Everything under control!
Op-Ed: "Safety is a poor guide, especially in times of upheaval," says Kaspar Loeb.
Guest commentary Security is a bad advisor, especially in times of upheaval, says Kaspar Loeb. At the agency, I always answer the virile morning greeting "so, you've got it under control" with a polite "no", which the person greeting me hardly ever takes note of. It is routinely taken for granted that "having everything under control" is the core competence of a "manager". However, "to manage" means nothing more than "to lead, guide, accomplish" and says nothing about whether we are always sure that we are doing the right thing.certainty is a bad advisor, especially in times of upheaval, and at best a sign of overconfidence. And no one with responsibility in this industry disputes the fact that advertising in particular is confronted with new challenges whose long-term effects are difficult to assess.
The problem is not that we are not aware of the progressively accelerating changes, the problem is how we react to them. Depending on the interests involved, the demise of print media, the collapse of free TV, the end of billboard advertising and the death of advertising agencies are all being invoked. The virtual world is on everyone's lips as an alternative to traditional media and, with all its communication channels, exerts a fascination that is only surpassed by the confusion it triggers in most of us, customers and advertisers. Those who nevertheless claim to have everything under control have my astonished admiration.
As a consolation for the others: it's no big deal and no one in charge will be offended if they admit to having lost track and not always knowing exactly which communication strategy is really the best and most efficient. On the contrary. Only by questioning our conventional way of thinking, the same old mix of often similar concepts, will we learn step by step to master the complexity of a communicative, creative work of art.
"Trial and error is a successful model of evolution. We are at the beginning of a significant evolutionary step on the way to a differentiated and individualized information society. The keywords are well known and much discussed: The emergence of virtual parallel worlds, the amateurization of communicative services (consumer-generated content) that were previously provided exclusively by agencies. The individualization of society and the associated great need to present oneself in public, even if only in a virtual world, and the trend for information to be made available free of charge at all times.
At the end of the day, a look at the already visible and certainly increasing diversity of all these phenomena suggests one conclusion. In future, the recipe for success could be NOT to have everything under control.
Kaspar Loeb is CEO of the advertising agency Publicis.
The problem is not that we are not aware of the progressively accelerating changes, the problem is how we react to them. Depending on the interests involved, the demise of print media, the collapse of free TV, the end of billboard advertising and the death of advertising agencies are all being invoked. The virtual world is on everyone's lips as an alternative to traditional media and, with all its communication channels, exerts a fascination that is only surpassed by the confusion it triggers in most of us, customers and advertisers. Those who nevertheless claim to have everything under control have my astonished admiration.
As a consolation for the others: it's no big deal and no one in charge will be offended if they admit to having lost track and not always knowing exactly which communication strategy is really the best and most efficient. On the contrary. Only by questioning our conventional way of thinking, the same old mix of often similar concepts, will we learn step by step to master the complexity of a communicative, creative work of art.
"Trial and error is a successful model of evolution. We are at the beginning of a significant evolutionary step on the way to a differentiated and individualized information society. The keywords are well known and much discussed: The emergence of virtual parallel worlds, the amateurization of communicative services (consumer-generated content) that were previously provided exclusively by agencies. The individualization of society and the associated great need to present oneself in public, even if only in a virtual world, and the trend for information to be made available free of charge at all times.
At the end of the day, a look at the already visible and certainly increasing diversity of all these phenomena suggests one conclusion. In future, the recipe for success could be NOT to have everything under control.
Kaspar Loeb is CEO of the advertising agency Publicis.
