In 1978 viewing figures for the Morecombe and Wise Christmas show on ITV were in the region of 28 million people. Around the same time Nescafe launched an advertising campaign involving the Gold Blend couple which at its peak attracted more than 30 million viewers.

The connection is obvious. Three decades ago the most popular television programmes could attract almost half the nation. Vast numbers of people where on the same frequency. All an advertiser needed to do was position their product in between shows like Morecombe and Wise or soap operas like Coronation Street, and they had a totally captive audience.

By contrast, nowadays, in the modern home very few people are listening or watching the same thing. There are no longer two or three television stations, there are hundreds available via satellite. And countless radio stations. A recent survey carried out by JupiterResearch found that online users are now spending about 14 hours a week, on average – the same amount of time that they spend watching TV – surfing the internet.

By their nature web users are far less passive than the average television viewer. They spend time networking with friends, swapping information and sharing views. They comment on blogs and upload videos and photos. They are busy doing research, downloading music and checking out weird and wonderful facts.

Collaboration and participation are the buzzwords of today. As described in the book Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams: “Blogs, wikis, chat rooms, search engines, advertising auctions, peer-to-peer downloading, and personal broadcasting represent new ways to entertain, communicate, and transact. In each instance the traditionally passive buyers of editorial and advertising take active, participatory roles in value creation. Some of these grassroots innovations pose dire threats to existing business models.”

Our job at Global Beach is to be like a new generation advertising agency creating communication strategies that respond to and reflect modern tastes.