At the ARF Re:think conference, the "Ad Agency of the Future" panelists talked about how they see campaigns adding more value in the future and becoming more branded. They said they will replace the more trivial, amusing offerings we've been seeing lately.
Clark Kokich, worldwide president of aQuantive's Avenue A|Razorfish, said, "Entertainment will always play a role, but user relevance, utility and value are what attract consumers to brands in a lasting way."
Another panelist, Nick Law, R/GA's chief creative officer, North America, agreed saying that getting cheap laughs alone won't make a long-term impact upon consumers in reference to product offerings that end up becoming branded.
Law made another point as far as a message becoming clear in the minds of those you're trying to reach, adding that too much weirdness can cause a campaign to 
lose its effectivness as a marketing tool.
"Weirdness gets in the way of clarity," said Law. "Sometimes you just need to tell people in a simple and elegant way what something is. Some agencies are "more interested in telling jokes than engaging people in a meaningful way."
Another way of putting this to me is the similarity in a girl and a guy that are interested in one another, and they do a few goofy, silly things to grab each other's attention. But if that's all they do, without eventually spending time talking and getting to know one another, they would become more comedians than serious potential mates.
I think that's where we're at now in marketing, as the panel talked about. There's room for humor of course, but eventually you have to go beyond that to some more serious interaction and practicalities. That's the message the panel seems to be sending about the future of branding.
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