Reading the adland trade press gets tiresome sometimes.

Fear! Scream! Panic!

Everything is changing!

Such ridiculous hype, all in the name of attracting fearful readers.

Everything is not changing.

Technology is changing. Communication forms are changing.

But guess what?

Those things have always been in a state of change.

Ever hear of a kooky little thing called the Industrial Revolution? Or Morse Code?

What is not changing – despite what the shills who make their money consulting or publishing business books would have you believe – are people.

Years and years and years ago – when the Commodore 64 was a still distant dream – God himself (i.e. Bill Bernbach) quoth the following:

“It took millions of years for man’s instincts to develop. It will take millions more for them to even vary. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man, with his obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of his own.”

Bernbach said that many, many decades before the digital revolution du jour. And it is still entirely true.

I have only to look to my 14 year old son for proof.

He is exactly as I was at that age; discovering and listening to music non-stop.

The only difference is, I recorded songs off AM radio using a mic and a tape recorder; he uses Wave Studio to capture tunes from videos on YouTube or Vimeo and transfers them to his MP3 player.

Different technology; same human desire.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go read the adland trade press – on a computer screen.

- Craig Cooper