Looking for Silver Linings and a Plan-of-Action

Looking at the future through the COVID19 blizzard there may be a silver lining Like an inner city that declined for decades before the true impact became a new reality media industry patterns and trends have been apparent for decades The COVID19 crisis will accelerate already existing economic and organizational realities and reduce the clutter that39s been clogging our economic ecosystem It will be twothree years before our new reality is clear but we can look at pre2020 patterns for guidance and to set a planofaction today Wall St investors have consistently reduced the value of companies that are overly dependent on legacy business models These models were built on advertiser demand exceeding inventory supply an agency compensation structure built on 15 commissions paid by media and therefore not a cost center for marketers currencies measures developed to value reach and frequency vs RoI performance The marketplace is overly populated by thousands of venturefunded companies that are overdue for consolidation or simple disappearance Many bloated and aging organizations and their leaders have failed to modernize the corporate infrastructure By 2022 leaders of media and advertising companies who have not aggressively recognized and responded to these realities will no longer be empowered Their companies will not recover The core component parts of advertising amp8212 strategy media creative promotion and data amp8212 have been locked for decades into a siloed dysfunctional ecosystem As we look back at 2020 and 2021 at an industry that has been slowly but surely declining corporate management will be judged by how quickly and decisively they reacted to warnings and signals Their economic and organizational viability will be defined by how effectively they integrated organizational capabilities and restructured across silos to centralize and implement a coordinated response to marketplace realitiesSolutions are not a mystery amp8212 they live in four clear categories of B2B operations in which media companies have consistently underinvested B2B market intelligence online learning resources executive leadership communications and new majority talent development KNOWLEDGE WISDOM COMMUNITY HUMANITYIn June 2017 I wrote quotthere39s a growing fear that a major economic disruption parallel to the collapse of 2008 will send the economy into a sustained tailspin A market crash will trigger a slowdown across all business sectors and be reflected in advertising budgets Many of the troubling economic signals that appeared prior to the crash of 20072008 have reappeared but are hidden by unconventional monetary policies Failure to recognize and respond to these risksamp8230 is the biggest threat to the world economy Bottom line the media community faces a highly uncertain future Both buyers and sellers can hope for the best and plan accordinglyquotThere will be no return to 39business as usual39 and no 39new normal39 until 2022 at the earliest For many companies and their executives there will be no new normal Overall corporate marketing investments will continue their nearly threedecade decline Professional and college sports may return this year but not until the 4th quarter and played without fans present It39s likely that the 2020 Major League Baseball season and all 2020 NCAA sports will be cancelled in full Production of most original content has been halted and new programming is unlikely to be available for network TV and OTT until Spring 2021 Pivotal Research analyst Jeff Wlodarczak writes quotWithout question it is likely to be a very ugly 3920 for medialeisureadvertisingmovie theaters sectors even if we hit peak COVID19 in the next month or soamp8230 We believe it is unrealistic to expect a return to large gatheringsend to social distancing until sometime in 3921quotThis is the time for leaders to lead Many are waiting until there39s more visibility into the future That39s a plan of inaction rather than action Surviving through this crisis and building a model for success beyond it requires a plan The silver lining in this lifealtering period is that the system will be cleared for those who set a clear navigational path and reorganize to follow the signposts to growth

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Looking for Silver Linings and a Plan-of-Action

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Looking for Silver Linings and a Plan-of-Action

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Jack Myers Leadership Conversations and Industry Renewal Fund

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Breaking Barriers: Nada Bradbury’s AD-ID Strategy for Advertising Effectiveness and Women in Tech - By E.B. Moss

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