Looking Forward to a Creative Digital Future 195We have been gathering data for years and have recently become quite adept
with its power and management (ask Google). What we have yet to under-
stand is the manipulation of the ‘other data’ – the things we think about and
on which we do not act. Twitter has gone some way to release the random-
ness of thought. The great challenge surely has to be how to harvest and
utilize this human data without crashing into the rock of privacy. Or is it our
understanding of privacy that has to change or is already changing?
One thing I have noticed recently and have started to discuss with people is
the everyday self-management of several online personalities: LinkedIn, Face-
book and so on. Maybe we feel we need to be different people in different
online environments, but doesn’t that question one’s credibility in some way?
Anyway, as McLuhan said: ‘I am here to explore not to explain’.
Our bet is those advertisers who understand as much data as can humanely
and legally be obtained about their customers will be unassailable.
Agencies
Some may decide to do it themselves, and good luck to them. Others, includ-
ing the vast majority of big brands, will usually select an agency. Picking the
right agency, however, is becoming a far more complex and strategically
important task. Why? Because successful agencies have evolved like the
media they rely on and are increasingly becoming ‘guardians of our customer
engagement channel’ rather than the guys who make our ads. I see success-
ful agencies in the future being characterized by their level of investment in
their clients rather than the other way around.
Put it another way; rather than pitching for the new US $1 million Acme
Anoraks account, a future agency might decide to purchase 50,000 anoraks
from Acme and seek exclusivity on media activity for a period of time, allow-
ing it to cultivate its data, ignite its social media, mobile and search strategies
and make a far superior margin by doing so. And lest we forget, agencies
came into this world as sales representatives of space on behalf of newspa-
pers – perhaps McLuhan’s tetrad extends to agencies as well as media.