Conceptual Commercial Art:
The Mad Men way to the future.

The advertising industry emerged when newspapers established ad departments to make money by selling ad space. This eventually evolved into advertising agencies. Their main task was to fill ad spaces with messages, which they did in a straightforward, descriptive manner.

However, in the 1960s, a newly established advertising agency, Doyle, Dane, Bernbach (today DDB), realized that adding creativity increased the value of advertisements, and creativity gained a price higher than the cost of the ad space itself. This is called the Creative Revolution, and it laid the foundation for the modern advertising industry. Think “Mad Men” on Netflix.

Fast forward to 2000: When the internet arrived, the conditions changed. Suddenly, it became possible to measure things in ways that were previously unimaginable. ROI became the focus as customer journeys could be tracked online. This was built on cookies placed in everyone’s computers, providing access to demographic data and users’ behaviours and preferences in ways never seen before. 

The entire industry shifted from having creativity as a fundamental element to focusing instead on search engine optimization, finding digital twins, influencers, and clickbait to drive conversions. 

Being able to measure what happens became central (the fact that we can’t really value what it’s worth is a whole other discussion). In a way, it returned to when we were selling spaces before the Creative Revolution. We knew what we were selling: then, space—today, clicks. And everything was built on cookies.

Fast, fast forward to 2024: Now cookies are on their way out, we can no longer rely on algorithms, and the advertising industry is unsure of how to proceed. It’s no longer possible to drive clicks without consent to access users’ data. You can’t just push your message to target groups; they must accept it. In other words, brands need to become relevant and exciting to attract customers. So, how do we do that now?

 

How do you become relevant and engaging?

If we can learn something from the Creative Revolution, what would it mean today? 

We believe that a transformation and reorientation of what constitutes the core of advertising agencies’ operations will be necessary, with creativity once again taking center stage. 

The big challenge today is that all channels are so fragmented that it’s hard to reach your target audience. There are simply too few Super Bowls. 

With Generative AI, we are entering an “era of content overflow” where content is easy to produce for everyone. With some clever prompting, you can generate new content that fills ads, blogs, social media, and more. We’re filling spaces with more and more content, but fewer and fewer people will want to consume it. We will once again seek out short lists to help us choose between a few trusted brands to which we are loyal.

 

Art and Conceptual Art

Art history has developed slightly ahead of the advertising world but has some interesting similarities. Simplifying things, one could say that since the early 1800s, before the camera was invented, much of art was about capturing reality. For example, portrait painters were highly regarded. Thereafter, uncertainty arose—what is art really? Is it about depicting reality in an attractive way? 

The journey gained momentum, and artists began experimenting with content, colour, and form. These gained intrinsic value, and different expressions were tested, such as Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and the 1960s Pop Art movement. 

The question “What is art?” has continued to be asked in many different ways. From Marcel Duchamp’s urinals to Jeff Koons’ balloon dogs — installations in real life and on video have taken over a large part of the art scene, using the unexpected to answer the question, “What is art?”

 

What is Advertising?

We believe that the future of the advertising industry lies in doing what the art world has done: asking the question, “What is advertising?” and continuously exploring what it means for each individual client. The advertising industry has always been clear that it is not about art. It borrows art’s expressions and ways of thinking to create the unexpected. But it has no intrinsic value—the value it delivers is to sell products, opinions, and perceptions—it is commercial. 

But if you take another look, there are quite a few similarities. Even art has “sold” products (Campbell’s soup cans, Warhol), opinions (Guernica, Picasso), and perceptions (Elephants, Brandt). 

And perhaps the most significant similarity lies in the creative process. To create great art, you need an idea of what you want to achieve, a dream of what you want to accomplish. It’s not something that happens on demand; it requires thought and time to gain clarity. Then, it’s about executing in line with your thoughts. It doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it can be. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it can be. It doesn’t have to be difficult, but it can be. The crucial point is whether it delivers the total experience of your idea.

 

Conceptual Commercial Art

If the advertising industry can reclaim the idea, the conceptual, we can give brands the relevance they deserve. And we can learn from the art world. It’s not about what we do; it’s about how we do it. We must genuinely understand what is required, and that process takes time. If you want a piece of music composed or a painting created that reflects a person’s innermost self, it takes time. 

That is precisely what we must teach ourselves and our clients — to take brands on a journey that makes them relevant today requires hard work at a deep level. Ideas must be worked through; it’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. We call it creating Conceptual Commercial Art.

