The CMO Survey early in the year indicated that 2022 budgets would be spent 56% in online channels and 44% offline. Television and radio captured some of that nearly 50-50 split. Out-of-home (OOH) advertising grew for an obvious reason; people were out and about again, and they did it with gusto. Interest in print and press advertising showed some growth after years of decline, perhaps because the digital world has become overloaded. Brands need to stand out. The shift, though, has been subtle. Social media advertising still dominates and the pool of physical magazines and papers has declined since world’s “great culling”. Maybe though, it’s the start of something bigger?
Traditional print advertising photographers like John Huet have hardly noticed the change. “Advertising was starting to change before the pandemic. I come from the world where advertising was a double-page spread in a glossy magazine. That’s what you always hoped for. That doesn’t exist anymore,” he says. “Shoots slowly came back this year after lockdowns, but it all came back in a different way, a different pace, and a different style. I can’t remember when I last did an ad in a magazine. I used to do a ton of work for ESPN magazine. I would do editorial work for them and then have four or five pages of ad work.” ESPN magazine, like so many once popular print publications, exists no longer.
Diverse or dying
This doesn’t mean that Huet has had a quiet year. Far from it. “I’ve never been
