Somewhere in an automaker’s design studio is a sketch for a car so mind-blowingly futuristic it shocks your system. In fact, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of such designs in the studios of every automotive brand in the world. So why aren’t they ever produced? Why are the “total redesigns” we’re offered each year not that much different from the “total redesigns” of the model year before them? The futuristic designs exist, so why don’t the cars? What’s the hold up?

We are.

Many years ago I saw an interview with an automotive marketing expert who said consumers are not ready to accept seismic shifts in car designs. The futuristic designs will come, but it will be a very slow, gradual process. We think we want something out of the Jetsons, but if it appeared in a Toyota showroom tomorrow, we wouldn’t know what to make of it. I was reminded of this recently when tasked with a big creative assignment. Like every creative person in our business I wanted to re-do the math. Hell, I wanted to break every rule and invent new numbers and colors and words and letters. I wanted to use the opportunity to reshape the way people think about advertising and maybe even their existence. I wanted to be mind-blowingly futuristic. So what stopped me?

We did.

Look through the advertising annuals. Look carefully. You’ll see great big ideas. But you’ll also see very familiar executions. That’s because the agencies that created them know what the auto industry knows: consumers are not ready for the seismic shifts. Not yet. It’s taking place gradually and digitally, but it will be a long time before the audiences who receive our messages are ready to receive them from the future. So do we stop trying to reinvent the wheel? Never. (Neither should the entertainment industry.) But it will put things in perspective the next time we’re spinning our wheels. – Glen