Slow Advertising!

The world is moving at a zipping fast space. While you read this post the world have tweeted away at about 2200 Tweets per second,  Tumbled (is that what it’s called?) about 333 posts per second, Facebook’d about 12,000 status updates per second and sent about 280,000 emails per second. Not that these are a REAL measure of the pace of things but they sure are indicative of the life we live are embracing with each passing day.  The real question to ask at this point….does the world need to slow down?

I don’t know if it does but it clearly is feeling the need to. You often hear people complain that life is moving too fast and that time is passing by very quickly. So I decided to do what any savvy marketer would do, conduct some solid research and put an end to all the heresy. I went on Twitter to do my research and here is what I found. A New Jersey Girl, a Las Vegas dude, a Singaporean God Lover and a politician from Kosova all saying the same thing. Yes my dear readers this phenomena is truly global!

Is it time to slow down? If people from three continents are saying the same thing then it better be true! Right? I mean these people represent a good three-fourth of the world population don’t they? Isn’t this how we do research these days?!

Looking at a more expert perspective (yes I looked into those as well, I don’t call myself a strategist for nothing eh!) Carl Honore wrote a book on the subject “In Praise of Slow, How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed”. Speed is not always a bad thing I mean some places could really use speed like certain Government Offices that I have come across not pointing fingers or anything (Did I tell you I work in Saudi Arabia?).

But by and large ‘Time Poverty’ – the inability of a large number of people to embrace the present and optimize their experience at that moment has inspired what is known as the ‘Slow Movement’. Even a mock organization – the International Institute of Not Doing Much (IINDM) has been setup to champion this cause. It is a huge philosophy that encompasses many dimensions of our life from Slow Food, Slow Parenting, Slow Travel to Slow Art and beyond!

Being an ad man I guess I notice and look up only when something has implications on branding and advertising. They say advertising is a function of and is inspired by popular culture. It seems “Slow” is becoming the new BIG even in advertising, if not globally then at least in Australia. It’s either that the ‘Slow Movement’ has gained momentum to the point that it is spilling over to brand communications or it’s just some creative guys taking random inspiration. Whatever the case, seeing some commercials inspired by this idea is enough for me to see smoke even when there is no fire. I am sure the flames are not far behind! Check out the videos below to see my pick of ‘Slow Advertising’:

Enjoy the Ride! – YouTube Video Link

Experience Human Flight from Betty Wants In on Vimeo.

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