One Generation’s Halo Effect Is Another’s … Or Disrupt Yourself Before Some 18 Year Old Does it For You

It’s Day 3 of “Monaco Media Forum — The-Delayed-But-Not-Too-Delayed Reaction.”  It’s a generation thing. And one day my generation will have to yield too.

I was struck in Monaco when adman-oligarch Maurice Lévy of Publicis Groupe said he has yet to find a new digital media that gives his clients the “halo” effect of being associated with media like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

Another generation's halo effect. Photo credit Jeremy Burgin.

t was unclear to me whether he was referring to a halo he achieves by getting his clients covered in these pubs (Publicis owns PR firms) or buying his clients ad space in them. Either way…

Consider this homegrown research (it’s a busy day today.. so no time to go searching out refs to actual research that validates this.. but it exists): My kids (7 and 11) give young, disruptive media brands a very different “halo profile” (should I TM that?) than older people do. They don’t give more credence to Disney than they do to YouTube. They’d actually rather go to dinner with a YouTube star than a Disney Channel star. Certain YouTube stars mean more to them than Miley Cyrus. And I’m deliberately not putting “stars” in quotes… YouTube stars are stars.

YouTube is an example of a disruptive media in the true Christensenian sense (“typically cheaper, simpler-to-use versions of existing products that target low-end or entirely new customers”).

And some companies that provide halo effect today are too blinded by it to see the disruptive halos of tomorrow.

And those darn disruptive companies — as they begin to feel their power, they start to move in. In fact, just last week, YouTube put a lot of effort into “hollywoodizing” (you could say “halo-izing”) itself and it’s stars… check out this page for an archive of their YouTube Live event.

Their branding is interesting. In a smart bit of positioning they put stars like Fred and Akon on equal footing. They’re borrowing from Akon for Fred. And they’re borrowing from Fred for Akon. And they’re borrowing from both for themselves. Feel the glow.

A screen grab from YouTube Live. Akon and Fred are giving equal billing.

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Seeking a New Kind of Genius … Mashing Up the “Ultimate Insider” and the “Ultimate Outsider”

A couple of weeks ago I attended one of the most interesting conferences on media (media writ large, not the narrow ad-agency definition) that I have attended in some time. I have written a bit about it since (just poke around the blog).. but I wanted to devote a week of blogging to it now that I have had some time to digest. So… welcome to Day One of “Monaco Media Forum Week” at everythingcommunicat.es — a highly-subjective kind of Cliffs Notes.

One of my favorite panels featured two people. One was billed as the “ultimate insider” — Maurice Lévy of ad agency conglomorate Publicis Groupe. The other was billed as the “ultimate outsider” — Niklas Zennström of Kazaa, Skype, and now Joost — and his venture firm Atomico. The two were interviewed by Financial Times editor Lionel Barber.

The twain shall meet!

After setting up the insider-outsider schtick, Barber said: “Mr.  Zennström, as we know, has helped to destroy the music industry, the telecoms industry and he is now trying to destroy the network television industry… and Maurice and I are here to…”

Almost without missing a beat, Lévy said “stop him.”

Barber finished: “you said that without my lips moving.”

(BTW.. I’m not sure Barber is quite as old-school as he made himself out to be in this exchange. The FT’s digital coverage is some of the most solid (and least breathless and hyperbolic) that I have read.)

I was interested in what Lévy and Zennström had to say, of course, but actually more interested in what they didn’t say — what you might call the “negative space” of the panel.

I really wanted to know what each secretly wants to know about the other — what he feels the other has that he does not — even if this is totally subconscious.

Each of the two is clearly brilliant in his own way. Levy speaks of the sensual.. of feelings that communications can evoke. Zennström speaks of platforms.

Zennström’s platforms, of course, carry very sensual, emotional material. Kazaa carried songs, Joost carries video, Skype carries voice and video data and, as such, is the new way to “reach out and touch someone.”

And Lévy knows a thing or two about platforms. His emotional/sensual communications have been pushed over platforms — like TV networks — and made consumers on the other end laugh, cry and buy. Plus.. he actually started at Publicis as an IT guy!

But still…

Communications, branding, advertising and media today needs leaders who are, in effect, mashups of these two guys. People who are A NEW KIND IF GENIUS– a genius that understands both platforms and emotional content.

This hasn’t been the case for a while. Platforms (like TV networks) became so established that the underlying technology became basically irrelevant to content creators. And that made sense.

But  we are in too crazy a time right now characterized by emergent platforms/technologies.. each different.. each with very (or subtly) different characteristics. … a time where the platform cannot be separated from what is carried on it.

As emergent forms of media settle down and achieve scale, there will again be a time for people who understand one half really well. For now though… we need people who know both.

If you wish.. the panel is here:

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