I was born into Generation Y, an 80’s kid who remembers fondly the trips to the video store, 1p sweets, Orville the Duck, and Mallet’s Mallet.

My childhood ambition was to appear on Fun House with Pat Sharp, and I let my imagination run riot with a cardboard box.

For entertainment I didn’t turn to a screen, instead, I would play in the garden with a ‘skip it’, swinging it around my ankle and hopping over it for hours on end. This accounts for at least a couple of visits to A&E.

Technology in my house was about as advanced as an Etch-A-Sketch, we used to talk to each other, write to one another, and store memories in a photo album that needed a fork-lift to carry it.

To find out information we turned to the yellow pages, a household staple, not only for its vast knowledge of local business but also its usefulness as a step during a Jane Fonda workout.

I had a childhood full of imagination and creativity, yet the ’80s were also a great decade for technology. Camcorders were huge, the Sony Walkman was the must-have gift in the Argos catalogue, and of course, the first cell phones, which I will forever remember fondly as the ‘Zack Morris’ Motorola.

However; technology was a luxury item, our lives didn’t revolve around it, our evenings weren’t spent thumb scrolling, and instead marketers used their imaginations to seek our attention, in print, radio, and tv advertising. There was also the odd brave soul who would attempt telesales.

Humor me here, and let’s look back at some of the best campaigns of the ’80s; Just Do It- Nike was absolutely one of the best, and undoubtedly the brands big breakthrough. The simple TV campaign sparked an immediate emotional response, inspiring audiences world-wide to make a change in their lives…social marketing at its best.

Pringles followed suit in the ’90s with ‘Once you pop, You Can’t Stop’, another campaign that truly understood the motivators for behavior, this time tapping into the traits of addiction.

Some of the best campaigns of all time were delivered without social media…

However, as lovely as this nostalgic visit has been, times have changed, attitudes to technology have advanced, and we now find ourselves in a world where TikTok reigns.

As marketers, we have embraced these changes, and we make it our mission to stay on top of emerging trends, we are the social media advocates and the #hashtagchallengers.

I saw a funny meme this week entitled ‘Imagine if this lockdown happened 18 years ago’… see below, the image went onto say… ‘You would be stuck a home with a Nokia 3310, with 300 texts, 100 mins call limit, and dial up internet.”

Marketing happened before social media, and we should not be blindsided by the convenience of social media, into a digital-only marketing strategy.

Consumers still turn on televisions when they get home, they still listen to the radio in their cars, and they still read magazines. 51% of the world’s population is on social media, but what about the 49% that aren’t?

The 49% are not all 65+ either. Social media signups decline with age absolutely. However; seniors are the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook, with those born in 1945 or earlier increasing from 26% in 2018 to 40% last year.

We may prefer the cost-effectiveness of digital marketing, and it is undoubtedly easier to evaluate. However; traditional marketing still has a very legitimate place in today’s marketing world, and not just for the older generations.

We are accustomed to discovering advertisements in magazines, glancing at billboards whilst in traffic, and listening to commercials, these activities are part of our routine, and we do these consistently.

The traditional vs digital debate is a long-running one, and I won’t awaken that argument here. Rather my advice today is we must bridge the gap between traditional and digital, keep our marketing messaging consistent across all channels, and champion an integrated marketing strategy.

Brands that solely advertise on social media are missing out on a large proportion of their audience reach.