What will the next five year of the advertising industry look like? http://parkermason.net/trends for more.

1. The Next Five Years Of Advertising
Prepared by Parker Mason
December 31st 2017

2. The Future is a scary place. It’s inherently unknowable and the unknowable frightens
us. Nobody likes uncertainty.
And that’s why trend reports are great: They give us a map of the mysterious world of
next year or next financial quarter. They reassure us that we humans are truly in
control of the world around us.
But they’re mostly based on slightly-educated guesses, author biases and
preconceived notions. They endlessly reference each other in a circle of unchecked
footnotes* and unsubstantiated claims. Predictions are vague enough to be accurate
for some areas, some demographics and some in-groups.
Predictions are never wrong - they’re just not true yet.
* “On Footnotes and Reference” - Parker Mason, 2017 http://ParkerMason.net/footnotes

3. 2
0
1
8
There is both
increased regulation
around how
publishers, celebrities
and influencers need
to disclose what is an
ad or paid placement
as well as increased
ignorance and
defiance of that
regulation from
advertisers.
The majority of
commercials on TV
exist solely to drive
viewers to a website
to learn more. The
others implore you to
sign up to learn more
via one simple text
message.
In both cases, the end
game is your
registration in a CRM
database.
Content and
advertising become
increasingly difficult to
separate, leading to
consumer confusion.
Trust in journalists,
publishers, brands
and platforms
continues to erode.
More than 1/3 of the
"30 under 30" list for
advertising consists of
freelancers or people
who don't work at a
traditional agency/
marketing team. The
industry celebrates
the “gig economy”
while top talent
continues to drain out
of big agencies.
WWW ?

4. 2
0
1
9
Advertising industry
publications reach a
tipping point: there are
now more articles
about agencies trying
to reinvent the model
or disrupt the industry
than any other
category of story.
The Guinness Book of
World Records
becomes nothing
more than a catalogue
of brand attempts at
viral videos. The first,
fastest, tallest, etc.
They continue to do a
booming business
shipping copies to
creative departments
for research and
clients on behalf of
agencies.
YouTube eclipses TV
for "Most Advertising
Minutes Skipped.”
Advertisers continue
to devote countless
resources to their
pursuit of the Holy
Grail of online video:
the unskippable ad.
Researchers report
that more than 95% of
web traffic is bots.
Digital strategists
further shift their focus
away from optimizing
communications
towards human eyes
and more towards
how to organize,
appease and rank for
the automated site
visitor.

5. 2
0
2
0
All content is free. The
catch? You have to
pay to communicate
with your friends and
family. Social
networks and media
companies report
record profits.
Everyone is an
influencer: you
influence two people,
who each influence
two more. The entire
world is a pyramid
scheme of influence.
Television
programming as we
know it ceases to
exist. "It was just a
distraction from online
advertising," one of
the executives behind
the decision was
quoted as saying.
Artificial Intelligence
researchers have a
massive breakthrough
and develop a tool
capable of blocking
both digital ads & real-
world ads via
augmented reality.
They immediately sell
access to a white-list,
enabling brand ads to
continue to be shown,
even with the blocking
technology enabled.
X
$

6. 2
0
2
1
Holding companies
begin demanding that
their agencies start to
sell off the 3D printers
purchased in 2013 as
well as the Bitcoins
mined by IT
departments on
company servers in
2012.
We’ve reached peak
Cannes: There are
now more award
categories than there
are eligible
campaigns.
Literally everything is
an ad.
And I’m ahead of the
curve. This document
is basically an
advertisement for my
services as a witty
brand consultant and
digital strategist.
Seriously - you can
click here to visit my
site to learn more.
Autonomous vehicle
technology truly takes
off, but only in the
form of rides
subsidized by brands
in the form of stops at
specific stores prior to
delivering passengers
to their destination.
BUY!

7. 2
0
2
2
Media agencies and
ad technology
platforms perform
one final, dark ritual
before disappearing
into the digital space
between display
advertising & landing
page visits to become
an entity known only
as The Programatic.
The clues had been
in front of us for years
- we just weren't
paying enough
attention.
Gangs of influencers
roam the streets,
shaking down brands
for products to review
and money for
sponsored posts.
“It would be a shame
if anything were to
happen to your
positive sentiment,”
one said. Brand
managers huddle in
cellars, praying for an
end to the Influencer
menace.
The planet is burning
to the ground on one
side and drowning on
the other while some
of the world’s
greatest minds sit in
air-conditioned
boardrooms drinking
pitchers of ice water
and room-
temperature soda as
they discuss the
exact role their
client’s brand plays
for consumers during
the End of Days.
Yet another end of
year article declaring
“Advertising Is Dead”
is circulated and
shared. As if in
defiance, Advertising
itself emerges from
our collective brain
power as a fully-
formed being. It
laughs an evil, hateful
laugh and slowly
squeezes the life out
of the last remnants
of culture and
humanity.

8. A lot of what I’ve predicted is obviously not going to come true (except
maybe that thing about influencers in 2022).
What is true is that mass, digital and social media (and the advertising
dollars behind it all) will play an increasingly important role in shaping the
world around us over the next five years and beyond.
We have a responsibility to understand this. And we have an opportunity to
channel our passion, our creativity, our resources and our efforts towards
creating a future that we want to live in.

9. @ParkerNow
@ParkerNow
parker@ParkerMason.net
ParkerMason.net
http://BlogCampaigning.com
If you made it this far, you either
enjoyed this document or just flipped
through the pages super quickly. Either
way: great job.
I’m based in Vancouver, Canada but
frequently travel to provide brand and
strategic consulting services to clients
that interest and excite me. I’m always
interested in new conversations.
-Parker Mason

10. /END/