Viacom Synergy -- Staying Ahead of the Future

How can a corporation stay ahead of the futureamp160I sat down with five Viacom executives Valerie Bischak Executive Vice President Marketing and Partner Solutions Deb Brett Senior Vice President Marketing and Partner Solutions Sarah Iooss Senior Vice Presidentamp160Business Development Gabe Bevilacqua Senior Vice President Data Strategy and Kiel Berry Senior Vice President CoHead Viacom Labs amp160to look ahead and answer that question from both personal and corporate perspectives Here are some insights from the groupDo What Has Never Been Done BeforeExperimentation and curiosity are the cornerstones in navigating a successful future When it comes to corporate success according to Brett it is Viacom39s ability to bring advertisers quotthe 39bright and shinies39amp160amp160things that have never been done beforequot that make it an innovative leader with clients and the creative community quotWe have the infrastructure for the speed to marketquot she addedViacom39s and the media industry39s ability to mine data for bright and shiny insights has never been better quotViacom is up to some very interesting forwardthinking things in the realm of data exploring what the evolution of television looks likequot Bevilacqua explained quotData in general has gone from 39this is a test39 to 39this is part of the conversation39 and while not every advertiser may be executing television primarily with data we have moved beyond the pilot phase to something that can work at scalequotCreative HiringCohesion starts with the people It used to be that companies sought new hires with specific work experience in the field of the job opening Now not only does one not need a strict media background to qualify for work in media many farflung areas of work experience can be applicable and even advantageousWhen it comes to hiring Bevilacqua noted quoteveryone I interview gets asked the question amp160are you excited about solving a problem that no one has solved before There are not going to be instructions put on your desk If you are not excited about that this is not the role for youquotIooss mines for talent through social media in her own network LinkedIn and Facebook quotto seek people with untraditional backgroundsquotFlexibility and optimism are also factors in future success quotThe exciting part of our jobs is that we are going to be in something in fiveamp160years that may not exist yet and we are going to be bringing these same best practices and the same foundation to itquot Brett said quotBut what we will apply it to may not yet have come into the mind of the entrepreneur inventing itquotquotI am excited and optimistic about changequot Bevilacqua added quotIt will be fun and there will be opportunity At Viacom we are embracing that in a big wayquotMake Strategy Part of the Job DescriptionFor some predicting the future is part of the job description quotViacom Labs began in Spring 2016quot Berry said quotAt Labs our job is to look five years out We are definitely grounded in the present in terms of what our brands are currently doing but we are futurists Within five years we will be looking five years further out We know that there will be some burgeoning trends that will materialize and we can start to work with them in our brandsquotDespite the constant change there are certain things that are everlasting and sacrosanct quotThere is one constant and that is that we will still be looking for great ways to connect great advertisers to our great content wherever fans are consuming itquot Bischak saidClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Viacom Synergy -- Staying Ahead of the Future

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Charlene Weisler

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