Conceptual Commercial Art:
The Mad Men way to the future.

The advertising industry emerged when newspapers established ad departments to make money by selling ad space. This eventually evolved into advertising agencies. Their main task was to fill ad spaces with messages, which they did in a straightforward, descriptive manner.

However, in the 1960s, a newly established advertising agency, Doyle, Dane, Bernbach (today DDB), realized that adding creativity increased the value of advertisements, and creativity gained a price higher than the cost of the ad space itself. This is called the Creative Revolution, and it laid the foundation for the modern advertising industry. Think “Mad Men” on Netflix.

Fast forward to 2000: When the internet arrived, the conditions changed. Suddenly, it became possible to measure things in ways that were previously unimaginable. ROI became the focus as customer journeys could be tracked online. This was built on cookies placed in everyone’s computers, providing access to demographic data and users’ behaviours and preferences in ways never seen before. 

The entire industry shifted from having creativity as a fundamental element to focusing instead on search engine optimization, finding digital twins, influencers, and clickbait to drive conversions. 

Being able to measure what happens became central (the fact that we can’t really value what it’s worth is a whole other discussion). In a way, it returned to when we were selling spaces before the Creative Revolution. We knew what we were selling: then, space—today, clicks. And everything was built on cookies.

Fast, fast forward to 2024: Now cookies are on their way out, we can no longer rely on algorithms, and the advertising industry is unsure of how to proceed. It’s no longer possible to drive clicks without consent to access users’ data. You can’t just push your message to target groups; they must accept it. In other words, brands need to become relevant and exciting to attract customers. So, how do we do that now?

 

How do you become relevant and engaging?

If we can learn something from the Creative Revolution, what would it mean today? 

We believe that a transformation and reorientation of what constitutes the core of advertising agencies’ operations will be necessary, with creativity once again taking center stage. 

The big challenge today is that all channels are so fragmented that it’s hard to reach your target audience. There are simply too few Super Bowls. 

With Generative AI, we are entering an “era of content overflow” where content is easy to produce for everyone. With some clever prompting, you can generate new content that fills ads, blogs, social media, and more. We’re filling spaces with more and more content, but fewer and fewer people will want to consume it. We will once again seek out short lists to help us choose between a few trusted brands to which we are loyal.

 

Art and Conceptual Art

Art history has developed slightly ahead of the advertising world but has some interesting similarities. Simplifying things, one could say that since the early 1800s, before the camera was invented, much of art was about capturing reality. For example, portrait painters were highly regarded. Thereafter, uncertainty arose—what is art really? Is it about depicting reality in an attractive way? 

The journey gained momentum, and artists began experimenting with content, colour, and form. These gained intrinsic value, and different expressions were tested, such as Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and the 1960s Pop Art movement. 

The question “What is art?” has continued to be asked in many different ways. From Marcel Duchamp’s urinals to Jeff Koons’ balloon dogs — installations in real life and on video have taken over a large part of the art scene, using the unexpected to answer the question, “What is art?”

 

What is Advertising?

We believe that the future of the advertising industry lies in doing what the art world has done: asking the question, “What is advertising?” and continuously exploring what it means for each individual client. The advertising industry has always been clear that it is not about art. It borrows art’s expressions and ways of thinking to create the unexpected. But it has no intrinsic value—the value it delivers is to sell products, opinions, and perceptions—it is commercial. 

But if you take another look, there are quite a few similarities. Even art has “sold” products (Campbell’s soup cans, Warhol), opinions (Guernica, Picasso), and perceptions (Elephants, Brandt). 

And perhaps the most significant similarity lies in the creative process. To create great art, you need an idea of what you want to achieve, a dream of what you want to accomplish. It’s not something that happens on demand; it requires thought and time to gain clarity. Then, it’s about executing in line with your thoughts. It doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it can be. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it can be. It doesn’t have to be difficult, but it can be. The crucial point is whether it delivers the total experience of your idea.

 

Conceptual Commercial Art

If the advertising industry can reclaim the idea, the conceptual, we can give brands the relevance they deserve. And we can learn from the art world. It’s not about what we do; it’s about how we do it. We must genuinely understand what is required, and that process takes time. If you want a piece of music composed or a painting created that reflects a person’s innermost self, it takes time. 

That is precisely what we must teach ourselves and our clients — to take brands on a journey that makes them relevant today requires hard work at a deep level. Ideas must be worked through; it’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. We call it creating Conceptual Commercial Art.

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