{"id":11105,"date":"2017-08-14T16:30:02","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T15:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=11105"},"modified":"2020-08-24T12:19:50","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T11:19:50","slug":"dont-watch-this-space","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/news\/2017\/aug\/dont-watch-this-space","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t watch this space"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-ZLqClE wp-block-lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image\"><section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--overflow \" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\r\n  <div class=\"container container--spaced-lg\">\r\n    \r\n    <div class=\"row\">\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n                \r\n                <blockquote class=\"blockquote blockquote--md-right\">\r\n          The pendulum of content creation, it seems, is nudging away from the amateurs and back to the pros.                  <\/blockquote>\r\n                \r\n  \t\t\t      <\/div>\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n    \t\t<p>My favourite was the one where the amorous donkey chased after the burly lorry driver who had gone for a surreptitious poo in the corner of a field with his trousers round his ankles. There was also that side-splitter where the elephant keeper\u2019s head momentarily disappeared up the backside of the elephant he was keeping as it offered to sit down (fortunately, it didn\u2019t).<br \/><br \/>I don\u2019t know what your favourites were. But I have grave news. The age of the user-generated internet meme may be nearing its end. According to recent data from Mavrck, UGC postings on Facebook have fallen by 29.49% in the past year. Meanwhile, all of the most-shared videos last month were produced by professional publishers. And GlobalWebIndex reports a steep drop in the past two years in people saying they wish to use social media to share their daily lives with their friends (down by 26%). Taken together, this can only mean one thing; we are facing a chronic slump in the posting of hilarious cat GIFs. Worse still, many experts anticipate a similar collapse for next year. We might just be staring down the barrel of Catageddon.<\/p>  \t\t<\/div>\r\n  \t\t\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-quote-full-width-1yrv36 wp-block-lazyblock-quote-full-width\">  <section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--top-lg text-center\" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n\n      <blockquote class=\"blockquote\">\n        And you, dear reader, are one of the experts because, if you work in the field of communications, one way or another you will be an expert at generating content. And the pendulum of content creation, it seems, is nudging away from the amateurs and back to the pros. A pat on the back all round. \n              <\/blockquote>\n\n    <\/div>\n  <\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-Z1R3TkO wp-block-lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image\"><section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--overflow \" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\r\n  <div class=\"container container--spaced-lg\">\r\n    \r\n    <div class=\"row\">\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n                \r\n                \r\n  \t\t\t  \t\t\t<div class=\"img-inline img-offset-left-md\">\r\n          <picture class=\"embed-responsive-item\">\r\n            <source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/512015968jpg0.jpg 768w\">\r\n                        <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/512015968jpg0.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload img-fluid img-1-1\">\r\n          <\/picture>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n              <\/div>\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n    \t\t<p>And you, dear reader, are one of the experts because, if you work in the field of communications, one way or another you will be an expert at generating content. And the pendulum of content creation, it seems, is nudging away from the amateurs and back to the pros. A pat on the back all round.<br \/><b><br \/>Facebook\u2019s pivot<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I have always felt that the advertising doom-mongers have been mistaken about the prospects for our trade. It is particularly gratifying to note that the good news is coming from one of the very forces that might have been predicted to be our undoing. It is equally gratifying to see the mighty Facebook having to do a bit of a swivel and a pivot, something we\u2019ve been used to doing for years in explaining our day job. Just like advertising, social media platforms change and evolve. At the same time, many of the underlying\u00a0competences\u00a0remain evergreen.<br \/><br \/>However, while adfolk deliberate at length about the turmoil facing our industry, we spend comparatively little time looking at the seismic disruptions unfolding in social media. Even the phrase \u201csocial media\u201d is becoming an anachronism. If the big usage trends continue for a couple more years, there won\u2019t be such a thing as social media. We will have gone back to media (content) on the one hand, and social (connectivity services) on the other. The clever clogs at Facebook are well ahead of us, of course. They know they are rapidly becoming more of a media site, which is why Facebook TV is such a big play. Moreover, as the owner of WhatsApp and Instagram, its eggs are in both baskets anyway. Which probably explains its brutal NPD investment assault on Snapchat.<\/p>  \t\t<\/div>\r\n  \t\t\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-1xgVBS wp-block-lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image\"><section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--overflow \" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\r\n  <div class=\"container container--spaced-lg\">\r\n    \r\n    <div class=\"row\">\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n        <p>There is another group of experts who will be direct beneficiaries of\u00a0the re-professionalistaion\u00a0of content. In fact, they are the embodiment of it. These are the social media influencers. The Casey Neistats, Zo\u00eb\u00a0Kravitzs\u00a0and\u00a0Zoellas\u00a0of this world. SMIs already feature in many good pieces of channel\u00a0planning,\u00a0but expect them to feature more. Some, such as Neistat, have already usurped the role of the Hollywood A-List shill to become a TV frontman for brands.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Curate\u2019s egg<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The trouble is that the world of influencers is something of a curate\u2019s egg. Some offer tremendous value, others come at an inflated price.