What s next?

What’s next?

There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight to the changes happening in our industry, and we haven’t really begun to deal with any of them.

Within a few years, a news story on television will be instantly downloadable as a detailed article complete with background story. What that means for print news media and its accompanying advertising is hard to say.

Satellite radio will make that medium commercial-free and national. Will it take the place of local radio? Or will it become a medium that will customize its message for each individual listening (with a personal ID chip imbedded in the receiver)?

TiVo is a technology that allows viewers to effectively zap advertising. As of this writing, it is not a huge factor, but it will be in just a few years. Spots that are not viewed are not worth paying for, especially if their effectiveness will be analyzed over a very short-term period. There has been talk of a network with no advertising, just product placement. Personally, I’m skeptical about the long-term success of such a method, unless it makes use of the merger of television and computers. The technology would enable a view to point and click a remote at a sweater worn by an actor. The show would automatically pause, and you would be shown a catalog page from which to choose available colors and sizes, then make an online purchase. You would then return to your show. This may not be a happy view of the future, but it is one that seems likely.

The use of TiVo or a similar technology will enable viewers to design their own networks, with a customized lineup of all their favorite shows to be viewed on-demand. A “Wish List” similar to TiVo’s will locate all the shows they want to see any time they want to see them.

Whatever happens, the advertising industry must be more proactive. Solutions that we offer now will better help to shape the future of advertising. Otherwise, it will shape itself.

Christopher Santry founded Christopher Thomas Associates with Tom Petrocine in 1975. Their backgrounds as creatives did not prepare them for the business side of running an ad agency, but CTA grew slowly over the next 10 years, working on a mix of local, regional and small national accounts. By the mid-’80s, CTA had about 30 employees in its Garden City, N.Y. office and was doing a lot more broadcast advertising than most agencies that size.

In 1993, CTA received an assignment from Fallon Healthcare, a New England HMO, to rebuild its brand and generate leads for new members.

The company, which was experiencing attrition of 7 percent per year, experienced a 15-percent increase in membership in the first year of the campaign. Fallon continued double-digit growth for another five years, and also received the No. 1 ranking from both Newsweek and US News & World Report in their surveys of HMOs.

After this success, Santry named his methodology “Active Branding” and the process became a staple of CTA’s credentials presentations. Black & Decker Housewares agreed to try Active Branding for a handheld electric can opener called “Gizmo,” with results exceeding the previous company record for sales of a single product.

In 2001 Christopher Thomas Associates became a part of the Kupper Parker Communications group under the name KPC Christopher Thomas. Santry continues to serve as senior partner of creative services.