on Apr 3rd, 2006New Technology + Older CEO = Get in the Trenches
In the past, when technology changed, it was mostly the geeks who kept abreast of the innovations, while the CEO of a major company simply approved or nixed spending a portion of his operating budget for the upgrades.
Today, the geek is now the CEO because he or she understands that “the technology IS the business,” to paraphrase Marshall Mcluhan. If you don’t understand how the technology works, you’ll never understand how to build a business around it. There are new business models being created that have never existed before. Sure advertising supports a lot of the new models, but the internet offers unique opportunities for monetizing it on a global scale, sometimes within the comfort of your own home.
Jeff Goodby’s quote sums it all up, “But now I believe you have to understand technology just to know what’s possible.”
Get in the trenches, man. Fortunes are being made by figuring out how technology, coupled with the internet as a communication system, equals massive audiences ripe for targeted advertising.
Feuerman’s words ring true for many of advertising’s most prominent creative leaders, most of whom grew up in the age when television was king. These creatives are employing different tactics to stay current. Many are setting regular appointments with their interactive departments to familiarize themselves with the latest technology. Others are implementing various management practices to better incorporate new technology into their own departments. And many are looking to the younger generation to provide guidance.
“I used to think you could noodle something out on a pad and have someone else execute it on a computer,” said Jeff Goodby, 54, co-chairman at Omnicom’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. “But now I believe you have to understand technology just to know what’s possible.”
Teaching an Old(er) Creative New Tricks
Adweek, March 27, 2006
By Aaron Baar