The Media Leader UK

Today, we hosted the second of five roundtables featuring some of the industry’s best and brightest future leaders. We launched the Future 100 Club because we believe they deserve a platform for their voices to be heard. On the agenda today was the role of data and measurement and we covered a lot of areas, closing with the whole group acknowledging that data needs to be human-centred – and that there should be “no numbers without narrative”. A big thanks to Amanda Woodley, Emily Alcorn, Eleisha May, Timur Cetin, Samantha Eales, Adesuwa Osewa, Sumran Kaul, Tashan Nicholas, and John Duku, for being involved today.

Today, we hosted the first of five roundtables featuring some of the industry’s best and brightest.   We believe these future leaders deserve a platform for their voices to be heard. That's why we launched the Future 100 Club.   It’s about opening a conversation where the individuals who will write the next chapter of media can come together, share ideas and have those ideas amplified.    We’ll be taking their thoughts about the future of our industry and using them to shape our content and editorial strategy – through our articles, our podcasts, our events and much more.    It’s because we understand that true leadership is not confined to established titles. It’s about the courage to challenge, the passion to include all voices and the pursuit of excellence.   A big thanks to Charlene, Sophie, Hannah, Emily, Evelyn, Francesca, Lee, Kate and Lee for being involved today. What a way to end the week!

That's it... I'm done! My last-ever editor's column for The Media Leader UK is out today... I wanted to celebrate the end of year by highlighting people and companies in media/advertising that have demonstrated the publication's core values that have stood strong for three years now: 🎲 Disruption 🎲 Inclusion 🎲 Courage 🎲 Excellence The 'Dice' acronym was accidental! But the values they spell out are not. I never sought to make TML 'all things to all people'; the aim was always to champion *quality* media amid a maelstrom of trash and noise (even if creating 'trash and noise' has been great business for too many people in our industry for too long). Thanks to anyone who has read my column over the years and I was so proud it was nominated for BSME's B2B columnist of the year 2024. And I'll have much more to say next year. I'm taking a break for the holidays and looking forward to some writing and consulting projects I've got lined up the new year. 📧 omaroakesmedia @gmail.com

Did you know there was an actual Advertisers' Protection Society set up over a century ago to stop media owners ripping off advertisers? Advertisers rightly decided they needed to create measurement standards to hold media owners accountable. We don't pay if you don't play by the rules. Who's 'protecting' them now from being ripped off by digital platforms who don't bother with joint industry currency systems? Or are marketers and their agencies so smart and informed that they just need to be given a choice? My column this week for The Media Leader UK. I'm not going to solicit opinion for this one because I know I'll get them anyway (and thanks in advance)! https://lnkd.in/efDpiGAm

How about this for an idea? We are now living in an era when content never dies and cultural memories never fade. An age of digitised “perma-nostalgia”, when everything past and present is happening simultaneously. In previous eras, dedicated collectors would go the extra mile to preserve past media output, pickling it for enthusiasts to unearth years later. But now things are different. Now art, films, books and games can be stored and accessed electronically with little loss of fidelity. Algorithms can scan long-lost content and surface results instantly. We’ve moved from “rare finds” to “everything, everywhere, all at once”. Not only is this having a profound effect on our culture, but it’s also impacting the way audiences consume their media. My latest for The Media Leader on why the past has never been more present - and what that means for those who wish to monetise it. What do you think? Are we all just living in the past now? Or can we truly invent a new future? Link in the comments #innovation #futures #marketing #advertising

Imagine what it's like to grow up on a commune and how it would shape your worldview as you become part of this corporate machine we call the advertising and media industry. That's exactly what I spoke to Patrick Affleck for The Media Leader UK podcast this week. We talk a lot about mental-health awareness and diversity in this industry, but it's rare you meet someone who was literally surrounded by people who came from various backgrounds and had to deal with real problems. Paddy experienced this from a young age and I was fascinated to hear about how that's shaped the way he manages as a media-agency boss at Havas Media Network. "I grew up in an environment where I was constantly surrounded with people that had different types of struggles... it shaped me in a positive way [because] I've watched people that have come to an environment and actually as a result of feeling that they're a place where they weren't being judged, they were being made to feel secure. They were also made to feel that they had a purpose again.... We had farm animals, we had a little dairy, we had big gardens, all this other stuff. Everyone was given a different role to play within the organisation and the community." Link in the comments. I'll be very sad to no longer regularly contribute to the TML Podcast when I leave next month, it's really become a pillar of our content offering. Thanks to Matt Hopper Trisonic for their continued support and please do check them out (will also link in comments) because they're so great to work with, both for audio and video editing.

We’re coming up to 4 years of a Biden presidency and did the fight against media disinformation get any easier? Of course not, and now we’re back to Trump in January. On a cynical and rational basis, maybe Musk and Bezos are right to bend the knee, even if they further disgrace Twitter/X and the Washington Post. But my The Media Leader UK column today argues that everyone in this industry needs to join the fight against disinformation, not just expect politicians and regulators to close stable doors much too late. This isn’t just about trust in media or politics - it’s fundamental to making good decisions as leaders and people. This is the Big Thing I’m committed to helping ambitious media leaders do next year - get better at thinking through writing, speaking and strategising. We need to reclaim independent thought and rethink how digital content can help, rather than hinder, that.

Just the jolt I needed on a Friday afternoon 😵 To be an 'also-ran' among this lot Ian Whittaker Helen Edwards Mark Ritson is a privilege — thank you BSME - The British Society of Magazine Editors for the recognition!

I don't often get to write feature interviews but they are one of the best things about my job: really getting to know someone and learn about their career, their personality, and what makes them unique. Thank you Debbie Morrison for speaking to me and well done on your retirement. The UK advertising and media industries simply would not be what they are today without her pioneering work, as commented in the piece by Tina Fegent (FCIPS). On the The Media Leader UK today: https://lnkd.in/ezY4EEdh

Today's an important day for how UK media is going to be measured.... which is becoming more important than ever for how its traded as audiences continue to fragment. - ISBA's cross-media measurement initiative Origin is going live with real data for the first time - As The Media Leader UK revealed previously, Origin is pressing ahead without using Barb data in the platform. - In an oped today for TML, leading marketer Sam Taylor has hit back at suggestions that Origin would be a rival to Barb as a TV trading currency... - ...although advertisers are still in the position of paying twice for TV audience data: for how long will agencies/brands keep paying for a Barb subscription AND an advertiser levy which funds Origin? - Meanwhile Barb is bringing on streamers Netflix, Discovery+, and (soon) Disney+ on to its Advanced Campaign Hub which combines Barb panel data with media companies' first-party data. Lots going on in our daily newsletter today (below is just a fraction of it! Will post link in the comments)...