For the past few years I’ve co-hosted an interesting dinner, where I ask each guest to speak briefly on a way they think the world will change in the next 5 years – that is not obvious. For me, this is one of the reasons yet2.com is a fascinating place to work – because we are always thinking about the non-obvious.
Below is the last of the 6 finalists – on ways the world will change that are not obvious. Please share your ideas on other non-obvious predictions and your thoughts about this one.
Table VI: Branding of editorial content
If look at two historic events that occurred this fall, one being the Obama election and the other being the global economic meltdown, both of them had central to them communications failings or communications strengths.
I think we can all look at the Obama campaign and say, this is a guy who knew how to talk and to use words; this is a campaign that knew how to reach out to a wide group of people.
If you look at the government, the Treasury departments attempts to sell the bailout through our government, sell the TARP through the American people, they had fundamental lack in marketing skills.
If you look at how communications and content may change over the next ten years, maybe the next generation, you are probably going to see a merging of branded editorialized content — what I would say is emblematized by the op-ed page at the [Wall Street] Journal or the New York Times, and these new business models that have come up and been exemplified by what the Obama campaign did with what we all know is called social networking.
What you have not seen yet is the emergence of the branded content with the social networking model and I think that is the next thing you are going to see. If someone can brand social networking and monetize it, you have what you had with Obama and a historic election because he was able to brand that model with his name and sell it out to the voters.
Thoughts?
