Index

Critical Shift:

In thinking about what critical event has had the largest influence on my Industry I was drawn back into the debate of what a critical event actually was and indeed if this was relevant at all.

To be clear I believe that a critical event is something that attracts significant attention and debate. It also occurs over a relatively small time frame (relevant to how long the industry has been around) and causes a shift in attitudes or behaviour of the majority of practitioners of that industry.

I will not go into debating this definition, but for me there has not particularly been an event like this in the digital marketing field, as the events (as Deb reinforces in her topic) that have occurred in this field have been evolutionary. I will therefore refer to this as a “critical shift”. This obviously does not mean they have had any lesser an effect however and brings me to my critical shift.

The mass adoption and development of Flash:

This change is pertinent to Virtual Worlds since Habbo and others are made in Flash and so without it could not exist. Secondly 96% of browsers have Flash installed and this is the largest adoption of any web centric application. Flash drives much of the rich media we see on the web today and so without it diversity and entertainment would be sparse.

From an advertiser’s point of view the implications of Flash’s use on the Internet is that they have always strived to ‘break through clutter’ and ‘engage the audience’. Flash can facilitate this as it allows creatives to develop interactive Adverts as well as microsites and whole applications to communicate with their target audience. Virtual worlds like Habbo and Taatu are written in Shockwave, but also require Flash functionality.

“As an industry, publishers, advertisers, and their agencies rely on the ongoing evolution and improvement in the tools and solutions we use every day to present compelling interactive advertising to consumers,”

- Greg Stuart, president and CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau.