Finding comfort in uncomfortable truths of media disruption

Disruption is uncomfortable. By its nature it challenges us to reimagine the accepted wisdom of the world around us. The roles of brands, media owners and creative agencies have blurred as technology disrupts the traditional lines that have separated each player's role in the digital age. Brands and agencies now produce and distribute content while media owners have launched in-house agencies to serve the new explosion of demand for content from brands.  It is in this context of disruption that I decided to go to Marketing Society’s Future of Media, Uncomfortable Breakfast where series of experts including Glenn Schloss, Kayu JU and Scott McBride shared with us their uncomfortable truths about the future of media.
 
We've never been better connected to our audience, and that’s a good thing.
 
BBC’s Katy Ju kicked off the morning explaining how real time optimisation of content can increase readership of an article by as much as 4 fold as the instantaneous feedback allows the BBC to refine headlines and images in the first few hours of publishing. Glenn Schloss painted a bleak picture of this kind of populist journalism, referring to the US election candidates and making mention of how journalists' performance is now measured on clicks and shares. But whilst audiences may now provide a consistent feedback loop it is still up to content creators to excite and inspire audiences, and originality is still key. One of finest examples of a disruptor who is succeeding in modern age of media is Netflix, whose success has been fuelled by an original approach both to distribution and content. Content creators who understand their audience who will tell the best stories. As Ju put it, the power lies in a potent mix of artisan and algorithm.
 
Media has become much more fragmented, but audience reach is still achievable.
 
Scott used to be able to reach 70% of his target audience with just 3 TV channels, but as media has fragmented he would now need to use 300 TV channels to achieve the same reach. Does this matter? With trading platforms for inventory, programmatic capabilities and marketing automation we can target (and re-target) just the right audience. New models come with new risks, and require active management. Ensuring your advert is only appearing on sites that are appropriate is key for brand owners who manage brands worth billions of dollars. And then there's the question of transparency. Echoing one of advertising’s oldest and most famous quotes, McBride claims more than half of digital media is wasted. How many impressions and plays are really being seen by your audience? Brands need media agencies and even auditors to ensure that their dollars are being spent properly – especially when some media owners and platforms are able to write their own definition of what constitutes a given KPI such as a video view or an impression.
 
Fragmentation of media and the proliferation of devices means that journeys are no longer linear. Whilst this is true of channel touch points, the psychological process of moving through a funnel (awareness, interest, desire, action, or whoever version you prefer) has not changed significantly. Digital body language, use of cookies and re-targeting, all allow us to map the position in the psychological funnel across myriad online and offline touch points. That is not to trivialise the challenge of connecting one's digital ecosystem, potentially across geographies and whilst staying within the law, particularly around data.
 
"Where are my ads" is a question Wong sometimes gets asked as targeting has become so sophisticated that stakeholders may not always see the adverts served to them. But herein lies an opportunity to use targeting to reach staff outside the crowded space of intranets and inboxes. At HSBC we have used geo-targeting platforms such as Blis combines with traditional OOH as part of our media mix to ensure our internal staff are engaged from the outset with our latest marketing.
 
Focus on what you can prove you do well.
 
Perhaps the lag on brands catching up with technology is part of the reason that McBride feels brands are getting left behind in the future of media. Caught between the changes in how audiences now behave and what technology can do one side and on the other side held back by how the often outdated legal and regulatory frameworks brands must operate within. Explaining this new dynamic and getting support from the board can be challenging. Seraphina Wong goes by the rule.'prove it or lose it' she is prepared to cut marketing investment in anything she cannot prove its value to the board.
 
Wong's razor sharp focus allows her to manage the global banking brand of UBS in the modern media environment.  Her philosophy, 'less is more', is really about focusing only on what you do best. Less content, highly relevant and leverage your core capabilities - the experts in the bank. The combination of internal expertise and the access that we have at HSBC to a network of businesses and influential leaders allows us to bring great content to our customers which inspires and enables them to grow their business.
 
The talent you need in the future will change.
 
The biggest change for leaders is going to be in recruiting the right talent to succeed in the future. McBride is looking for psychologists and data scientists next time he hires and he expects they'll have a home in the future marketing function. From my own experience of hiring talent from journalism to build out our content marketing function my advice is to pair these new talents with traditional marketing capabilities in order to cross-pollinate
 
Looking forward.
 
These uncomfortable truths about the future of media are all really double edged swords, handled carefully they present tremendous opportunity. They require bold marketing leadership to navigate the ambiguity and to help media owners, agencies and brands keep up with our customers and the technology they use. I was reminded of one of the speakers on the International Marketing Leaders Programme from earlier in the year who said that as marketing leaders you should always be doing something that makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable. So if you are not pushing the media agenda in your organisation, maybe it’s time to think about whether you’ve become too comfortable…