"Media planning in the classic sense is dead".

Gerd Leonhard is a futurist, keynote speaker, author and CEO of The Future Agency.The record number of participants at this year's Swiss CRM Forum made it clear - CRM is back in high demand among companies. Not really surprising when you consider that due to topics such as consolidation, narrowing of margins and digitalization, the intensity of competition is increasing for all market participants. How can revenues be maintained or even increased, or how can profitability be secured? CRM can be part of the answer. A view that is also confirmed by the latest international CEO study by Gartner. However, Gerd Leonhard - the renowned futurist - has not set out to provide recipes. Rather, he spoke about the future of marketing and the influence of artificial intelligence.Chritoph Oggenfuss* met Gerd Leonhard after his keynote and asked him a few questions.Gerd Leonhard Is "always on" the mantra for marketing of the future?LEONHARD "Always on" is becoming as commonplace as the flow of water or electricity in our environment. However, there is an important clarification to be made. "Always on" means "can" at any time, but not "must" at any time. This freedom of choice is still with us - even if not to any extent. To say we are free from the online world also means increasingly excluding ourselves socially."Digital technology is creeping inconspicuously into our lives. What's interesting here is that Americans (shaped by Silicon Valley) have a different mindset than Europeans: In their perception, there is a technical answer for everything. In this respect, Gerd Leonhard experiences Europeans as more people-centric and thus less absolutist in their belief in technology, and thinks that this is a good thing.Where does the disruptive power of "digital" in marketing strike first and foremost?LEONHARD "Media planning in the classic sense is dead. Digital efficiency and power come from the interplay of the various elements. From online to offline, from pull to push, etc. After the music and publishing industries were hit brutally hard by digitization, (classic) marketing is also facing a valley of tears. Of course, it's to be hoped that marketing doesn't get caught as cold as the two industries mentioned."What are the survival skills for marketers in the coming years?LEONHARD "From my point of view, the first thing to do is to break down the organizational-functional silos in the companies. I'm talking here, for example, about communications, marketing, IT. Thinking in terms of industries must be replaced by thinking in terms of arguments. Practicing more "foresight", i.e. always being one or two steps ahead of the customer - being able to anticipate."In addition, the trend expert believes it is important to better manage the upcoming complexity - he refers to this as "pattern recognition÷. Leonhard also considers a flair for finding attractive niches to be vital.As an international expert, I ask you to shout out to Swiss Marketeers three important things for the near future.LEONHARD - "Keep nurturing the collective (Swiss) thought but bring it into balance with the individual benefit!"(Eco & Ego System). - "Engage in conflict for the sake of the cause!" (Constructive dispute culture) - "In our fragmented world, the new answers can be given neither with yes/no nor with recipes. Much more often the answer will be: "It depends" - it depends. So don't look for recipes but for suitable answers. Take risks and work more prototyping-wise."True to the motto: done is better than perfect.