Digital is Becoming the New Definition of Marketing

This week, Crain’s Chicago Business published an article titled, “Line between traditional ad agencies, digital upstarts blurs. It highlights the increasing need and demand for digital media. Today, marketers are no longer having one-way conversations with consumers via traditional channels. Instead, marketers and consumers are engaging in two-way conversations, where consumers are becoming active participants and secondary marketers via multiple digital screens. This is the future. Digital media is no longer an added bonus, it’s a requirement for marketers’ success.

With the changing landscape, the article also references the plethora of available data from digital media. This climbing mountain of data has provided marketers with more transparency into campaign performance; however, it’s presented obstacles for marketers as well. In fact, the industry is almost experiencing an over-reliance of data, overshadowing the basics of marketing, particularly creativity. This notion was further emphasized by Shawn Riegsecker, “The other downside of data is that marketers may be focusing on it at the expense of creativity. Advertising has always been about telling a story about a brand that makes consumers want to engage . . . and when it’s just about data and analytics, you miss the creativity and you miss the story.”

What are your thoughts? Do you believe the line is blurring between digital and traditional agencies? Is digital data helping or hindering the industry?