Opening keynote speaker at the fifth IAB Engage conference Charlie Leadbeater, former Tony Blair strategy advisor, believes that “we’ve only just begun a new social and technological experiment that millions of people haven’t started playing with yet.”
Opening keynote speaker at the fifth IAB Engage conference Charlie Leadbeater, former Tony Blair strategy advisor, believes that “we’ve only just begun a new social and technological experiment that millions of people haven’t started playing with yet.”
Making a metaphor of the growing move towards cloud-based technology, Leadbeater argued that “a cloud-based future filled with multiple forms of cloud media, culture, media and organisations is the most fertile metaphor for the future.”
The self proclaimed Wizard of the Web and best-selling author painted a picture of a media landscape today made up of “boulders” – multi-national media owners and technology companies – which are under threat from “pebbles” – niche platforms, blogs, forums and websites.
In Leadbeater’s mind big organisations are trying to become small while small organisations are trying to become big with “boulders becoming pebbles and old boulders trying to accommodate to this new world of pebbles.” He added: “all media in future will be neutral media. Mutuality will be the defining feature of media. One route will be social - user generated content.”
But Leadbeater believes the industry faces a crisis: “Except for Google and Glastonbury every media business is looking for a new business model.” He also criticised Rupert Murdoch’s “desperate move to lock up his content” because brands will be judged by mutuality.
Discussing what part brands play in the media future, Leadbeater believes that the more unfinished, modular a brand’s approach, the more consumers will engage with them: “Consumers want tools and the more you give them the more they will thank you for it.” He also argues that the era of “interruptive advertising is over,” adding “You are what you share and how you share it” which he believes is at the heart of what the new generation of internet users.
Leadbeater also believes that in the past organisations “said they did things for but the reality is that they did something to you.” Today consumers have their own opinions and make their own contributions, therefore, he argued, that brands need to “think with not for or to” their audiences and encourage a culture of “Think with”.
