Mobile technology evangelist and Yahooligan, Russell Beattie, went on one of his patented rants the other day. It’s good stuff.
It just seems that no one is trying to change the world any more. No one is aiming to create “insanely great” products or do the impossible. Why not? Why are so many people grasping at the low-hanging fruit, when there’s so much more goodness for everyone if they just stretched a little higher?
No one seems to be coming up with the next interesting new business model. I’m not looking for anything wacky, but there’s got to be better ways for your site to make money than waiting for Google to send you an AdSense check every month. Seriously, everyone seems to think the Text Ad Train is just going to keep on rolling forever. It’s not. Where is the new innovation to keep things moving? Remember, Google stumbled upon the way to do it right, but someone came up with the Contextual Advertising concept first and his name was Bill Gross. Where is that type of new innovator?
Actually, where are all the personalities, period? Where is the hubris of Jobs? Where is the unrelenting focus of Gates? Where is the arrogance of Ellison? Come on, let’s get some new budding tech-industry stars out there! I want to see someone’s face on the cover of freakin’ Time soon, you know? It’s been at least a year since Larry and Sergey… Come on! Who’s next?
Why not think big? Let’s see, there’s always fear of failure. And laziness. If we put those hypothetical hindrances aside, strictly for the sake of discussion, I’d say there are some big ideas floating around our realm, the ad realm.
I know for myself, just a few years ago I was still transfixed by the possibility, however distant, of seeing my best work in CA’s Advertising Annual. Now, I never think of it.
I think about being a consumer advocate, about having the client’s ear when it matters, about building bridges between the camps. I think about blogs helping to reinvent the art of copy, about storytelling being on the rise, about what it all means for brands and my careeer. I think about what’s under AdPulp’s hood, about where we want to go with it, about how to share all that in measured bursts.
