Forget trying to predict the future of media - even the industry’s top execs say it’s not about crystal ball gazing, it’s actually about expecting the unexpected and having the ability to change and adapt.
Speaking on the Future of Media Panel at the Media Summit, Mindshare CEO, Katie Rigg- Smith, said the industry all too often trips itself up by trying to get too far ahead of itself.
“If we could all instil the ability to change and understand how to adapt quickly then it won’t matter where the future goes as we’ll be ready for it,” she said.
“I think for too long we’ve been institutionalised in set ways, set models and set structures so the quicker we can break them down and adapt, test and learn and figure out what we need to do to move forward, the better.”
She said having those skills is the best preparation to get ahead in media and is far better than holding up a crystal ball trying to look at what might be in five years’ time: “I call rubbish on that,” she added.
Fairfax Media commercial and marketing services director, Tom Armstrong, agreed saying people in the industry need to have a quick-paced adaptable mindset and really be able to thrive in that kind of environment of constant change in order to power ahead.
“The thing that strikes me, having been in media for 24 years is that you have to expect the unexpected. I don’t think you can predict where we will be in three years’ time as the change is so fast,” he explained.
“You have to be resilient, you have to question everything,” adding that it’s a challenging, but great space.
NewsLifeMedia CEO, Nicole Sheffield, argued that consumers are peeling back and simplifying what they consume as the space has become so divided.
“It is fragmented, but I’m really conscious of the fact that fragmentation might just be a word we use in the industry, but really when you talk to consumers they are actually overwhelmed,” she said.
Other hot topics on the panel touched on how marketers are under immense boardroom pressure to juggle the short-term ROI gains of advertising campaigns with long-term brand building initiatives that are often pushed down the pecking order.
Armstrong also discussed how Fairfax is grappling with how to monetise content that is being distributed beyond its own platforms on social media like Facebook’s Instant Articles while Starcom MediaVest Group executive director of digital, Jason Tonelli, said the most important thing brands are trying to work out is the customer journey and improving customer experience.
Marketing and innovation director at Diageo, Adam Ballesty, also argued that agencies did themselves a “massive disservice” in the past by pitching for business for free.
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