Categories: Articles

Strategy Magazine What's Next Column Hits It

I just finished reading the October 2005 issue of Strategy Magazine (why the website is still promoting the September 2005 issue is beyond me) and was quite impressed with the commentary by Mary Maddever in her What’s Next Column. The editorial discusses the many insights she has come across at recent conferences and speeches with the crux of it being: “Do things better. Do things differently. Do different things.”
Here’s the portion that really tugged at my heart:
“At the MIC Forum, the crowd of about 400 heard keynoter David Verklin, the New York-based CEO of Carat Americas, identify major trends in media to watch for. The first is the ascendancy of digital as a primary motivator functioning in a DM-style role. Verklin noted Carat had observed that ‘80% of people going into a Hyundai dealership had been online first,’ and predicts that while online creative work is rarely discussed, ‘it will be the center play.’ Prediction #2: ‘Advertising to the interested is the future.’ Verklin says firms will experiment with 100% composition technology, where marketers are looking not at simple CPM numbers but at targeting their bull’s eye. TV commercials will be a portal, the beginning of a process, where the consumer will push a button to get expanded information. Thirdly, Verklin foresees a collision of commerce and cause where marketers will combine their efforts with philanthropy, creating a new, and hybrid medium.”
I like this David Verklin fellow.
All three predications speak volumes to a core philosophy that I try to highlight within this Blog: it’s not about marketing using technology, it’s about figuring out how the technology can make you a better marketer.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.