Media Roundtable, Part 3: how the industry can thrive in the future

This story first appeared in the 2024 Summer issue of Strategy Magazine.

The industry has had to move, adapt and evolve at lightning speed – especially amid economic hardships and unforeseen industry events. The last 12 months have brought immense change and growth. Now, imagine the next five years. There will no doubt be a shakeout in terms of which services survive, and the current media-verse may one day be seen as a distant relic.

Industry leaders came together to discuss how they think the evolution of media will play out, what it will take to maintain mass appeal, and which formats will attract ad dollars. The business is in transition, our roundtable aims to predict where it’s headed next.

To discuss where the industry is headed, Media in Canada and strategy brought together media leaders and marketers including Urania Agas, chief client officer, GroupM; Tracey Cooke, SVP, CMO, Nestle; Richard Fofana, EVP strategy, UM; Andrea Hunt, CCO, Carebook Technologies and president, Think; Robert Jenkyn (pictured, above right), president, Horizon Media; Bob Park, CBO, GE Appliances; John Rocco (pictured above, left), VP, head of global brand, Scotiabank; and Sarah Thompson, formerly president of media, Dentsu.

Jennifer Horn, editor and content director for strategy and Media in Canada, moderated the discussion. Also in attendance were strategy and Media in Canada publisher Lisa Faktor, associate publisher Neil Ewen, Media in Canada editor Greg Hudson and reporter Andrea Hernandez, and Globe Media Group creative studio and ad innovation managing director Tracy Day and group client director Shaenie Colterjohn.

This is the final part of the roundtable series running in Strategy and Media in Canada this week. Today, industry leaders discuss how to thrive in the future, and challenges they expect to face. Click here to read part one and part two.

What are some of the skills and expertise that media planners and marketers should have to thrive in the future?

Urania Agas, chief client officer, GroupM: I think we need critical thinking, and that is a hard one to teach. The other thing is the ability to build relationships. During COVID, everybody was stuck in their house and they didn’t have as many interactions with human beings. But relationships are critical in our industry. And we need to help our future leaders understand the importance of that. And then the other thing for me is adaptability. We’re going through so much change and you have to be open and adaptable to understanding how AI, for example, can help your job vs. worrying about it taking your job.

John Rocco, VP, head of global brand, Scotiabank: I worry a bit sometimes when I’m looking at a piece of creative and I hear “computer says no” when it’s being evaluated. I get best practices. I get that different platform providers are saying, “This is how this works best.” But, as a storyteller, you can take that advice but also add a bit of humanity. I’m not saying that you should ignore everything but I worry that it gets so binary and we lose that humanity. We used to be more generalist and then we went into becoming specialists, and I think we’ve lost that ability for people to think critically, emotionally and with empathy.

Richard Fofana, EVP strategy, UM: I think that may be one of the biggest struggles that we have as an industry. If the computer says no, then it’s about having the courage to be able to question, be skeptical, be curious and be creative. And it’s not just the new wave of people, it’s our current teams. We need to allow them the space and the permission to question what’s going on.

Sarah Thompson, formerly president, media, Dentsu: A lot of that stems from the values of the organization. What do you actually believe the media industry should be achieving and where should it be going?

We’ve talked about opportunities, but what challenges will the industry face five years from now?

Fofana: We know that there’s going to be a massive deluge of content in the future, right? Everyone is going to have this onslaught of content increasingly hitting them on different channels. If we think back to sociology, people can only hold like three or four things in their heads at once. So, people are going to turn off and tune out. And if they don’t want to engage in all of this stuff, what is the industry going to do in order to continue to be relevant?

Robert Jenkyn, president, Horizon Media: I wonder if we’ll go back to how it was in the ’50s when it comes to content? Before there were advertising standards and formats, each program was created by sponsors. And I wonder if this sort of golden age of content is going to be accelerated by AI and if there will be different formats that break the mold. What drives people to a platform is the content, so maybe we will come to an age where it’s full circle and content is sponsored almost entirely by one brand or a couple of brands. They create the content for that and cut out the middleman.

Thompson: The challenge I’m paying most attention to in the next few years is the younger generation’s drive for mindfulness and digital detoxing. We can continue to do what we’re doing, which is excessive consumption, or the consumer will start to gain back control – especially when it comes to subscribing to multiple streamer bills. As for social media, I’d be curious to see if the platforms that we’re talking about today will even exist five years from now.

Tracey Cooke, SVP, CMO, Nestle: I agree with you. I think we’re going to be at a tipping point really soon and people are going to start to opt out. And then what will we be left with?