Four key trending implications for media as the battle for branding rights on the web encounters the realities of frontier living

update: an article I missed on Sept 7th in the NYT clearly demonstrates key point #4 at the end of this post. Thanks Mark!

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

To me there's no doubt that the primary tools of social media are forcing issues like we read in this NYT article from Sept 1st(link below). The question in this discussion is both, why? and how is this impacting the world of media?  Leaps in convenient communications technology explain only part of it. And while the rest might be explained by big ideas like that over at Chris Anderson's Long Tail site, I submit that considering the broad social force of social mood is an essential part of that understanding, especially if your business touches any part of the media vertical.

A New Battle is Beginning in Branding for the Web  NYT (9 01 08)

two key quips:

The first round of trademark conflict on the Internet, focused on cybersquatting, has subsided. Cybersquatters were early profiteers who bought up the Web addresses, or domain names, of well-known trademarked brands, and then tried to charge the companies huge amounts of money to buy them.

The new areas of conflict, according to legal experts, include trademark owners trying to assert their rights to stifle online criticism of their products, and to stop trademarked brands from being purchased as keywords in Internet search advertising.

It's a wild west mentality in many respects but larger branding considerations were clearly established, separately this summer, when a court told the Tiffany Co. that policing its brand was their responsibility, not Ebay's.  And while there is lots of legalese to go along with that thought, let's gather all of this into a even bigger thought that may be used to guide current strategic direction.

The era of choice (as I call it) is a product of both the web and people's pent up desire to get the specific content they want, when they want it. The tools of social media conveniently help us all in this effort if you consider them very broadly. (Content is information, any kind of desired information and includes all types of social media exchanges.)  They are not hard to use and are getting better all the time. Further, the younger generations are being socialized with them as primary components (tools) and not gee-whiz add-ons to our lives.  This generational difference in perspective seems innocuous enough but over time will be the fault zone in many future court cases that clearly demonstrate how much our values change along with the technology that enables us to splinter off into these small groups aligned toward specific purposes.

My larger assertion, when it comes to media, is that these splinter groups are not a short term blip in demand but are instead a really long term development that will change the very face of how we value "reach" in the business of making and distributing content. In a world that increasingly values smaller groups with like values and interests, what place does the CPM, or CPP have? 

So in four paragraphs I've gone from trademark ownership issues to how we value old fashioned reach metrics in content distribution. The live current running through this argument is the concept of changing social mood.   How we value things of all kinds as a society changes as social mood changes. One of the best ways to keep tabs on this macro social trend is to observe the shifting dynamics between the generations. Social media development is being driven (in large measure) by younger generations of people. I consider the digital realm a frontier and many would agree this is obvious.  Anytime a frontier is conquered in history it has a socialized dynamic added to it. This dynamic is broadly subject to the expression of the social mood at any one time. So the big picture implication for the media are, IMO, as follows:

1. Unlike after the civil war when technology and social momentum created many larger cities and enormous gains in industrial output, this round of technological innovation will spur greater efficiency from smaller, specialized groups. (hence, the inference in the name of the blog)
2. Inter-generational conflicts tend to be cliche but this one developing now will rewrite many laws eventually as acceptable behavior in the digital environment is fought over like the west was in the late 1800's.  Eventually, what behavior goes on the frontier will be the same as what is expected "in town".(eventually)
3. Media business models must be redesigned to account for the needs of specialization and the smaller numbers that follow it. How we value the basic product of media (reach) will be redesigned as information technology gives us new ways to define interaction with "customers". The first step is to move beyond the FCC licensee mentality and compete broadly. The second step is to shift focus in all marketing efforts back to the consumer of content and less on the sponsors. In time, that will only serve the advertisers as balance is restored, slowly.
4. Cooperation and trust are dynamics that must be restored to the business equation as the balance of power has clearly shifted back to the consumer of content.

Needless to say, these basic trending implications have enormous breadth in how their understanding is to be applied in a strategic manner. Gaps in this process are inevitable as innovation is often a matter of getting hold of one small part at a time until a macro perspective can be internalized by each vertical. This will happen slowly at any one organization and the ability to see aggregated examples of trial and error is invaluable, especially right now. In the meantime, issues like keyword protection and branding rights are the white noise of the digital frontier. Focus on what really matters as a marketer in this brave new world and the audience will show up (aka...Field of Dreams).

So, the next post, in following this line of thinking, should be "What are the implications for the Much Needed new business model for media enterprises?  Dave

PS.  The trend thread I've followed that created the underlying impulse for this site can be accessed Here  In more than two years we've seen many different aspects of this larger media evolution trend develop. One of the great benefits 2+ years later is to have seen the various issues follow the larger themes suggested here in this discussion. Stay tuned!