work out which self, such a practice is serving the most. We should not lose the art of media due to technology but use it to aid it.
Media and message are, and always should be, inextricably linked. No algorithm can ever generate the magic that great creative and media thinking in tandem can. This is why we believe ’media is an art, not an algorithm’. So we have invited some of our creative friends to design a simple poster to bring this belief to life and we are proud to be able to bring these to you as a powerful demonstration of our belief that media is an art, not an algorithm.
We give huge thanks to all the people that have helped create the book under this title and hope you enjoy the work. Do reach out to us for a chat or if you would like a copy of the book.
Simon Orpin, co-founder and chief executive officer, Electric Glue.
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Electric Glue
Electric Glue is an independent media agency based in Soho. Established in 2014 by Kevin Brown, Simon Orpin and Nick Kendall, the agency is a planning and buying...
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