This is a consolidation of the trends that are now firmly planted in our landscape. It’s a pretty clear that the largest influence on the marketplace has been the internet.
It has eliminated the value of the regional niche and flattened the world of competition and created a rapidly growing demand and opportunity in creative and affordable visual content.
More recently we have felt a huge impact from new technology, especially the astounding capabilities made accessible to everyone through the HDSLR revolution.
Furthermore, the mainstreaming and expansion of highly capable and affordable editorial and design programs has all but eliminated scarcity and the built in advantages of the traditional brick and mortar post and production model.
Of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
1. We are all in the content business. We are no longer editorial or production companies. What is content? Content includes all forms visual creative material or hybrid forms including commercials, films, webisodes, websites, apps, social media and games.
2. Robust demand for content exists in the quest to fill the ever increasing number of screens which appear daily. Much of this demand is filled with some form of re-contenting existing form and assets, but there is also a vigorous demand for creative efficient work from the low to moderate price points.
More often than not customers look to integrated entities to handle this work for speed and value.
3. The necessity of integration on an individual and an organizational level. We are no longer production companies, editorial companies, directors, editors, photographers, motion designers and companies. We are content makers.
To fulfill the demand and solve the more complicated problems of our customers we need to have a firm grasp of the horizon, multiple skills and the ability to create flexible, instant and ephemeral strategic partnerships to rock the new digital world.
Fresh digital natives entering the market consider the ability to shoot, edit and create basic motion design table stakes for entry. This contrasts the obsolete paradigm of extreme speciality, which now exists primarily in the rear view mirror.
4. Democratiation and the elimination of scarity. The skills required to create are more easily acquired, primarily because the technology has become easily accessible, approachable, affordable and learnable.
Every kid graduating from high school knows how to shoot, cut and distribute content. Final Cut, After Effects and Garage band on the laptop and a Canon 5d over the shoulder give you potential unfathomable a few years ago.
So the scarcity which kept prices high and newcomers on the outside have largely been vanquished.
5. New Markets and The Flat World hanks to the web, we can all compete in the global market and demand for content. The advantage of regional entities for the most part have either been eliminated or severely diminished.
If you’re smart and aggressive, this can be a great advantage for you as an individual or for your company. The requirement for expensive brick and mortar and pricy hardware is diminished.
Those of us who have feasted and relied exclusively of ad agency projects can now and increasingly do work directly with aggregators, brands, marketers and organizations diversifying revenue sources and presenting fresh creative opportunities.
6. Original vision. Doing unique, original and authentic will often afford you the grace to ignore the previous five trends. Always has and always will.
David Rosen is an independent director, new media evangelist, and well known Chicago-based provocateur.
