• by John Capone , February 25, 2010

Steve Blamer and Microsoft are right when they said we're not in the software business right now, says Matt Freeman, CEO, Mediabrand Ventures.

Agencies are lost, in many ways, in dealing with brands' orientation to media. "It's a system change that's required, not just a service change. I've been fascinated with a dangerously misinformed brain: multiverse theory." Which is the theory that we live in only one of many universes that exist at once.

Within each universe there is little to no knowledge of what goes on in the other universes.

Now what does this have to do with agencies and media. Channels are priliferating and multiplying faster than agencies and brands can keep up, and each channel is like it's own discrete universe.

"That's a fucking astounding number of pieces -- that's a scientific term -- that we now have to bring together."

The onus of integration is almost entirely on the shoulders of the consumer, and brands are like the lead character in the movie Momento.

"Brands act like amnesiacs that are constantly reintroducing themselves to consumers," on each channel. "The coordination between media is almost nil." The expansion will continue as more channels proliferate.

"And this entropy is almost boundless," warns Freeman.

What is he required, he says, is a creative revolution in media.