The New Normal: 12 Driving Forces in Communications

THE NEW NORMAL:12 DRIVING FORCES IN COMMUNICATIONS

Lisa Witter, Chief Strategy OfficerParker Blackman, Chief Operating Officer

With Eli Pariser as collaborator

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2020

The Future

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Five Years Ago

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Change Happens Fast

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• Mobile: Internet Everywhere• Globalized Net• Information Overload and Curation• Personalization and Filtering• Broadcast to Bi/Multi-Directional• The end of journalism?• Fragmentation by Affiliation• Convergence• Micro-Targeting and ROI Advertising• Transparency as a Value• Feedback is Instant• Authenticity/Voice/Uniqueness as a Value

Driving Forces

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Mobile: Internet Everywhere

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• “Actionability everywhere”

Mobile: Internet Everywhere

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• Expect top US news sites to also be top world sites.

• Expect top non-US sites to also be top world sites.

Globalized Net

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“In 2010, more data will be generated by individuals than in the entire history of mankind through 2009.”

– Google presentation

Information Overload

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Data and analytics, design help sort

Information Overload

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Curation is key

Information Overload

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Information Overload

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More saturation and repetition, less premium hits. And you need a choir doing it for you.

Information Overload

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Filter Bubble!

Personalization and Filtering

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Content moves when it’s stimulating.• Violence• Shame/Humiliation• Gossip• Sex• Drugs• Rock ‘n’ Roll

Personalization and Filtering

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“If we’re not careful, we’re going to develop the psychological equivalent of obesity. We’ll find ourselves consuming content that is least beneficial for ourselves or society as a whole.” – Danah Boyd

Personalization and Filtering

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“Personalized Stories?”

Personalization and Filtering

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• Shift from distribution-based information economy to attention-based information economy.

• Share-ability matters.

Broadcast Bi/multi-directional

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• End of the newspaper? Model no longer works.

The End of Journalism?

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The End of Journalism?

ZERO…is the number of journalists still working if the current trend continues.

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The End of Journalism?

ZERO…is the number of subscribers to the Los Angeles Times in eight years

if it keeps losing them at the rate of the last five years.

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Fragmentation by Affiliation

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• Ever-more-niche media communities.

Fragmentation by Affiliation

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• Decline of the “general interest intermediary.”

Fragmentation by Affiliation

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• Downfall of big “public symbols?”

Fragmentation by Affiliation

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• Everything on one device• Integration of print, video, audio, and interactive media

Convergence

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• Written vs. Visual

Convergence

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• Microtargeting, contextual advertising goes mainstream.• Advertizing goes local. Targeting by where you are.

Advertising Goes Micro

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• Focus on ROI + metrics.

Advertising Goes Micro

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• People expect open data from businesses, governments.

Transparency as a Value

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• With Twitter, blogs, Facebook you get instant feedback and “boomerang expression.”

Transparency as a Value

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• Uniqueness, voice, authenticity, sincerity at a premium in a marketing-saturated culture.

Authenticity as a Value

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“Gaming the System”

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TwitterBingMurdoch, Inc.

Don’t Assume the Internet will be Democratic

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There is a “Boomer Rift”

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Importance of storytelling.

What won’t change?

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• How stories are told• Where they’re told – and to whom• How they move• What kind of relationships are important

What will change?

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• Tell your own story.

• Tell them over time.

• Run campaigns.

• Cheap variations.

• More consumer focused — more sexy and fun.

What to do?

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Mainstream media relationships.

What won’t change?

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The need for frames and compelling messaging.

What won’t change?

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New core competencies– Content (be your own media)– Calculation– Community

Implications for You

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Listening as a virtue

Implications for You

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Everyone is on the communications team

Implications for You

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Be your own media

Implications for You

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Embrace “tribal” marketing

Implications for You

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Loss of control

Implications for You

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Prepare for and learn from failure

Implications for You

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You, personally, should invest in understanding how

this changes us as people.

Implications for You

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Don’t assume that we know the future because we’re living in the present.

Implications for You

THANK YOU

Lisa Witter, Chief Strategy OfficerParker Blackman, Chief Operating Officer