\u00a0Others still are charlatans, buoyed by\u00a0follower\u00a0and share data artificially elevated by fellow celebrity wannabes, who\u00a0monetise\u00a0in packs, talking largely to themselves.\u00a0<\/p>        \r\n                \r\n  \t\t\t      <\/div>\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n    \t\t<p>Making the right choice of influencer is, in fact, an art in its own right.\u00a0You might almost argue that it\u2019s a skill requiring knowledgeable intermediaries. Perhaps they are to be found at old-fashioned enterprises historically known as \u201cadvertising agencies\u201d. You never can tell.<\/p>\n<p><br \/>As in all markets, we will see increased competition for the services of the best influencers. Amazon, no slouch in the field of media content these days, has made numerous clever plays. Its latest foray, Amazon Video Direct, seeks to attract accomplished content producers by offering what it sees as a more generous value exchange (15 cents per hour streamed on Prime versus YouTube\u2019s 55% of ad revenue). Don\u2019t watch this space. Get involved in it. The advancing bifurcation of social and media should prove a rich seam for adland.<\/p>  \t\t<\/div>\r\n  \t\t\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":11,"template":"","categories":[193],"class_list":["post-11105","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","category-in-the-press"],"acf":{"author":{"ID":930,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2020-07-02 12:04:34","post_date_gmt":"2020-07-02 11:04:34","post_content":"","post_title":"Charles Vallance","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"charles-vallance","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-19 12:22:45","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-19 12:22:45","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?post_type=people&#038;p=930","menu_order":0,"post_type":"people","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"client_id":"","hero_video":"","hero_image":{"ID":11790,"id":11790,"title":"Charles_9","filename":"Charles_9.jpg","filesize":63880,"url":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/news\/2017\/aug\/dont-watch-this-space\/attachment\/charles_9-2","alt":"","author":"11","description":"","caption":"","name":"charles_9-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":11105,"date":"2020-08-24 11:08:53","modified":"2020-08-24 11:08:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-300x113.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":113,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-768x288.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":240,"large":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-1024x384.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":240,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-1536x576.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":576,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":720,"Header":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-1920x720.jpg","Header-width":1920,"Header-height":720,"Wide":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9.jpg","Wide-width":1920,"Wide-height":720,"Square":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-1152x720.jpg","Square-width":768,"Square-height":480,"Tall":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-768x720.jpg","Tall-width":307,"Tall-height":288,"Mobile":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-768x720.jpg","Mobile-width":768,"Mobile-height":720,"Facebook":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-1200x630.jpg","Facebook-width":1200,"Facebook-height":630,"Grid-Item-Square":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-768x720.jpg","Grid-Item-Square-width":768,"Grid-Item-Square-height":720,"Grid-Item-Wide":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-768x384.jpg","Grid-Item-Wide-width":768,"Grid-Item-Wide-height":384,"Grid-Item-Tall":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9-384x720.jpg","Grid-Item-Tall-width":307,"Grid-Item-Tall-height":576}},"meta-title":"Don't watch this space","meta-description":"My favourite was the one where the amorous donkey chased after the burly lorry driver who had gone for a surreptitious poo in the corner of a field with his trousers round his ankles. There was also that side-splitter where the elephant keeper\u2019s head momentarily disappeared up the backside of the elephant he was keeping as it offered to sit down (fortunately, it didn\u2019t).   I don\u2019t know what your favourites were. But I have grave news. The age of the user-generated internet meme may be nearing its end. According to recent data from Mavrck, UGC postings on Facebook have fallen by 29.49% in the past year. Meanwhile, all of the most-shared videos last month were produced by professional publishers. And GlobalWebIndex reports a steep drop in the past two years in people saying they wish to use social media to share their daily lives with their friends (down by 26%). Taken together, this can only mean one thing; we are facing a chronic slump in the posting of hilarious cat GIFs. Worse still, many experts anticipate a similar collapse for next year. We might just be staring down the barrel of Catageddon.","social-media-image":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Charles_9.jpg","news_id":"193","relateditems":[{"relateditem":{"ID":11045,"post_author":"11","post_date":"2017-03-01 15:21:41","post_date_gmt":"2017-03-01 15:21:41","post_content":"<!-- wp:lazyblock\/two-column-text-quote-image {\"text-right\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eOasis released an album back in 2005 that proved to be ahead of its time. It was called \\u201cDon\\u2019t Believe the Truth\\u201d. Back in those days the truth was that diesel engines were preferable to petrol engines, our banking system was in good order and, as Gillian Duffy learned to her cost, if you raised the subject of immigration you were labelled a bigot.\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003e\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003eNot anymore. The truth is very different. Diesel engines are hidden killers. Our banking system was on the point of collapse. And immigration has now been de-stigmatised across the political spectrum as a subject for debate. How the truth changes.\\u003c\\\/p\\u003e\",\"quote\":\"In an age of unprecedented accountability, it\\u2019s in everyone\\u2019s self-interest to be open and honest.\",\"blockId\":\"1tGEeb\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-1tGEeb\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/two-column-text-quote-image {\"text-left\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eThe reason I give these examples is to show how every era wrestles with the truth. It has become fashionable to see the post-Trump, post-Brexit era as the post-Truth era. But I wonder if this, in turn, is really just another distortion. Of course, there are plenty of things to be sceptical about at the moment; fake stories and alternative facts abound \\u2013 especially in some over-combed quarters. But we shouldn\\u2019t confuse the meaning of Trump with the meaning of Truth, and to suggest that overall standards of truthfulness have somehow plummeted seems like an overstatement even he would be proud of.