James Chandler: Digital advertising needs to rediscover joy

Where has the joy gone in digital advertising? And how can we get it back? 

James Chandler, chief marketing officer at the IAB, thinks that while the start of the digital scene was "an incredibly exciting space", the feeling of "joy and magic dissipated" somewhere along the way.

In a study with advertisers, the IAB found that this came down to two things: "unease" about the pace of change and a feeling of "futility mainly around creativity", where advertisers do not feel "they have got much agency" in a world of algorithms and AI.

Indeed, as Chandler acknowledges, in a seven-year career at the IAB, there have been "big moments" including brand safety, fraud and ad-blocking – all of which have had "advertisers questioning the integrity of the performance of digital".

So the focus should be on getting people to "rediscover" joy, fun and creativity in digital advertising.

Chandler joins Ella Sagar to discuss joy in digital advertising and highlights sessions from the recent Engage conference, including talks from former UK MD for Twitter Dara Nasr and EssenceMediacom's Geoff de Burca and Lindsey Jordan. 

Highlights

03:32: Why joy in advertising is so important and where it has gone 

07:15: What would a two-tier dystopian internet look like?

11.56: A rallying cry for creativity from EssenceMediacom strategy chief Geoff de Burca 

12.38: Former Twitter UK MD Dara Nasr on making the internet fun 

15:58: Holding a mirror up to society 

19.47: Key takeaways from IAB Engage