'Creative people must re-engage with media': Mark D’Arcy

On 31 October, The Ad Club hosted an  event in Mumbai featuring Mark D'Arcy, VP and chief creative officer, Facebook Creative Shop.

 

On changes in technology over the past 30 years and how it has impacted the way people and business interact, D’Arcy said, “I think of people as a superpower."

 

He reasoned that when people connect to the internet, when they have access to mobile technology, they end up having superpowers, because they theoretically have access to all the information in the world.

 

The meritocracy of information, according to D’Arcy, is fundamentally altering the way on which people and brands interact with each other. He added, “We grew up with linear forms of entertainment, there were only a finite number of things we were watching. You would watch something once, you could never revisit it. Today that is not the case. We will soon be able to put reusable content in the hands of everyone."

 

‘Everything competes with everything’

 

D’Arcy’s belief is that everything being connected makes everything in today’s world compete with everything else. As technology evolves, this competition will only increase, he said.

Speaking about the role of creative people in this media landscape, he noted, “No matter how powerful any technology is, I believe that creativity is the key to unlocking that technology."

The speaker outlined how creativity should be looked at in the context of building 'creative capital'. 

 

He added, “Creativity is not some abstract form of crayon drawing. The more time I’ve spent with technology, I’ve realised that technology is aligned with creativity and technology is enabling new kinds of creativity.”

 

D’Arcy underlined that marketers could no longer communicate with people with the assumption that they have the right to disrupt them. He said, “It is far more valuable to stop what we’re doing and think about marketing as the manifestation of purpose - where we connect to people with things of value to them. We’re moving from disruption to connection."

 

He added, "If we look at marketing as the manifestation of service and brand purpose, we go from marketing ‘at’ people to marketing ‘for’ people. That changes everything.”

 

Talking about the evolution in thought, he said, “We need to build experiences in a way that respects people’s time. People in business always talk about ROI but the viewing audience always talks about ROA (return on attention).”

 

Distribution

 

One craft, according to D’Arcy, that creative people are going to have to get more involved with, is the science of media distribution. He added, “The world I work in makes for these two to come together. As things get more complicated, these two things will have to come together.”

He explained, “When you get creative people involved in the process, you will save money and it will be the best way to make sure your work will get realised. Filmmakers and musicians obsess not only about the making of their product but also the distribution. I think if creative people re-engage in this, they will advance their story."