\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003e\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003eTo start with, what would be our point of comparison as the high water mark for the era of Truth? Tony Blair\\u2019s prosecution of the Iraq War? Florida\\u2019s hanging chads? The coalition\\u2019s promises on tuition fees?\\u00a0 Pravda in the 70\\u2019s or perhaps Nixon and Watergate? The fact is that nothing is above suspicion and every generation will have good cause for scepticism. But it seems tendentious to argue that overall standards of truthfulness and accountability are deteriorating. That we have entered a post-Truth world. The reverse seems more likely.\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003e\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003eIn our own narrow field of advertising, we can look back with some consternation at what was legal only 25 years ago. Alcohol advertising could trade on social success, and cigarettes could not only advertise, they could promote themselves as fashion accessories. This hardly represented the sunlit uplands of veracity. Ethical standards have undoubtedly improved. Employees are better protected and, over the last few years, there are a number of initiatives (including those of the IPA) which mean that the composition of our work force is far more closely scrutinised so that we can see where we are failing in terms of diversity and equality. The truth may be that we have a long way to go, but at least we are now bothered about establishing the facts, and this\\u00a0puts us in a position to take action \\u2013 or be judged for not doing so.\\u003c\\\/p\\u003e\",\"text-right\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eThe level of information available to consumers now is unrecognisable to where it was 25 years ago.\\u00a0 What once was opaque is now much more open to view, most notably in terms of a company\\u2019s employment practices and supply chain. Yes, there is still much further to go, but there seems little evidence that the transparency agenda will suddenly wane. In fact, people\\u2019s appetite for the truth seems keener with each passing year, and we are seeing this manifested in everything from the number of historical inquiries regarding past injustices, to our growing knowledge about health and income disparities, to consumer review and price comparison sites, to the recent surge in ACLU membership, to what political candidates such as Nuttall and Snell tweeted or posted when (bizarrely) they thought no-one was looking.\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003e\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003eDespite some garish headlines, it is unlikely that standards of truth are falling. Instead, our expectations of transparency are rising. This has to be good news for brands and companies who are doing the right thing by their staff, their communities and their customers. These are the brands that are now setting the agenda, these are the brands that can hold their heads high when predators come knocking and tell them where to get off. These are the brands that tend to be launced out of our industry by our brightest and best (on which note, good luck to Halo, may you be another Innocent \\u2013 interesting use of vocabulary in both cases).\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003e\\u003cbr \\\/\\u003eThe reason for my confidence isn\\u2019t because I think the world\\u2019s becoming more virtuous. It clearly isn\\u2019t. The reason for my confidence is that, in an age of unprecedented accountability, it\\u2019s in everyone\\u2019s self-interest to be open and honest. This is the most competitive strategy. And, where openness coincides with self-interest, truth will flourish.\\u003c\\\/p\\u003e\",\"blockId\":\"Z1vztwc\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-Z1vztwc\"} \/-->","post_title":"Don't believe the post-truth","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"dont-believe-the-post-truth","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2020-08-24 12:47:17","post_modified_gmt":"2020-08-24 11:47:17","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=11045","menu_order":0,"post_type":"news","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"relateditem":{"ID":634,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2020-06-24 09:56:54","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-24 08:56:54","post_content":"<!-- wp:lazyblock\/page-title {\"title\":\"Our Capabilities\",\"blockId\":\"Z24KL4u\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-page-title-Z24KL4u\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/two-column-text-quote-image {\"text-right\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eWith advertising and communications, we believe it only works if it all works.\u00a0 From the first search right through to post-purchase management of data, we make everything compelling, coherent and cohesive.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we transform a client\u2019s business.\u00a0 We\u2019re a fully integrated creative agency offering the following skills and services:\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"quote\":\"We are the challenger agency for challenger brands.\",\"top-padding\":true,\"blockId\":\"Z1pypLu\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-Z1pypLu\"} \/-->","post_title":"Our Capabilities","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"capabilities","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-12-02 12:08:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-12-02 12:08:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?page_id=634","menu_order":0,"post_type":"page","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"relateditem":{"ID":212,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2020-06-15 22:26:43","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-15 21:26:43","post_content":"","post_title":"Work","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"work","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-04-16 16:47:36","post_modified_gmt":"2024-04-16 15:47:36","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?page_id=212","menu_order":1,"post_type":"page","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}],"related_content_title":"YOU MAY ALSO LIKE","visible_on_home_page":[],"websites_to_publish":[],"capability_ids":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/11105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}