The acceleration of digital adoption and tech infrastructure business to either adapt and evolve, or dissolve. Industry agnostic - and humbling overall.

Currently, we’re witnessing the closure and fall of the countries media publisher titans. And for some reason, there is shock amongst the industry. You didn’t need clairvoyance to receive the vivid premonition that it was not a matter of IF but rather WHEN traditional media models would cease to exist.

The most heartbreaking part about the end of these media era’s is that they come at the cost of employees, millions of job losses and the ripple effect of consequences it has on those families and individual lives.

Let’s not turn a blind eye towards the fact that the stakeholders, decision makers and commercial teams responsible for their longevity failed by choosing to not pay attention- years prior. The only thing consistent for print or has been it ’s decline in revenue for almost TEN years. COVID is not the reason for their closures, but rather the digital domino and a convenient get-out-of-jail card for having failed to have a future-proof plan in place.

Over the past decade in the industry, having worked at publishers who managed to evolve their brands into a high standard of digital, those that slapped a logo on a web page and called it an online site, some with old or limited ad serving technology… The common theme: the split of sales teams. ATL vs BTL [traditional vs digital]. A divisive revenue approach. Ah, and pride.

Countless times, I’ve had my suggestions of integrated proposal ideas dismissed. The go-to market pitch is a multi-channel approach, yet vividly evident it isn’t so. Inquiry often met with defensiveness and particularly towards the “digital guys”.

Was there ever a time until now, where we are a unified industry making space for all. Honestly speaking, the pricing of print advertising space has been questionable since the growth and efficiencies of digital advertising solutions. From production to placement. When we speak of media efficiencies, high on the agenda for most brands, we have to accept that the medium doesn't perform unless integrated with an online driver.

The next few months will be a time where traditional analogue needs to rapidly mobilise their properties into a digitally accessible ecosystem that meets the consumption behaviour and preferences of culture.