By MA Yue
It started as a squabble and spiraled into a scandal. An influencer accused Audi of plagiarizing his video. Audi apologized. The ad agency apologized. The influencer accepted the apologies. Then a photographer dug up an old photo that Audi used for the same campaign without paying. More outcry, more finger-pointing.
The ad industry rushed to condemn it, calling it unbelievable, egregious, self-destructive, and simply nonsensical. Except that it makes perfect sense, given the distress of the industry, instigated by social media and exacerbated by the pandemic.
Want, want, want!
At the root of the problem is a lack of money. “Brands want celebrities. They want good placement. They want a big production. All these cost money. So, content creators have to be sacrificed. Of every dollar spent on ads, less than ten cents goes to them,” said a director at a large ad agency.
Brands these days are less open to experimentation, favoring established formulas that generate traffic and sales. “Brands used to love big bold ideas. They would take pride in a witty tagline, or artistic recognition, even if it doesn’t directly translate to sales. Now they still talk about it, but in actuality, everything is about sales,” another agency said.
Agencies often find themselves pressed for both time and money. DENG Bin, CEO at Tianyukong Advertising, one of the biggest and fastest-growing agencies, observed that brands now spend less money on more campaigns, leaving less leeway for creativity and experimentation. “Ten years ago, a client would spend three million on three big campaigns in a year. Now, the same client probably has only one million in total budget but asks for ten small campaigns,” he said.
“Brands spend less in times of uncertainty,” said Deng. “They are not necessarily poorer, but they are definitely more shrew. They are obsessed with likes, engagement, and ROI.”
Laziness, incompetence, greed
Work that used to be done in three months is now done in less than one. And the quickest way to come up with new ideas is to copy existing ones. Large agencies outsource, but do not have the time and manpower, or simply do not bother, to double-check subcontractors’ work, even for outright plagiarism. Millions of videos are being created every day.
It is no surprise that a small influencer triggered an existential crisis for big industry. Digital marketing has never been so fragmented. Influencers, algorithms and new forms of media threaten to kill off the middlemen.
The middlemen have proved themselves unable to check even the most basic matters, like who actually wrote their copy. The time is ripe for a new order to be born.
