Road Kill Along the Digital Highway. Ignore Lessons From History at Your Own Risk.

It’s a wonder that companies in any industry that is likely to be disrupted by digital technology haven’t learned from those industries that have already been radically reduced, or wiped out altogether.

Take for example the type setting business. Large type houses with hundreds of thousands, if not millions invested in fonts and equipment, more or less ignored desk top publishing when it came along. The thinking went along the lines that people didn’t know enough about setting type themselves. The quality will never be there. And the old standby, “It’s just a fad, the business will bounce back.”

Most people today don’t remember that up until about twenty years ago, typesetting had been a thriving industry, going all the way back to when Gutenberg first invented the printing press.

Or, how about the manufacturers of analogue audio equipment, products and services? You’d think they would have picked up their first clue when CD’s came along. Even the comparative luxury of the ten to fifteen years or so they had while audio production went from AAD to DDD didn’t help. The digital devastation of the music business is still going on, affecting everything from producing music to marketing, distribution and sales. With products like Auto-Tune, people don’t even need to be able to sing anymore. So, who needs music lessons?

Then there’s the photography business. Although, the camera manufacturers have been able to turn the corner, what about the film manufacturers? Polaroid? Dead. Kodak, Fuji and Ilford? Barely limping along.

Kids today don’t have a clue what the heck Paul Simon is going on about in his Kodachrome song.

What are the industries the digital steamroller is likely to squash next?

• The commercial film production industry. No, how about the whole film production industry? 35mm film, cameras and equipment, gigantic unionized crews, craft services and the like are quickly becoming a thing of the past. The fast evolving picture quality of HD cameras, like the Red camera, is so good that even experienced film makers aren’t barking about the inferiority to film anymore. In fact, the promotional film for Reason Partners was shot on the Red. We shot it in a small studio on green screen with a director, a DOP and an operator. That’s it. No cast of thousands. Or cost of tens of thousands.
• The traditional behemoth advertising agency with its silos and layers of management isn’t likely to last much longer. It’s either digital convergence, or else. Not to mention the idea of intelligent crowd sourcing catching on.
• Most traditional media, like the newspaper industry will likely be gone. Or, at the very least end up a shadow of their former selves, if this chart is to be believed.
• How about the magazine industry? Lots of road kill there. The sale of the once venerable Business Week for the paltry sum of $5 million, being the latest example.
• Will further developments like Amazon’s Kindle seriously disrupt the book publishing, printing and retail industry? Might well be.

With the devastation of whole industries, there’s a more important human tragedy that is playing out at the same time. If this story is correct, U.S. unemployment is actually at 17.5%, rather than just over 10% that most have been led to believe. Sure, the recession has had a lot to do with it. But I’d wager that digital disruption is a contributing factor.

There’s bound to be other industries I haven’t mentioned that will be affected as well. If you’re so inclined, please feel free to add to the list in the comments section.

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Tagged as: Advertising, digital, Marketing, Newspaper, Red Camera, Technology