My Blue Sky Challenge: The Next Chapter of My Career
I’m currently in the midst of a big challenge: figure out what comes next in this chapter of life. To solve this, I have surrounded myself with mentors, coaches, executives, friends and family.
There are some territories that I’m interested in that I figure I’d share, mainly for two reasons:
- One of these topic areas can inspire you too
- If you are aware of a conversation I should be having in one of these areas, please let me know
If you know me well, then none of these areas should be a shock to you.
Advertising & Marketing Services; The Big Holding Companies; The We-Are-Not-A-Holding-Company-But-We-Are-A-Holding-Company; The Agency Who Wants to Grow; The Financier of Advertising & Marketing Services
I missed a heading or two but it’s pretty obvious that I like the advertising and marketing services world. Why? Because art challenges technology and technology inspires the art (per John Lasseter). I love being around dreamers, creative types, and big ideas and this sector is all about this.
We are seeing a lot of innovation and evolution in the agency business including but not limited to:
- interest and initial uses of machine learning and artificial intelligence
- analog to digital workflow convergence
- API based media buying
- Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, Twitter and others becoming large media platforms
- Influencers on above platforms area not just influencers any longer but now multi-screen content platforms
- The emergence in the “not big 4 tier” of advertising holding companies and their passion to outflank
- WPP’s increased investment in data, API’s, and technologies to give real advantage to GroupM
- Brands becoming real-time and 1:1 on platforms like WeChat, Kik, WhatsApp, and others
- The possibility of moving outside of a human arbitrage based business and creating multiple models, some scaling better than others
- The new crop of talent which will ultimately lead our agencies and marketing departments. They need to be taught, mentored, and led.
- Users having a global voice in their privacy, particularly online and how this will play out within the advertising and marketing world
Creative + Communications + Distribution = the next media platforms
You do not have to be a known celebrity, have a talent agent, or be a member of an organization such as SAG to be part of the distribution of newly current and future media. Large social networks and communications platforms allow anyone to build a following and create a lucrative distribution platform for the right brand partners.
If done correctly alongside the person/influencer/channel, then results should be infinitely better than traditional push platforms such as broadcast television. This is a particularly fun area right now as the social platforms are playing with their native ad/content formats, influencer platforms are trying to differentiate between rep firms and workflow platforms, and the television networks are worried that the platforms are creating multiple video offerings.
eSports; Video Games; Cyber Athlete Management
I was in the video game world as an entrepreneur from 2004–2007. I co-founded IGA Worldwide, an in-game advertising platform that was backed by over $40M in venture capital. It’s crazy to think that just over a decade ago, consoles weren’t even connected and there was really only one MMORPG. Post IGA, I had a business plan to build a virtual goods exchange sanctioned by the platforms and gaming companies but didn’t end up building that.
Today, the eSports marketplace is heating up and I’ve written about it. I have an investment in an eSports broadcasting platform called StageTEN and have been talking to some folks about the opportunities around cyber-athlete management and tournaments.
Activision Blizzard has been making some really interesting moves lately, most recently with the acquisition of Major League Gaming to build the “ESPN of eSports.” This is an area that’s filled with unchartered territory but lots of excitement and interest.
The New Media Company; MCN; Content
Vice, Maker Studios, AwesomenessTV, Netflix, YouTube, BatteryPOP, All Def Digital, Amazon Studios, and others have created the next versions of studios/distribution platforms/publishers. These companies are much more agile and have more permission than the large broadcast and cable networks to innovate. With no legacy business to save or wind down, these organizations can start from scratch building the studio/distribution platform of tomorrow.
If I look at how my children consume content, it’s pretty much all at the above mentioned companies… not the TV channels that I grew up on.
Hopefully some of these areas are of interest to you. At a minimum, they should be on your radar screen.
