(What’s the Story) Media Glory
Mark Cranmer, chief executive of Isobar, borrows from Noel Gallagher to assess the burgeoning communication opportunities of a converging media world …
Ok, so I’m paraphrasing Oasis’ Noel Gallagher here. Now I’m no great interpreter of the deeper meaning of song lyrics (- even Noel’s finest) but I was trying to figure out how to write this column for MediaTel, when up came this track on my Apple ‘Genius’ song-list and it sort of encapsulated how I was feeling about the issues facing our industry right now.
I’ve been asked to express a point of view about what the new remuneration models are going to be for those of us plying their trades and products in the media communications industry; whether that be agencies, media owners, technologies or clients.
So, what’s this got to do with Noel?
Well, apart from some obvious darkness in “What’s the Story, Morning Glory” (where Noel has us chained to mirrors with razor blades which, of course in 2009 does have some resonance with aspects of the media industry); it strikes me that this is a fundamentally optimistic and upbeat song. It’s about putting things into perspective and taking a sunny outlook on the future, as an exciting world awaits.
So for ‘Morning Glory’, read ‘Media Glory’
Apart from a few technology biased purveyors, 2009 has been a monster of a ride to go through for this industry. Even if we’re now confident enough to draw breath and believe the worst economic hits are behind us, we have to figure out what our respective future business models are going to be as there is a palpable reality that this isn’t just a cyclical economic pattern the media industry is going through. In reality, 2009 is the year that the economic tsunami met the structural patterns that have been emerging for a few years. As the storms now subside, we realise we’re living in a different world. We now have to decide how we make that glorious.
So, back to Noel for some inspiration. I admit, it’s not always easy following Noel’s lyrical direction. After all, he is the man who gave us an album entitled ‘Don’t Believe the Truth’. However, comforting it might be to embrace that thought, if you’re a seasoned purveyor the truth of today’s reality does need to be believed, indeed faced, if you’re going to survive.
Let’s get back to ‘Morning Glory’, it will show us the way. Here Noel tells that “Tomorrow never knows what it does know too soon”. I think this means there’s knowledge ahead of us and its arriving fast. But how to find it? Noel, please help guide us more…”Need a little time to wake up. Need a little time to rest your mind”. He’s right. If we do just have a pause and force ourselves to move away from the metaphorical business model mirrors we tend to chain ourselves to, I believe we’ll wake up to the realities of the media glory that faces the communications industry.
What’s the story of that glory?
I believe it’s about realising the reality of magnificent opportunities that we now have at our disposable to shape the industry. There is nothing we can’t now do in terms of creating effective communication with an audience. The breadth and depth of dialogue would have been unimaginable just a decade ago. We can now achieve this faster than ever before and there isn’t a media channel in existence which now has a cost barrier to entry for an advertiser. We also know that audiences are not rejecting any aspect of the environment. Audiences gobble up news, reviews, movies, music, sport, politics, even brands with a voracity of appetite that is fundamentally encouraging for anyone interested in making contact with an audience and creating the content for them to consume. In making this contact, they are also prepared to reveal more about themselves than they ever have before.
The audience is open for business. For this, if you’re in marketing and communications, Noel will tell us, “All your dreams are made… Today’s the day that all the world will see another sunny afternoon. Yeah, I’m walking to the sound of my favourite tune”.
Ok, I admit that sometimes this can seem confusing, but not to Noel and me!
Sometimes playing a classic upbeat tune on a wet and weary day can take you to a sunny place. That’s what I believe the fundamentals of our industry represent. Audiences like communication. They continue to devote more of their time to an environment that abounds with opportunities to engage, entertain, inform and transact. As the communication environment now accelerates to its converged state, we all have opportunities to monetise a new model and our respective challenge is to figure it out. Just like Noel is now figuring out a model outside of Oasis. Perhaps a champagne supernova awaits us all.