Making a stand: Why I'm asking the Australian Media industry to write a manifesto for change

so this is a little bit exciting.  the above is me chatting to Tim Burrowes of Mumbrella about a project for the Mumbrella360 conference in June.  it came about as a result of conversations over the course of last year with lovely and amazing Rob and Uma about how everyone knows that what we do is getting tougher and more compromised but we just seem to be able to act collectively on what to do about it.

so hopefully we can change that...  you can read the full write up of what the ambitions are via the article on Mumbrella, but I wanted to capture why it's so important to me here ... because I genuinely love this industry.  I genuinely love what great connections planning thinking can do for brands and businesses.  I love the creativity, and the embracing of technology, and the social observation, and the meeting of art of science.  and I love the people, who give a damn beyond reason about what they do and how they do it.

but in ten years of doing this I worry that I've watched a world change faster then we have.  I fear that I've seen the commoditisation not only of what we plan, but of how we plan it.  I've watched as brands cling to a belief in the 'tried and tested' way of doing things as it crumbles around them.  and I've listened to a thousand people ask questions about the future without offering a solution for the present.

that's why I'm asking us to create this manifesto.  a manifesto for change. one that we all agree on. one that we can signal to everyone who works in our industry.  one that we can signal to clients.  one that frames the conversations between agencies and media owners.  a manifesto that galvanises our industry, defends our margins and energises our people.

I hope that I'm not alone.  I hope that there are enough people who give enough of a damn about what we do to work with me over the next eleven weeks to galvanise us into action...  because the commoditisation, marginalisation, and lack of automation and cooperation won't change unless we want them to.  our present, let alone our future, is in our own hands...

Comments

[Steve Smith]

Is this going to be like the time Jamie Oliver went to the US and told the Americans how they should change their diets and cuisine? The Empire may be gone but the Brits still enjoy telling the colonies how it should be done.