Media as a barometer of the business world
Traditional business is pretty straightforward.
>There are people who make, produce or invent stuff.
>There are people who distribute stuff
>There are people who sell stuff
and there are those of us that buy it.
or to use business words Manufacturing, Transport, Retail and consumer. Technology is invading every part of this chain, and making the transactions happen faster and in a way that us more beneficial to the owner of that part of the chain.
“Whats this got to do with media?” I hear you saying.
Well, changes that we see in the media business precede the changes in traditional business, because media, unlike other products is a meta product or an “Emperors new clothes” type of product. The cost of change for media is far far smaller than the cost of change for a traditional business because there are no factories, lorries, warehouses or shops that need to change.
>Media has virtually no production cost (compare the cost of a TV show to that of even a small tractor)
>Media has no distribution cost (unless your an ISP)
>and Media sells itself, have you seen that new advert? the one with the Gorilla?
and now we even make our own media !
So whats around the corner for the traditional businesses?
Make your own tools
The tools that you use to create a product are important, media companies travel light and fast when it comes to tooling, all that old office software just slows you down. Ditch it. Use basecamp, wiki, a CMS or a blog to communicate.
Transparency
Both project management and quality control are improved when everyone knows whats going on. Media companies understand search. When you make a media product you spend 1/2 your time googeling for answers and examples the other 1/2 of your time you spend publishing where you have added value into an intranet or extranet. As people only publish what they are proud of then publish everything!
Egalitarian
In a media company you can, and do, talk to all parts of the hierarchy. As everyone on the team is at least a consumer of the product there is a connection, and everyones opinion is important feedback.
Make room for ideas
A media product is often just a single idea or notion. So an environment where ideas can live and grow gives a commercial advantage. This dose not mean installing a slide in your office and traveling around on a segway. It may mean ensuring that there are areas where you can chill out, away from the desks and computers. Increasingly it also means having virtual areas where you can chill out, and communicate without moderation.
The myth is that inside a media company everyone is just mucking around with their play stations, skate boards and boozey lunches, and no real work gets done. The reality is that a media company is very very efficient, nearly everyone has an indepth understanding of everyone else’s job, and company direction can halt, backup and change direction in days or even hours. Traditional buisnesses that decide to work in this way will find them selves with a comercial advantage.
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