The Invasion of the Cows: Revolutionizing the Mass Media

The concept of Mass media and Mass Communications is definitely not new to society. Newspapers, Tabloids and Magazines have been so thorougly intertwined with our lives that they are usually only passively acknowledged. Nonetheless, it has only been in more recent times has techonology helped to re-define the way Mass Media reaches out. Moreover, we should also note that Mass Communications, as a scholarly subject, is a fairly new field of study and is still in its infancy.

Basically, Mass Media can be defined as:

" A form of Communication through which institutional sources address relatively large, heterogeneous and anonymous audiences physically separated from one another".

With this in mind, we see that Newspapers, Television, Radio, Magazines and perhaps even the Internet are inclusive. Now we should note that the Internet is a controversial medium because it does allow the user to discern what he or she pleases to view. As such, it should in more ways than one be considered Interactive and not merely Passive although it does have the ability to extend its reach to a multitude of communities.

Having said that, i would now like to bring you attention to local advertising firm, Moove Media:

I am pretty certain that the majority of the populace in Singapore find the cows in the pictures above familiar. They belong to local advertising and mass media firm, Moove Media. The reason I have chosen to bring your focus to this is because Moove is not only a successful practitioner and provider of Mass Communication, but also a pioneer in revolutionising the local mass communication scene.

You see, Moove is a partner entity with mass transportation operators here. As such, they have the ability and access to mobile vehicular platforms to which they can implement their "products". And might I just add, I feel that they have done a great job at squeezing their creative juices all over the buses, trains and taxis here.

The above pictures have been sourced from Moove's official website. Clearly evident is the company's ability to transform existing media platforms into something unprecedented. Their use of 3-Dimensional effects and utter emphasis for details surely out-rivals any previously known forms of mass communication. I dare say thay many would find these advertisements more appealing than the relatively more traditional forms such as television and newspapers.

Besides their outstanding product concepts, we should also realize that Moove has a great, albeit "funky" advertising campaign for themselves. The wooden Cows we are now so familiar with that have been strewn all over the island surely managed to capture our attention, so much so that some people felt compelled to steal a few for themselves as a souvenir:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_335725.html

So, the point that I have been trying to make is thus simple:

Media Determinism can break the Spiral of Silence.

To elaborate, Media determinism referes to the fact that the medium used to convey the message is faily important and usually, is the crux of the message itself. Furthermore, the Spiral of Silence refers to the tendency for people to refrain from expressing unpopular ideas and views. As such, I believe that with the influx of new techniques in mass communication, such as those exemplified by Moove, society should soon be able to open up and perhaps bring themselves to react to the appeal brought about by innovative breakthroughs in Mass Media.

A penny for your thoughts:

It is typical for many to think that only Modern Technology has the ability to fuel breakthroughs in the way we communicate. However, Moove and their Cows certainly have captured our attentions with nothing more than creative application of traditional ideas.

Is there any other way that advertising firms can successfully break through the clutter and reach out to us?