In Part One of my series on The Future of Digital Advertising, I discussed endpoint marketing and path to purchase engagement. It’s always refreshing to explore future innovations.

In this post, I’ll discuss the new Madison Avenue. I’m elaborating on Jesse Thomas’s list of what 2011 will entail in digital advertising.

Thomas states that Silicon Valley Will be the Next Madison Avenue. This is an interesting thought but I think that this dynamic has been in play for a while.

I think everyone agrees that digital is the present and future, and that the days of slogan-driven creative campaigns that eat up most of their clients’ budgets are not long gone, but secondary to the sophistication of digital media.

Actually I take that back–content and distribution channel must always be married like hand and glove.

Sarah Lacey’s book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good tells the story of the entrepreneurs who learned their lesson from the bust and in recent years have created groundbreaking new Web companies.

It’s arguable as to when the inception of Web 2.0 began advertisers already started taking notice.

Brands know that you have to remain relevant and utilize all the right social media channels to reach their customers on a one to one basis. This so-called second iteration of the dotcoms also started the craze for pull marketing and content-centric campaigns.

The other piece that advertisers get that it’s all about bringing people together. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace unite friends online; YouTube lets anyone posts videos for the world to see; Digg.com allows Internet users to vote on the most relevant news of the day; Six Apart sells software that enables bloggers to post their viewpoints online; and Slide helps people customize their virtual selves.

I must admit, the big agencies are not antiquated by any means. They are in fact on the cutting edge of innovation. Our software is actually powering the IPG Innovation Lab in Los Angeles.

Universal-McCann in San Francisco handles major digital accounts, like Microsoft. With the advent of Ad:Tech, the Facebookization of the globe, and of course, Google’s continuous growth that all stemmed from innovative nooks along the sunny Bay Area Peninsula, it’s safe to say that accountability and metrics are the new chic and sexy.

Marketing and technology are now intertwined in a hot and heavy honeymoon phase. Creative directors no longer hold the clout, although the ones that have quickly evolved with the tools of the rich media trade still hold striking position. Still, chief marketing technologists are more inclined to get alpha status and slip into the Don Draper role, minus the good looks, the daily scotch binges, two packs a day, and the explicit sexism.

Silicon Valley is the next generation times ten, and will continue to pave the way for digital innovation in the advertising and marketing space.

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Nikos

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