Good Enough for Now

Apple recently had one of it's famous conferences, in which millions of viewers tune in and marvel at the innovation that is unveiled. This time around the new iPhone 6 SE was released, which looks like a smaller, not that interesting, version of the current iPhone. Yeah, it has two cameras and whatnot, but I just kept thinking to myself "I know you can do better than that". Perhaps that is my technologically challenged self that maybe doesn't appreciate the innovation of adding another camera, but it just seems like one of the biggest and most powerful digital firms can innovate a little more. They made the phones bigger, now smaller and it just does not make any sense to me. 

Yet, I am sure that people will order, anticipate, and camp out in droves to get their hands on this device simply because it is new and shiny, and it has some sort of function that is promised to make their lives easier.

We are seeing this in tech quite a bit, but as an advertising major I find it very interesting to note the evolution and retaliation that has been seen in web ads. The article points out that text ads are "not high-concept.. but are highly targeted, incredibly cheap..and make up 90% of Google's net revenue and 45% of all internet ad sales in the US" 

This "Good Enough" ideology did not work for long. Consumers were fed up with low quality, intrusive, and distracting ads and started blocking ads all-together. Since last year there has been an increase of 48% in ad block usage in the United States alone, and as AdWeek points out "ad blockers on desktop computers will cost publishers $22 million."

This is forcing the advertising industry to innovate, and innovate significantly. The people have spoken, and the only thing that the ad world can do is adapt. They must bring back quality content, value and entertainment into the equation and not just sell out for empty impressions.

Maybe with the boom of social media and the empowerment of consumers through various platforms, we, as consumers of technology can demand real innovation from companies. Until then guess we will have to continue to settle for the 6 SE, 6SE plus, 7, 7s, 7s plus, 7SE, 7C, 7C plus, 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d, and so on.