The Time Is Now - Michael Kassan - MediaBizBloggers

Media industry people are easily dazzled by the future. Not surprising, since figuring out what's over the horizon and around the corner is a major part of any communications executive's job. But knowing is not the same as doing. And sometimes, we are so hypnotized by the promise and peril of tomorrow's marketplace that we forget to actually prepare for it.

That point hit home during a recent conversation I had with Kathy Crawford, Media Link senior advisor and longtime buying guru at MindShare and Initiative. We've talked at length in this space about the meta-narratives transforming media: content, integration, emerging channels, the transformations necessary to do business in a digital marketing ecosystem. But Kathy warns that the view-from-10,000 feet perspective, critical as it is, has to be matched by what buyers and planners are doing on the ground.

Unfortunately, she reports, the emphasis today is on who can buy it wholesale (a troubling trend we explored last blog), rather than on how to plan and buy it right. We know the future is coming. So why aren't we preparing for it?

Where, for example, are advertisers, agencies, media and most importantly, consumers going to be in the next few years? If the influenceable consumer is 25-49 today, that means the 20 year-old of 2010 will be our key consumer five years hence. What does he or she listen to, watch, text, post, etc., and how is that going to change in 2015?

Our research colleagues are pondering this; are our buying and planning colleagues doing likewise?

We might conclude that Kindle or its digital siblings will be the new vehicle for the printed advertising word. How so? Do clients and agencies deliver advertising on Kindle in exchange for lower book costs? Do sellers create digital news offerings? Or something completely different?

Perhaps today is the time to tell The New York Times we want them to offer us a Kindle advertising solution—by tomorrow. Or maybe we should ask Kindle to do it themselves.

Five years from now, will traditional radio still exist? Surely, it cannot be supported with the same number of stations. The young consumer will continue listening, but with ear buds, which suggests a new channel evolving that will be delivered electronically to mp3 players.

And what about mobile, or as Kathy calls it, "phonemedia?" Inevitably, this will be a major outlet for the buyers of tomorrow. How do we maximize that channel? If we lower monthly bills to accept advertising, for example, is that a way to get to the consumer?

We know that television, born as a mass medium, has only begun to experience enormous upheaval. Are buyers and planners pondering whether or not there will still be a prime time five years from now? Will broadcast television look like the "People's Choice Awards," with pizza being handed out as a product placement, or will commercials still matter? Will Comcast take NBC off the air and move it "underground" (another great Crawford line) to cable?

How do you evaluate a TV buy when all of it is subscription-based?

We know TV will have to be addressable to survive. The agencies are busily demanding this capability, sure. But are they also prepared to plan it?

It's nice to identify new channels and trends. It's better to actually do something about those insights. Let's get ready for what we see coming down the road now, not five years from now when we're about to be run over.

Because waiting won't buy agencies, clients or media anything. Including time.

Michael E. Kassan is Chairman and CEO of Media Link, LLC, a leading Los Angeles and New York City-based advisory and business development firm that provides critical counsel and direction on issues of marketing, advertising, media, entertainment and digital technology. Michael can be reached at michael@medialinkllc.com

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