Stupid, inefficient, over-priced. Hooray!

Hi,

Following a 40-year pattern, at the recent broadcast up-fronts, the major TV networks raked in record dollars from marketers - to the tune of $9.3 billion! Oh, and all at higher than ever pricing. Truly more for less. Now, I really do not want to focus on something as clunky as the up-fronts in this blog. There are plenty of places where people can drone on about C3, CPM and CBS. However, there is a larger, more positive story that is worth mentioning.

The exorbitant pricing of traditional media has been a major contributing factor in driving innovation for the rest of us. If the networks had not over-loaded their shows with seemingly never ending ad breaks, so driving people into the arms of Tivo, and at the same time gouged advertisers who fund the whole thing, we would likely be in a different world.

Truth be told, my job has never been more interesting or challenging. The work our agency creates is infinitely more creative and evolved than from just a few years ago. And there is more to come. There is a comparable analogy to the oil crisis currently going on. Sure, at lot of people are complaining and suffering. At the same time, the lack of cheap oil is spurring innovation and creativity. People are being forced, and incentivized to think and approach problems differently.

So hooray for the up-fronts, they are driving innovation in marketing - and that is something to celebrate.

Josh.