A quick glance through marketing industry headlines on any given day is an exercise 100% guaranteed to yield proof that we are well and truly in the midst of a digital revolution. The implications of this reshuffling are numerous, far-reaching, and for the most part, exhaustively well-documented. Buried in these shifting sands, though, is one consequence that has so far gone unsung by marketing’s Greek chorus—in an ironic twist, advances in technology have ushered in, of all things, a true golden age of television.

Or at least, that’s what should be happening.

The expectations heaped on commercials have always been steep: in the space of a minute, but more typically thirty seconds, and often in half that time, they have been tasked with conveying product information, brand awareness, the occasional price point, along with an attendant sense of “urgency,” and all while simultaneously forging a powerful emotional connection with the audience. That is an ambitious load of laundry, and so it’s hardly surprising that rarely does a spot manage to carry it without a few stray socks falling to the floor. Everything at once, after all, is a lot to do.

Thankfully, times have changed, and the load, to flog an already tortured analogy one last time, has been separated. If a consumer wants to know anything about a product or service, anything at all, they can, and they will, in a big hurry. In seconds they can call up expert opinions, friends’ recommendations, the conversations of an infinite number of strangers, and of course, information directly from the source, and triangulate the answers according to their own particular inclinations. It’s a good thing transparency is regarded as a positive for the forward-thinking brand of today, because there really isn’t much of an alternative.

With the burden of information shouldered by an increasingly sophisticated digital ecosystem, today’s commercials have the luxury of focusing on what they’ve always done best—the thing that, on the rare occasions when they have truly been loved, has been the basis of that affection: emotional connection through entertainment. With the facts democratized and thoroughly indexed for instant comparison, the creative revolution started by Olympians like Ogilvy, Reeves, Bernbach, Burnett and others should at last be hitting its full stride. So far, though, it is an opportunity that has been unevenly internalized by mainstream advertisers. Sure, there are great ads out there, as there always are, because talent finds a way, but it’s hard to argue that the pure creative mean in the traditional space is noticeably higher than in years past. The problem, unfortunately, boils down to an issue that corporations have struggled with since the beginning: taste and discretion are notoriously difficult policies to institutionalize, and in the marketing world, “more information” is never the wrong mandate to have given should things down the road go pear-shaped.

While structural change can be tough, the rewards for getting it right make it worth the effort. Apart from the traditional gains to be realized through a more human approach towards connection with an audience, the digital public have proven their willingness to amplify or crucify an idea according to the level of credit a company assigns to them. The relationship between the brand and the consumer is a conceptual framework that rebounds endlessly inside marketing’s echo chamber, but the advertisers who are going to get their money’s worth are the ones who actually shape their behavior around it and communicate, as much as an incorporated entity can, like a person that other people might actually want around, and less like the guy everyone can see coming from a mile away, who always hits them up for money. The consumer can help, or hurt, like never before.

In short, it really is a new day for an old media. And the methods for using it to an advantage are simple: Allow ideas to breathe. Focus on saying less, and say it better. Embrace the truth. Wear the “consumer” hat on a more permanent basis and burn the rest of them, because honestly, they’ve always looked ridiculous.

If this all sounds familiar, it should—things change, but the things that motivate people to action are constant. All the old wisdom still applies. It’s just that, with a deep and profoundly grateful tip of the cap to technology, the justification for following it has never been greater.