Item #8: The Future of Advertising IV

Recently, I spoke as a panel member to the MBA class at the York University Schulich School of Business on the topic of The Future of Advertising and Marketing. I shared my thoughts with the audience as a series of headlines, which I’ve shared as a little series. Here’s my last in that series:

Headline 4 and Final: Culture Will Matter More








In Headlines 1 through 3 thus far, I’ve talked about the notion that Content that Engages is bound to live on. I’ve talked about the need for Agencies to begin to behave again like partners of clients, but within the parameters of an Evolved Definition of Partnership. I’ve also noted that our measurement of success requires Metrics of Impact, not Eyeballs or even Engagement.

If I wrap it all up, I believe that The Future of Advertising belongs to those agencies that place their organizational focus in three (slash four) areas: Analytics is one; Creativity is another and Style is the third. And consequently, that Culture Will Matter More.

Analytics is the large bucket I use referring to the information we need to derive insight, make smart decisions, plan well and measure our success, in the interest of continuous improvement.

Creativity is the process by which the synthesis of vision, information, idea and craft are brought together to produce original, interesting, game-changing content that people want to engage with. We know that creativity is one of our most important resources today. You only need to spend some time with Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind to know that it is creativity that will take society, especially North American society, to it’s next level.

And Style… Style is the word I’m choosing to use to describe a new manner of interaction between people who work together, whether colleague or client or supplier. Rosabeth Kanter has outlined the 5F’s for the Corporation of the Future: Fast, Focused, Flexible, Fun and Friendly. These are factors of human interactional style identified here… as much as, if not more than, they are operational factors.

Which brings me to Culture. And why Culture Will Matter More. More than any time in history perhaps, agency success depends more on soft human intangible skills than machines, formulas or even processes. Which is why Culture Matters More. Culture is the element that establishes the behavioural patterns, attitudes, and values that spread and become shared and hence characterize an organization. And “Culture is not only a way to foster identity, it is a source of creativity, an essential element of innovation.”*

Culture will be more of a proactive consideration for the leaders and managers of agencies, and it will be more of a point of evaluation for employees, clients and suppliers.

* (The Impact of Culture on Creativity, A Study prepared for the European Commission (Directorate-General for Education and Culture).

And thus marks my last headline in the series from The Future of Advertising talk at York University. What now?