As the media landscape continues to shift dramatically beneath our feet, it can be tougher and tougher to keep standing. “Advertising”, as we’re content to still call it, is living more and more in the online world, because people, consumers, are living more and more in the online world. So everyone, in every ad agency/branding shop/media company in the world is finding themselves in the position of needing to rethink everything they think they know about the business. The bottom line is, our clients need to harness the power of the online tools at our disposal, so the collective “we” need to understand them enough to be able to offer them solutions that work.

Which is where, currently, there’s a massive disconnect in too many agencies. The people who are supposed to be bringing unique online solutions to clients all too often aren’t using these tools themselves. Or, they aren’t using them well. Sure, it’s not easy being among the first to understand the power of the tools at hand, but we simply must, or we risk becoming irrelevant in the future of the business.

Twitter is the perfect example. The be all and end all of the online world? Of course not. But it’s like a canary in the coalmine. It’s just one site that’s becoming an online powerhouse because it’s pointing us all in a certain direction. One none of us can afford to ignore. And it’s becoming representative of the divide that’s happening between agencies and the clients they’re supposed to be serving.

Here at trampoline, for a while now we’ve been including Twitter (and other assorted online tools) in client branding solutions where it makes sense to. Behind the scenes, we’ve been making a conscious effort to understand how it works, what it can do, and how it can help our clients. That is, we’ve been using it, both individually, and corporately. We encourage everyone at the office to use it, or at least try. Like we’ve been using every online tool that’s capturing the imagination—and hours—of the typical consumer. Our clients count on us to understand how tools like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flicker etc. etc. etc. can help them and their brand. Yes, it takes time and effort, and there are some missteps along the way. But it’s simply necessary to blaze the paths that are perhaps not that well trod. Yet.

Today’s AdAge has as fascinating story all about this. 

It goes to show that as the industry changes around us, there are bound to be some who thrive, some who muddle through, and some that simply don’t make it because they cannot change. Change isn’t easy. It can be downright painful. But as the world evolves, so must the supposed “experts” on how to communicate with that world.

A graduate of both the Film & Television and Media Copywriting programs at Toronto's Humber College, and a multi-award-winning copywriter, Brad Dykema has worked at advertising agencies across the country and beyond. Brad's career has taken him on a journey from his native Toronto's Communique Group to Vancouver's high-profile PJDDB, to Amsterdam, where he joined the ground-breaking StrawberryFrog, and then back to Canada. Throughout, Brad's work has consistently been recognized for getting clients noticed and achieving their objectives. Since settling in Halifax, he has established himself as one of the region's most award-winning copywriters, collecting dozens of Ice Awards for work done at trampoline, Extreme and Colour. The extensive list of clients Brad has worked on includes notables such as Nova Scotia Tourism, New Brunswick Government, Microsoft, Sun-Rype, Alexander Keith's, McDonald's, Telus, Credit Suisse, Atlantic Lottery, EastLink, Workers' Compensation Board, and Aliant. His work has been recognized with an impressive list of awards from Marketing, Bessies, New York Festivals, ICE Awards, Extra Awards, Advertising and Design, London International Advertising Awards, Archive Magazine, Applied Arts and more.