UM Worldwide’s Post

I recently took part in a fun chat with fellow industry leaders on the future of media. Thanks to Strategy/Media In Canada for the opportunity and to my colleagues for a great discussion! A few useful takeaways: 1.     Brand marketing vs. performance marketing is a misnomer. It’s all marketing. Both approaches drive market impact. We need to change how we frame how we talk about the power drivers we use to build our businesses. Marketing is a not a see-saw. 2.     AI will help us shine brightest when led by human intelligence. As we integrate AI, the big swing growth opportunities will come from critical thinking, from innovative leadership, and – often – from the unexpected. In short, it will come from the nuance, empathy, and creativity of human intelligence as the leading force. 3.     When do best practices stop being best practices? AI will continue to play a powerful role driving huge gains in efficiency and optimization. But one risk is inadvertently creating a collective race towards the average. As everyone converges on the same “AI algorithms” or best practices – effectively sourcing from the same pool – there is a risk of generating the same rote solutions. 4.     The looming battle for relevance and attention. With the annual volume of content that we generate doubling every two years and an individual’s fixed capacity to consume, people will increasingly have more choice, be more overwhelmed, and see their attention further fragmented. The result? Escalating costs to achieve the same reach and frequency metrics. We will need to continue to train our focus on delivering impact outcomes and leveraging key elements like relevance and attention to get there. As marketers, ensuring we’re making quality connections will become even more critical. Tracey Cooke Andrea Hunt Bob Park John R. Urania Agas Robert Jenkyn Sarah Thompson #FFWD5Years UM Canada UM Worldwide IPG Mediabrands Canada MediainCanada Strategy Online