To celebrate 10 years of the MOST Awards, we asked media professionals from media agencies and media owners what they believed was the biggest disruptor in the past 10 years, and what they thought would have the most impact in the next decade.
PHD managing partner, Ilan Lazarus, weighs in.
What, in your view, was the most disruptive influence or had the biggest impact on media over the last 10 years and why do you say so?
We’ve experienced many shifts over the past 10 years, affecting revenue models and industry research, but the most disruptive has been the growth in digital and its contribution to the media mix. Although it’s taken time to get to this point, our agency structure has evolved and we now have only hybrid strategists writing integrated channel strategies.
What, in your view, will have the most significant, wide-ranging influence on media in the next decade and why do you say so?
The exponential growth in the capability of technology will drive the most significant change, both to consumers and to the role of the agency. For example, we predict that in the next 10 years, artificial intelligence (AI) will evolve dramatically, being able to anticipate our needs and interests and start decision-making for us.
This is already happening but in a simplistic way, such as Amazon and Netflix using machine learning to formulate suggestions for us based on our content history. In approximately 10 years’ time though, these models will be far more developed and it’s possible that Virtual Assistants (such as Siri and Alexa) will handle some of the consumer’s decisions.
This will change the role and structure of the media agency, as machines will market to other machines and different skill sets will be needed from agencies. For example, marketing technologists and data analysts will be priorities within the agency in 10 years’ time.
