The Tortoise And The Ad: Rediscovering Slow In The Age of Fastvertising
By: Vanessa Bolosier, Creative Strategy Director at Incubeta
In an era dominated by fastvertising—the adrenaline-fueled race to churn out marketing content that can outpace the shortening attention spans of a tweet-addled audience under the idea of “keeping up with the pace of culture”—the art of advertising risks becoming as thin and forgettable as the paper it’s printed on. Once a canvas for clever minds to splash with enduring slogans and iconic imagery, today’s marketing landscape often feels more like a treadmill set to a sprint, where the only goal is to keep up, not stand out.
Pause for Effect: The Case for Thoughtful Creation
Fastvertising–although effective–with its dizzying velocity, promises brands the power to stay relevant by responding in real time to the ever-shifting whims of culture and consumption. It’s tempting, then: why deliberate over a punchline or ponder the palette of a poster when you can simply react? Tweet back within minutes, craft memes in response to the morning’s headlines, and ride the frothy wave of viral moments. This approach has its merits—timeliness, relevance, and the occasional jackpot of a widespread share. But in our hurry to capture the moment, are we sacrificing the chance to make a lasting one?
The Craft of Slowness: Where Ideas Breathe and Grow
Consider the phenomenon from a slightly contrarian angle—not dismissing the merits of speed but questioning its reign. In the rush to be first, what becomes of the craft? In the world of two-sentence search ads and data-driven pitches, where does the fun go? Advertising, once the playground of the daring and the clever, now risks succumbing to the soul-sucking processes of procurement and endless optimization loops. The quirky, bold ideas that once defined it are now often flattened into banners—safe, yes, but hardly memorable.
Casualties of Speed: Creativity on the Cutting Room Floor
There’s something inherently rebellious, then, about choosing deliberation over speed. It’s about embracing the swagger that comes from creating not just any response, but the right one. Not the fastest tweet, but the cleverest; not the quickest meme, but the one that resonates long after the trending hashtag has faded. This is where the tortoise might outpace the hare, not by running faster, but by inviting the audience to pause, reflect, and, crucially, feel.
Rebel at a Snail’s Pace: Choosing Depth Over Hastiness
The creative casualties of fastvertising are numerous: ideas narrowed down prematurely, concepts that die on the cutting room floor of the pitching process, and creative talents muted by the cacophony of too many cooks in the advertising kitchen—some of whom, perhaps, shouldn’t be anywhere near the stove. The insistence on rapid output not only stifles creativity but also ignores the very human pace at which genuine connections are formed. People respond to stories, to humor, to artistry—not just to the speed with which they are delivered.
Enduring Impressions: Why Lasting Matters More Than Latest
Advertising as an art form has always been a reflection of culture, but it also has the power to shape it. By slowing down, we allow ourselves the space to create ads that do more than just sell; they delight, they provoke, they endure. They become part of the cultural fabric, woven into the stories we tell about our times. What if, instead of racing to keep up with culture, we dared to guide it, to influence its pace and direction with advertising that takes its time to get it right?
Ryan Reynolds recently said we should “bring the swagger back to advertising.” In my opinion this means, not every pitch needs to be a sprint. Sometimes, the most resonant messages are those that arrive just in time, not just in time for the deadline. In a world that’s constantly accelerating, perhaps the most radical thing a marketer can do is to take a moment to breathe, craft, and connect at a human pace.
After all, if the goal of advertising is to make a mark on culture, perhaps we ought to give our marks the time to truly sink in.