When we look back on our industry in a few years’ time, I wonder what we’ll remember about 2001. Undoubtedly, there’ll be memories of the economic downturn, the associated fallout of the dot com sector and the inevitable downsizing that some agencies have, sadly, had to consider. But alongside these negative recollections, I wonder if we’ll remember it as the year that broadband access finally pushed the nation’s online habits into the next gear.
As an industry, we collectively have been guilty of building the hype surrounding broadband, to the point where the technology just couldn’t deliver on all of our promises. The mantra of "high-speed connections coming soon!" has long been chanted as the justification for over-ambitious design decisions. This has been especially true as agencies have tried to force the narrowband Web to be: "more like print," with increasingly complex layouts; or (even worse) "more like TV," with overblown animation sequences. The truth, as far as I can tell, is that the arrival of broadband connections will initially only deliver the Internet experience we had all hoped to achieve three years ago, effectively papering over the cracks of low-access speed, latency and, most crucially, the stranglehold of metered access. It’s not going to push us, or the public, into the next phase of online behavior just yet.
Initially, we must resist the temptation to use the new capabilities to simply "turn up the volume" on what we do already, and should instead set our creative minds to developing the next online "killer app" that’s born with broadband in mind. But until the "next great thing" emerges, we’ve all got to run commercially viable businesses and pay the bills. So how can we, as agencies, seize the opportunity of broadband, and still operate successfully?
An obvious opportunity is in the production of content for the succession of broadband portals that is appearing, such as shortform video, animation or games. Content development uses many of the skills and technologies we already have, but in order to produce content to a sufficient standard we need to broaden our skills, and probably our equipment levels, too. A host of new requirements, from script writing to sound design and video editing, are required. Video, in particular, is an expensive area in which to invest, and despite what [Apple Computer founder] Steve Jobs’ adverts may tell you, a broadcast-quality video production chain, from capture to output, can be a six-figure investment. Then, on top of production costs, we need to factor in the sales channels we’ll need—either in-house teams or specialist third-parties that can "hyper-syndicate" our wares around the world.
So should we all abandon our narrowband design and development work and move into the broadband content markets? The answer right now is a resounding, "No!" But, clearly, an opportunity is there for the taking. The most important thing to accept is that we must all work together—the agencies and the portals and the ISPs—to inform and define how this online industry wants to work, and fund itself, in a broadband world.
