In another life I would love to have the ‘futurologist’ gene. I get so excited when I see clips like the one below. I cannot imagine what my children’s lives will be like.
I was at a sales convention some months ago and one of the delegates was excitedly sharing that he could purchase media so cheaply… "this downturn is fantastic he said – if you’ve got some dollars, media advertising has some real bargains to be negotiated."
It got me thinking – "Who’s watching?" Maybe the affordability of advertising has nothing to do with the downturn – but more a fundamental shift in media in how we consume information (a restructure of an industry). 24 out of 25 of the largest newspapers in the world have a significant decline in circulation. My children would never consider going to the library or buying a newspaper to find out what is going on. They simply consume online… and on their mobile devices.
I remember in 1996 I would get about 1 email a week – I wondered why I’d bothered setting up an account. In 2000 I thought I was too old to understand the internet and would leave it to the young marketers. Lucky I stuck with these mod cons.
The lesson that I’ve learned is simply to explore – twitter, facebook, flickr might not me here in 5 years time – but they will definately play a role in getting us to the next thing. So hang on for the ride – it is a journey… to be enjoyed where ever it takes us.
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
