Advertising Week Europe: Ben Jones

AKQA’s chief technology officer, Ben Jones, hosts a session on disruption at the opening day of Advertising Week Europe. Below he talks about some of the themes the seminar will cover, including identifying old forms of disruption and how brands and companies need to change, adapt and essentially be proactive in order to stay ahead and afloat in today’s modern landscape.

Today’s world does not tolerate laziness or complacency. It demands disruption, innovation and transformation or whatever word you want to use to describe ‘change’.

More than ever it is about strong leadership and the drive for change. If a business sits still for just a little too long it will cease to exist or at least cease to continue to dominate. 

Before digital and the opportunities it has brought, organisations could dominate and monopolise for decades. Traditionally it’s been achieved by broadcasting the benefits and features of their business, service or products - all with little creative effort. They would continue to win.

It came down to who had the biggest dick, which in those days often came down to who had the biggest ad budgets or best relationships in the toilet cubicle or on the golf course.

As this became the norm and everyone one was doing it, ultimately it created clutter: you couldn’t just dominate the airwaves and emblazon your brand everywhere. You had to stand out.

Enter the creative

The creative makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd; a punchy strapline, a clever placement – something that stops people in their tracks and makes them look twice. As time progresses, the absolute necessity to create that simply ‘standout-moment’ has become even more important.

But capturing the hearts and minds of an already preoccupied population was no easy feat.

The positive?

The brand and the ad guys were in control. The consumer simply, well, consumed. The product stayed the same, and it was just sold in a different way. If you were a car manufacturer you would add the word ‘Ghia’ to your existing model and possibly a snazzier trim. If you were a FMCG company, you would add the word ‘Super’ or ‘Ultra’ to your product. That’s all you had to do to win a little more market share.

Then digital hit. Things changed. The consumer couldn’t be treated like the fool any longer. The brands that did not recognize this, died.

Change or die?

Over the last 10-15 years everything has been turned on its head, or at least on its side. Through means such as social channels, the consumer all of a sudden has a voice that the ‘media’ listens to.

The same ‘media’ that was once the friend of the brands is now the consumers police and governing body. It made these once powerful organisations realise that they weren’t just consumers anymore. They had become the champions of a brand, but only if they really believe in you, the product, the service.

Technology has made everything quicker to achieve. We are now in a world that Walt Disney would be happy to live in. He once said: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Well with the progress of technology we can now live by that quote.

Today the consumer is in charge. They have the voice, they are connected, and they can research and find something or someone new with total ease.

Technology and consumer power completely create new business models, products and services.

Rules of disruption

The disrupting factors that emerged over the last 10 years shaped the companies that we have in our lives today. Factors like ‘Free’, ‘UnBundling’ and ‘Aggregation’.  These factors disrupted everything we knew.

Music completely changed and has still not found its feet:  from a premium purchase, something we saved up for, something we went and bought on a Saturday from Woolworths, something we were proud to display in our front room. To: something free. Something we stream rather than own. Something not physical. A commodity.

However, as digital has matured and the industry is faster and quicker than ever before these factors are now only a market entry consideration at best. They are now hygiene factors of the last 10 years.

Digital has made us even more connected than ever. It’s made the consumer a creator; a creative. In a world where nothing stands still, new technologies come every day; new factors of disruption have emerged. ‘Democratisation’, ‘GroundUp’, ‘Emotionalise’ to name just three.

A new world

These new factors of change serve the consumer. They address and recognise that the consumer knows the possibilities and the realities of a world gone digital.

If a company does not harness these emerging new factors the consumer simply stops consuming. The consumer standards have risen to a lofty height and the new factors of disruption will require a much deeper emotional connection with the consumer. 

The new factors dictate that with technology, a business and its brand can become global and worth multi-billions within in a matter of months. It recognises that the largest business and most conservative business models can be completely disrupted by five kids in a bedroom.

My session at Advertising Week Europe talks about the old and the new. It will highlight the new winners and it will help companies take that step forward.

It makes you think differently. Disruption is a frame of mind, after all.

Ben Jones' talk The Future Factors of Disruption takes place at 2pm today at Chennel 6 Stage @ the #AWEurope Underground. Find out how to attend and more info on this week's festival here.