a spectre haunts the [creative] imagination
'Systems are inherently brittle and retain authority only as long as we treat them as having authority', according to Beaudrillard.
Hence the old adage 'no-one ever got fired for buying a billboard in Times Square, or no-one ever got fired for buying a 30 second spot in the Super Bowl (or Grand Final).
Is it fear?
But once you lose the fear of systems, or conventions, the status quo, they lose the hold they have over you.
So we hear that multi-channel advertising campaigns are nearly twice as effective as their traditional counterparts.
All good, so far.
However this is often framed as TV plus multi-channel is more effective than TV alone.
Hurrah, say the digital community, recognition for the ghetto.
But this framing is simply reinforcing the myth of TV authority.
How about saying multi-channel campaigns are more effective if the include TV in the mix?
[note: Beguiling tactic...]
But more people are watching more TV than ever before?
Yes. They are watching programmes. The content. That's if they are in fact in the room at all...
Here's another one from JB.
'There is nothing more mysterious than a TV set left on in an empty room. It is even stranger than a man talking to himself or a woman standing dreaming at her stove. It is as if another planet is communicating with you.'
