I remember SHOOT’s 40th anniversary as clearly as if it was 10 years ago. At the time, I wrote a little “tribute” in these pages imagining, instead, that it was the magazine’s 60th anniversary, and the year was 2020. Complimenting the publication on its longevity, I noted that there was no longer a paper edition but that over 50,000 people received SHOOT via a microchip that had been installed in their brains, so that each issue would just “appear” automatically in their thoughts once a week. I wasn’t even doing drugs!
That was the year 2000. Remember? There was no iPod or iTunes. Facebook was a few years off. Taylor Swift was 11. AOL announced an agreement to buy Time Warner. Putin was elected President of Russia. George W. Bush President of the United States. X-Men, Gone In Sixty Seconds and Gladiator came out. The final original “Peanuts” comic strip was published. The dot-com bubble burst. There was no American Idol (unless you count Britney and N’Sync). Boards magazine had begun publishing a year earlier.
In truth, I was a little bit concerned about SHOOT back then. Boards looked pretty slick to me–so did Creativity. They covered agency creatives and producers like rock stars! They fashioned themselves after lifestyle magazines and threw cool parties. How could SHOOT compete? I even contacted the Publisher (Roberta Griefer) and suggested she consider changing the format of the magazine, make it look more like Rolling Stone, feature a director on each cover–who doesn’t like to worship directors?!
My suggestion was politely dismissed. “We’re going to keep doing what we do, Lyle–cover the news and developments in the advertising and production industries,” she said. “But thanks anyway.”
Is it actually possible I was wrong about SHOOT, and what they should be doing? I mean, here we are, 10 years later–they’re still reporting it–still printing it. And Boards? Here’s what their publisher published earlier this year: “It is with sadness that we inform you that Boards magazine has ceased publishing immediately. Major long-term trends–have forced our clients to re-evaluate their business models and the recent global economic turmoil has simply accelerated that need.”
It sucks that I would even bring that up, doesn’t it? I mean, SHOOT is celebrating their big Five-O, not the demise of some other publication. Hey, Teen People is gone too! Please join me in hating myself.
But what is it really about? The staying around part. The surviving, and succeeding, in spite of the “major long-term trends” part.
It’s about being relevant and smart and continuing to understand what your customers need and want, and giving it to them, then giving them more, and walking with a confident gait, wearing smart clothes and carrying a smarter phone and never using the expression “Shit, I remember when this business used to be fun back in the day.” Because guess what–today is back in the day. Somebody’s rockin’ it. It should be you. Definitely should be me. And apparently, it’s still SHOOT.
So with apologies for spilling champagne on my Anniversary issue, let’s look forward to looking ahead (it’s so much more interesting than looking back):
1) The universe will continue to expand–including the number of visual mediums through which humans will view and consume content; 2) The number of directors in the DGA will exceed 15,000 which means, theoretically, there will be more things to direct; 3) More advertisers and content creators will form production entities capable of filming, taping, animating, editing and finishing their own commercials and programs to save money; 4) This trend will bite many in the ass as competitors steal their market share with better ideas and higher production values; 5) ‘Viral’ advertising will be exposed as largely a wank; 6) There will still be only 10 openings in the “Top 10”; 7) Of the 5,000 musicians who played at SXSW this year, 4,752 will be working at WalMart in 2020; 8) Britney Spears will turn 39; 9) My grandson will turn 25; 10) SHOOT will be celebrating its 60th. Rock on!
Lyle Greenfield is the founder of Bang Music, past president of AMP, a former agency copywriter and creative director.
