The beginning of our era went thump, thump, thump.

Image by Nicole Marti

When the Energizer Bunny marched off the set of that commercial long ago, the modern era of marketing communications began.

The fourth wall was broken. Ideas no longer began and ended within the confines of a media unit. They carried on, out there somewhere in the world. That they turned up from time to time in commercials seemed only a matter of the cameras being on hand to record the moment.

Fast forward to now and see how technology has enabled (demanded) that brand ideas break free of the boxes to become free-floating notions. Conversations if you like. Or worlds. Or stories.

Listen to Bogusky when he says (or whoever it was who said it first) “bring me the press release”.

Listen to Droga when he calls for “ideas with momentum”.

The stand-alone commercial or the stop-start campaign, as interfaces between brand and customer, are lost opportunities at best. Even the singular, 360 brand idea as we know it has its shortcomings.

The challenge we all face is to weave stories, conversations, actions, and, of course, traditional communications, into a cohesive something that can represent a business through time. Thump, thump, thump.