Digital bipolar disorder (DBD)
Oh boy, does the digital buzz machine ache for a metaphorical magic pill -- some blockhead simple "cure" for many of the marketing challenges facing brands. When new things come along, the buzz about their potential effects on the marketing body sometimes gets blown out of proportion.
Our industry appears to have its own form of digital bipolar disorder. ("DBD" for the TV campaign every new disease needs -- cue the contemporary sound track and vignettes of deliriously happy people raising their arms to the sky.) People in our industry looooove new things. And then, about six months later, we often despise those same things. In many cases, it's not the platforms and technologies that are at fault -- it is the collective DBD and the unrealistic expectations it creates and then dashes.
What's caused this epidemic of DBD? It seems driven by a desire in some to "take care of" digital -- deploy something simple and understandable to make this wonderfully, horribly dynamic environment more manageable. We want to bring structure to something that feels formless.
Just because the latest digital "thing" is transforming communications doesn't mean it is a panacea for brand challenges. This article looks at four digital "things" that instantly captivated many, only to lose their luster just as quickly when it became evident that they were not magic pills. It also points to a short list of considerations to make the next time everyone is calling something "white hot." I've deliberately picked four fundamentally sound concepts and platforms to demonstrate how it is misplaced marketer expectations that are the problem here -- not the technologies themselves.
