BrainTrust Query: What Happens to Traditional Media When it Goes Digital?

All media becoming digital is not a startling revelation--things have been headed in that direction for years. Digital media simply acknowledges that the consumer is in control. She can watch whatever advertising she wants, whenever she wants it. Marketers will pay media outlets for actions rather than impressions. As long as there has been advertising, marketers have wanted to be able to target their media dollars and pay for consumers taking action, rather than just seeing ads. Well, that time is here and many marketers are scared.

Now they will have to create messages that engage consumers beyond passively sitting and watching an ad. If they do it well, marketers will be rewarded with the ability to reach a consumer at the moment she is considering a purchase. She will be open to engaging with the brand. Information and offers from the brand will be welcomed.

To be successful in this new world brands will have to listen, engage and be instantly and easily available. How many brands are really ready to do this?

Max Goldberg, Founding Partner, The Radical Clarity Group

Interesting thoughts. Clearly this change makes media a much richer ground for testing and continuous improvement, even down to a consumer level. ROI will matter more than ever. The levers to increase ad ROI will be clearer than ever.

It'll be fascinating to watch how ad pricing changes as the world moves digital, and therefore addressable, especially in TV where national network and national cable rule. Will the spot premium disappear? Will we see pricing per delivered, targeted impression? Will we even see a CPC model for some TV ads (click here to buy your Sham Wow!)? Networks will resist, but hopefully we will see moves away from old pricing models sooner rather than later.

Jonathan Marek, Senior Vice President, Applied Predictive Technologies

The transformational power of digital media goes well beyond characteristics of delivery and targeting. The real magic lies in the ability to share the media and even share experiencing the media.

Ironically, our TV sets may become the primal campfire we gather around--not simply to mindlessly consume information but rather to share, relate and experience it with one another.

Doug Stephens, President, Retail Prophet

There's a fascinating piece in the June issue of The Atlantic (that's a "print" magazine--you can read about such antiquarian and odd things online) about how Google is trying to save the news business, in its own self-interest. There are so many subtleties in all this, and I get annoyed at "research" that tells us just what the bright and glowing future will be. I so distinctly recall the dot.com hype, which I ridiculed from the start and wasn't surprised to see come crashing down.

Right now I see further media fragmentation, more difficult decisions on media spend, and, most likely, not a huge gain, at least over the next few years, on advertising ROI until we get a shakeout. The promises and the hype coming out of everywhere on what all this is going to do to revolutionize everything overnight is, at least to me, very reminiscent of the dot.com dot.con.

Warren Thayer, Editor & Managing Partner, Frozen & Dairy Buyer

The most profound changes are likely to come from marketers who insist that media and their agencies take a holistic view of media spend, and pay closer attention to HOW MEDIA INFLUENCES purchase behavior and attitudes.

We'll be using print, broadcast, radio, outdoor, and digital over the next 10 years...they are not going to go away. The media allocation has to have a focus as to what is the right path now.

The inertia of the media won't lead marketers out 1950s measurements. Nor will advertising agencies, who have a vested interest in traditional, or "new" media. Marketers--retailers and manufacturers--will end up rattling cages, and saying "Look guys, we're trying to touch consumers, not the application (media) that you are hawking!"

Roger Saunders, Managing Director, PROSPER BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT / BIGinsight

Can you imagine everything becoming digital? What a thought! I do not think it is that far fetched. Change is happening at such a rapid pace that today's iPhone is replaced tomorrow. Lines at AT&T stores are becoming common place. (Not for me. I still rely on my BlackBerry.)

I am picturing traditional media companies in their board rooms reading these posts and thinking "OMG, what do we have to do to even stay on pace with these changes?" Obviously change is in the works. News media are more and more available online. I think USA Today was one of the first. If I am correct, they changed the print media 30 some years back and are still pushing the progressive, aggressive buttons.

Ed Rosenbaum, CEO, The Customer Service Rainmaker, Rainmaker Solutions

Joel's thought leadership continues...we all owe him an enormous quantity of thanks!

In my mind, the main question posed, "the most challenging hurdle for marketers," only has a high-level response at this point: "What to do in response to fundamental, structural change." 'Digital' is that fundamental, structural change which will enable new and different ways to do many, many things. Using history as a guide, most marketers will be slow to respond. Those who determine how to advantage themselves as a result of this structural change will gain in the marketplace.

This inexorable move toward all things digital presents enormous and significant opportunities for those who dive in, understand the implications, and create new and different solutions which leverage this massive change. These are exciting times!

Kevin Price, President, The Market Performance Group, Inc.

Joel hit the nail right on the head when he says that the importance of audience size will diminish. Digital media is really about audience sizes trending towards the magic number: 1.

In fact, "audience" as a word may eventually become meaningless. Consider the 42-year-old mother of two with a 4-year-old black lab who is approaching the grocery store between her office and her house at 5:30 PM, with "Dinner" and "Food for Rex" on her shopping list. She is not an audience, she is a critical opportunity--at that moment, at that location.

IAMS may want to reach her with a coupon for their new dog food. The grocery store may want her to know about their newly-improved salad bar and the number of hot rotisserie chickens available right now. And the restaurant near her house may want to offer her free dessert if she makes her reservation for 6:00 PM tonight.

The challenge, of course, will be making sense of all the additional dimensions of your potential "audience", and finding ways to manage and measure the impact of many more much smaller and more targeted campaigns.

Ben Sprecher, Founder and VP, Marketing, Incentive Targeting, Inc.

Well as Ben correctly pointed out, personalizations come with its set of complexities and not everyone would have the scale and the volume to make it profitable. It would be difficult to gauge the impact.

Shilpa Rao, Retail Consultant, Tata Consultancy Services