Owner of Thenetworkone
Like me, and most people in our industry, you work to deadlines. So, you’ve left it late. You need a shortcut. You reach for your iPad and make two lists: 1) Challenges. 2) Opportunities. Seven of each, naturally, because that’s the most interesting number.
Yes, I did that too. Here it is, below. Two lists. Even though when I was a teenager, I made it a rule never to read lists of anything. They are always boring. But they get you out of jail free, you can easily turn them into a PPT presentation, and you can bet that the swots in the front row will photograph them, which is always a good feeling when you speak at conferences.
But the odd thing was the list of challenges was the same as the list of opportunities, which was quite interesting. The threats created the opportunities. The problems led to the solutions. So, they become –
1. Challenge: Short-termism.
If you are a CMO or a CCO or a football manager and you don’t have positive numbers to show within one year minus your contractual notice period, you are out. Forget about building long term brand strategies.
Opportunity: Short termism is in, because data is available so fast. In hours, or seconds, or real time. So, try, learn, pivot, adjust. Remember all those conference speakers in the noughties, telling you to “Fail fast and fix it?” Now you can.
2. Challenge: Everything everywhere all at once.
The world on our screens moves faster and faster. 17 cuts in an eight-second TikTok video. Now it only takes 2 seconds to form an impression of someone on a screen. Will anyone remember what you were trying to communicate? Can anyone remember what last week’s Panorama documentary was about?
Opportunity: Slowing down now offers a way to stand out. “Mr Bates versus the Post Office” is certain to win every BAFTA award this year, despite the fact that 90% of its’ four hour time length shows middle-aged people drinking tea and going for walks together. Because a system one response does not create empathy. Time spent together, does.
3. Challenge: The demise of words.
It is scuppering thoughtful communications. Nobody ever clicks on the “Read more” link. It’s all about visual imagery. Art directors and content producers get paid the big bucks.
Opportunity: There’s interesting evidence that words are coming back. Type-only posts are on the rise, on X and even IG, because we can read faster than we watch. Catch up fast and you can still be distinctive.
4. Challenge: Filter bubbles and cognitive bias.
They are destroying critical thinking and discussion, leading to polarised societies. Not just on Fox News: The Guardian and the New York Times, even the Economist, are just as dismissive of the people who don’t follow their party lines.
Opportunity: This is true today. But there are hopeful signs. Gen X (and other Gens) now visit a significantly broader spectrum of social channels than before. And there is a huge USP opportunity for news media who simply tell the truth and become trusted.
5. Challenge: The influencer dilemma.
Do you take the risk with authenticity, or do you insist on control? Either way, influencers are losing traction, fast. Just when you’ve bought 50 million of them.
Opportunity: The backlash is coming – with two big opportunities in tow. First, with virtual influencers – people who not only look just like Barack Obama, or Arthur Sadoun, but will say what you want in any language you name, while blinking naturally and moving their shoulders a bit. Second, with UGC – it’s about to undergo a dramatic renaissance, thanks to the low cost and ubiquity of Generative AI.
6. Challenge: AI is de-humanizing communications.
Performance marketing rules our world and people become numbers, meaning it feels OK to bomb cities and kill thousands of children.
Opportunity: Data at scale is now so granular, it’s actually becoming personal. Technologies like Sqreem beam up real people from their actual social media locations, figure out what they want to talk about, turn them into GDPR-compliant avatars and beam them back to where they came from. Personalised communications campaigns are now really possible.
6. Challenge: Everyone’s talking about personalised content.
But no-one wants it. Please let’s have no more trying to flog people the new lawn mower they bought last week.
Opportunity: It might, just might, lead people to the radical conclusion that what people actually want is personal contact. Live events. Concerts and sports. Conferences. Sociability. Mutual respect. Empathy. The dawning realisation that people’s natural instinct, is actually to like other people.
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