Is there hope for the advertising market?

This Friday I went out to dinner here in Boulder with a great friend of mine: Marthon Pucci. Marthon was the first guest on one of my Videocasts. He's a great guy and I respect him a lot. A hustler-restless like all of you who read this blog. People who know the importance of what purpose should always be above ROI.

We talked about the difficulties of being a foreigner in the United States when you get positions in companies that many Americans dream of. We talked about the difference between the pace of work in the United States and in Brazil. We think about the next steps, dreams and what makes us happy. It was a sensational conversation.

Marthon works at a very famous advertising agency in Boulder and we talked about the balance between "leisure and work" (even considering the fact that work is a pleasure for us).

There's nothing like a fresh Monday morning and a fresh cup of double espresso, right? :)

I have a degree in journalism. I had serious doubts if I should have done advertising, but looking at what some of my friends who were studying advertising at ESPM learned and produced during college (versus what I had in the classroom) I felt more value in being with the crowd "pseudo-impartial" than with ghost ads folks.

Journalism is present in my life until today and it was what allowed me to travel throughout the United States getting paid to write. Otherwise, I would never have had the financial resources to do so.

Today I work and am an entrepreneur, immersed in the startups market. I feel that I am part of the present and I see advertising halfway between the past and the present.

I'll explain.

A good idea for a big campaign will always have value. Advertising's ability to transform itself into culture is incredible. From brands becoming objects to campaigns like Keep Walking or Old Spice.

There will always be space for campaigns with a great idea that is reproduced and adapted for all other media. Just as there will always be "fat startups" that do not qualify under the lean-agile-MVP standard.

If there is one big conclusion I learned during Boulder Digital Works, it is that advertising agencies are becoming more and more software houses. This video below is an example that yes, there are still hopes.

The best advertisers have read more TechCrunch than AdAge. And this is great. In a way, I feel the living proof of this transition. Software has never made the world (including the advertising and publishing industry) so interesting. It's great to be alive!