• by Damon Bethel , September 28, 2007

Yesterday I attended an Advertising Week luncheon where a young strategic planner looking to break the ice asked his tablemates, "So, what do you think will be the next new new thing in digital?" Knowing this strategic planner had come out of digital and was now working across multiple channels, I replied, "You." While I know I did not necessarily answer his intended question, it did get a few of us discussing the need for a specific type of strategic thinker: media types that were grown by their respective organizations the way he was -- an "If-Then" media professional.

Tuesday at OMMA New York, Sarah Fay's keynote speech was good -- but what I found to be most thought-provoking were her opening statements about her title and appointment. She began anecdotally discussing why someone from digital was appointed to CEO at Carat, and many of the questions that she received upon her appointment. To me, it seemed as though her questioners were initially surprised that someone from digital had made their way to the C-level suite of a media company. This introductory anecdote was used as a way to delve into and show how digital has changed the fundamentals of Carat's planning methodologies, consumer experience mapping -- and also demonstrate how this trend is reflective of the product change of our industry on the whole. Most agencies will echo this. Can most agencies, including Carat, say they are staffed adequately to deliver these strategies, and scale them, as the consumer continues to scale even more media touch points that are digital in some way?

Channel planning, concept planning, integrated planning and the holistic approach are not new. This general principle of bundling or the surrounding of the consumer has been used and implemented successfully since at least Y&R's "Whole Egg" approach introduced by Ed Ney in 1972. The introduction of more and more digital technology on both the front and back ends of the consumer touch-points and the ongoing dialogue's demand and reliance on the best data possible has not only changed the variance in touch-points. It has now changed the necessary fundamental skill set required to stay competitive in our business.

Since digital's real proliferation in media, in approximately the last decade, we have continued discussing how the roles of the brand within the media landscape are fundamentally changing at a rapid pace. With the consumer/brand dialogue stretching down the long tail, the role of the strategic media planning and buying agency adapts for this ecosystem. Right?

What about the sales, product development, strategy, planning, buying, creative, operations, research and analytics professionals who are working with their clients to build these giant consumer-based "If-Then Statements" that guide brands to healthier states and, ultimately, contribute to healthier balance sheets for our client's businesses? Are there enough to really move the needle here? Where are all the If-Then professionals needed to drive this innovation? It's not like we didn't see this coming. It's been a decade and we still have this massive dearth in this type of talent. Although there has been wide recognition of where the consumer is turning for entertainment, communication and information and investment has been flowing into the backend platforms that power it all; most of the advertising, marketing and communications industry has seemingly kept its collective head comfortably planted in the sand. Our industry needs to truly identify how digital threads through all that we do whether its consumer facing or in the backend and design their company's new principles, products, byproducts and training programs with warp speed and implement -- faster -- or get passed by.

Our industry needs to grow these If-Then Professionals faster. Not just media and advertising professionals that are comfortable with and subscribe to the principle of maintaining a consumer/brand dialogue that is in a state of perpetual beta, but also capable of making sure their clients understand and continue subscribing, too. So while none of this is new in principle necessarily, its true activation and organizational proliferation by people who come from the world of data, technology and accountability into the C-level ranks is. We need to grow more Rishad Tobaccowalas, Sarah Fays, John Skippers, Tim Hanlons and Rich Gagnons.

Hopefully it's not so late that the development of these new professionals literally slows innovation for the industry's clients while the industry trains, seasons and grows more "If-Then" professionals.

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