Okay, I do realize that the headline is similar to MediaPost’s this morning, but what else can this post be titled? :)
MediaVest has made a very interesting announcement. Terrestrial broadcast radio will no longer be referred to as radio; rather it will be referred to as audio.
I realize that, to some, this seems to be a mere semantic difference, not worthy of a press release. In my opinion, if MediaVest lives up to this statement with its actions (i.e. The way it plans communications), this move is certainly worthy of a press release, as this announcement acknowledges the significant change that has been occurring in the media space for some time.
Content Convergence/Media Divergence
Many people in the media industry today are paying blind lip service to the idea of media convergence. While there is a convergence occurring, it is not the type of convergence that many people are talking about.
I created the slides below while flying home from the Microsoft Strategic Accounts Summit in Seattle. I was reading Henry Jenkins, “Convergence Culture” and got inspired (how cool is it when inspiration manifests in the form of PowerPoint :) ). Jenkins talks a great deal about transmedia storytelling and how it is central to the idea of content convergence.
Jenkins talks about his idea of the Black Box Fallacy and how we will never have one box that feeds us all of our media, rather we will have various boxes of different sizes and purposes feeding us similar content. We may have a black box for the living room, one for the car and another for the hiptop, but the fact of the matter is, it will never be one black box to serve all media needs.
The Audio Planner
In light of Jenkins notion of content convergence, the idea of an audio planner makes a bit more sense. As referenced in the slides below, radio is merely a delivery technology, while audio is the medium that contains the content (the message).
I am not advocating that agencies should have discreet audio planners (and I am not sure how MediaVest’s announcement will effect the way they plan media) but the fact that they are acknowledging the fact that radio is not the medium, and it is simply a delivery technology, seems to be a step in the right direction.
If MediaVest were to create the role of audio planner, things may get confusing as radio planners would have to familiarize themselves with everything from radio, to podcasting to mobile. Perhaps it would not be so bad.
The Storyteller Versus The Delivery Strategist
Perhaps we need to call “creatives” Storytellers and media planners, Delivery Strategists. Again this is a semantic difference, but the language may help advertising/media professionals understand their roles better. Then again, I think we need to do a better job of getting these disciplines closer together. After all, not every story can be told through every delivery technology.
What do you think, should communications be planned by delivery technology as opposed to media channel?
Tags: media, electric media, digital media, convergence, media convergence, transmedia storytelling, Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture, communications, mediapost, mediavest, radio, audio, delivery technology, medium, black box phallacy, microsoft