There may well be a list of these. But let’s start with…
‘Value and relevance’
Ok, ok, some context. I was sitting in a meeting not so long ago where the discussion turned to the changing expectations of the under 25’s. Instant gratification, complete consumer empowerment… all that kind of guff.
And then that immortal line, repeated on infinite occasions by people a lot smarter than myself.
‘You see, with these guys what we do has to be of value, and has to be relevant’
Cue nodding and agreeable grunts. Very sensible, you see.
But it got me thinking. When the hell did we find ourselves talking about ‘value’ and ‘relevance’ as if it were a new concept, alien to the over 25’s. Like brightly coloured jeans, or dubstep.
It’s like saying, ‘if we’re going to make a comedy, it’s got to be funny’ or ‘let’s create a new sweet, but remember (with wagging finger) it’s got to be tasty’.
Maybe I’ve missed the point here, but it implies that in previous times we could shovel out any old crap to an ever engaged and permenantly thankful audience. And then that darned Facebook came along and now what we do has to vaguely be of ‘value’.
I suspect this not to be the case. I suspect branded communications always had to be of value, even if such value is as abstract as entertaining or informative. I suspect we dish out the old ‘value’ line to show we are savvy and understanding of yoof. That we know exactly how the internet has shifted expectations.
But the truth is that instead we are simply admitting a rather tragic point – that 99% of what we do is pointless and valueless, and the only real change is that now we can’t simply ignore the implications – captured as they are in the digital ether.
In short ’sorry you guys, can’t get away with old sh*t anymore – guess bloody what, it now has to be of value…’
Picture courtesy of Alki1
