The Age of Conversation, Part 2: Business Model Evolution

The second iteration of the Age of Conversation is due this August. Right now authors are furiously banging out their chapters, each looking to be one of the few that will inevitably bubble up to the top as the most thoughtful, the most interesting, the most thought-provoking. Not all of you care to point out the somewhat competitive nature of the thing, but it exists, so might as well bask in it.

So the subject I’m in the process of tackling is “Business Model Evolution.” Presumably that’ll mean, for me at least, what the modern agency will ultimately look like. I’m through about a half dozen pages of scribblings and diagrams and whatnot, but still left sort of scratching my head. Which scares the shit out of me, to be honest.

First the companies that now own the media are losing serious cash due to diminishing returns on their bread and butter mediums, be it television, on paper, or just about anything non-web or mobile. So they, now empowered by Google’s obvious treading on agency space, have begun to go direct to the advertiser, claiming the same abilities as the agency. Most of them suck horribly at these new responsibilities, but I wouldn’t expect that to last forever. Money doesn’t buy everything, but it can buy talent.

Automation has obviously started to change the media planning and buying process. Jobs once reserved for the agency are now being eaten up by computers. Through the same interface as adwords, I can buy print, radio, even television, in addition to the internet. I can use Spotrunner to buy my mass TV audience, as well. Granted these resources are seriously lacking and rarely deliver the same returns as most agencies will. But that won’t last.

Creativity is being measured to a fault, each instrument being tested to death at the expense of the orchestra. Red or blue? 3 words or 4? 34 year-old white male or 26 year-old Hispanic woman? It’s not abnormal for us to set the scene, but not choose the players or harmonize the script. It’s still a process based on people, but this kind of incrementalism or segmentation of parts without regard to the humanity of the whole can’t bode well for whether we can maintain the integrity of the overall performance. To what extent will machines drive our industry’s creative product? Will it even matter if our interruptive nature is no longer accepted? That remains to be seen.

For now the big boys are surviving. Omnicom, WPP and Publicis all seem to be kicking a little ass, even if it is somewhat based on the growth in global, not necessarily the booming business stateside. But will it continue? What holds the secret to our future? The technologies we build? Will content be the key? Will our insights save the day? Will the dive into all areas of business be the thing that keeps us relevant? Or will we be doomed to die by the hand of the technologies that are driving our growth today?

These answers and more, in a single page, on the next, Age of Conversation.

And now for some AOC author link love…
Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan, CK, Valeria Maltoni, Emily Reed, Katie Chatfield, Greg Verdino,Mack Collier, Lewis Green, Sacrum, Ann Handley, Paul McEnany, Roger von Oech, Anna Farmery, David Armano, Bob Glaza, Mark Goren, Matt Dickman, Scott Monty, Richard Huntington, Cam Beck, David Reich, Luc Debaisieux, Sean Howard, Tim Jackson, Patrick Schaber, Roberta Rosenberg, Uwe Hook, Tony D. Clark, Todd Andrlik, Toby Bloomberg, Steve Woodruff, Steve Bannister, Steve Roesler, Stanley Johnson, Spike Jones, Nathan Snell, Simon Payn, Ryan Rasmussen, Ron Shevlin, Roger Anderson, Robert Hruzek, Rishi Desai,Phil Gerbyshak, Peter Corbett, Pete Deutschman, Nick Rice, Nick Wright, Michael Morton, Mark Earls, Mark Blair, Mario Vellandi, Lori Magno, Kristin Gorski, Kris Hoet, G.Kofi Annan,Kimberly Dawn Wells, Karl Long, Julie Fleischer, Jordan Behan, John La Grou, Joe Raasch, Jim Kukral, Jessica Hagy, Janet Green, Jamey Shiels, Dr. Graham Hill, Gia Facchini, Geert Desager, Gaurav Mishra, Gary Schoeniger, Gareth Kay, Faris Yakob, Emily Clasper, Ed Cotton,Dustin Jacobsen, Tom Clifford, David Polinchock, David Koopmans, David Brazeal, David Berkowitz, Carolyn Manning, Craig Wilson, Cord Silverstein, Connie Reece, Colin McKay, Chris Newlan, Chris Corrigan, Cedric Giorgi, Brian Reich, Becky Carroll, Arun Rajagopal, Andy Nulman, Amy Jussel, AJ James, Kim Klaver, Sandy Renshaw, Susan Bird, Ryan Barrett,Troy Worman, S. Neil Vineberg,C.B. Whittemore, Mike Sansone.

image thanks to kevindooley & eric_phillips