A random guy in the crowd at today’s #4chan #hatersgonnahate panel had an interesting quote: When it comes to online advertising, advertisers are the echo, not the boom.

In the context of #4chan, it spoke to the authenticity and originality of the site’s content and the real-time nature that the content is either heralded or scathed before making its way into the world at large.

But in the context of advertising, I found it to be an interesting way of filtering ideas and executions down to their simplest creative truths. Are they a BOOM or are they merely an echo off a previous idea or borrowed interest.

The irony was not lost that the proceeding panel in the same ballroom was the W+K Old Spice recap. A campaign that not only served to create a boom in our industry (through years of trial and error mind you) but that also matriculated its way into and was heralded by the world of #4chan itself.