AdvertisingWeek 2020 | Paul Bernabe
When the opportunity to attend AdvertisingWeek 2020 arose, I thought it would be a great entry into the new world of virtual conferences—”the new normal” as people like to say. What I appreciated about all this new virtual reality was the structure of it. The talks were livestreamed, but if you missed anything you can hop back on and rewatch a session on the main website. It also allowed for easy planning—I was able to just make a list of favorite, interesting sessions that I jumped into when time allowed during the week. I watched several—some hits, some misses—but below are takeaways from two of my favorite sessions of the event.
One of the first sessions that I watched was the “Great Minds Keynote,” a solo talk from Rory Sutherland, the Vice Chairman at Ogilvy UK. One of my takeaways from this session was how he discussed a new paradigm in work. He says, “When we started working remotely, our preferences changed as a response to experience. We had always assumed that the way work worked, was work and leisure.
He goes on to say that
“Work-life balance is a false dichotomy. What we wanted, what we discovered is a mixture of when, where and what, in the terms of how much time we spend at work. We now allow employees and employers to engage in a much more emotional exchange of value. Not about just hours and salary, but the terms of employment.”
This was a very interesting and timely point since there’s a lot of buzz about the future of work. He posits that there may be more flexibility in terms of how we work moving forward, that different arrangements can be made for people in different situations. I foresee it as people perhaps negotiating for more remote days from work, perhaps at the expense of salary or vacation days. Going further into these thoughts, Sutherland also talks about how much things can change—how the implausible can become acceptable. He dove into how people in New York wouldn’t pay $4 for a cup of coffee until Starbucks, or a £9 burger until Five Guys became a success in London, or how people will pay for a $700 vacuum courtesy of Dyson. Paradigms shift, and Covid-19 may have expedited that for the working world, and what was unthinkable may be a part of the coming changes in “the new normal.”
The next notable session that I attended was titled “Is Facebook the Next Big Tobacco?” which featured Jeff Goodby of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and Jim Steyer, the CEO and founder of Common Sense Media.
Goodby started by elaborating on the parallel with social media and big tobacco.
“We don’t know what they’re getting from us, and we get a lot in return — the exchange seems fair. Things are going on that we don’t know about. And the parallel with Big Tobacco is apt. They knew things we didn't know about the threat of tobacco. And Facebook and these guys know more things about the threat of social media than we do.”
This was an interesting statement, and what intrigued me the most about this. My takeaway from this line alone was that even though our society seems more progressive, we are still vulnerable to greed and profit in the face of immorality. In cases like this, greed and profit seems to triumph over altruism and the “right thing to do.”
Steyer elaborated more on that.
“Much of the platform of Instagram and Facebook is intentionally manipulative. In order to get your data. Data is the new oil, it’s the holy grail.”
They also talked extensively about the current political climate and how Facebook has been an instrumental part of that.
“Social media knows what it’s doing. It’s in an arms race for your attention,” says Steyer. “With the help of Facebook, the Russians hacked the 2016 Presidential election. The platform has allowed for false political advertising—they’ve allowed white supremacists to organize themselves on the platform. These large platforms are contributing to the disintegration of our society.”
This was my favorite session because it elaborated on something larger, that society is being eroded by social media. To me, it all seems so insidious, but it’s not surprising what kinds of stances companies will take if it means making more money. This is the case with Facebook. Why any company would be so resistant to taking down false information or allowing hate groups to use their platform to mobilize is beyond me.
The parallel to Big Tobacco is really on point here, and Steyer says, what Facebook is doing is somewhat worse than negative health—it’s the disintegration of society. They also spoke about how advertising played a part in efforts to expose Big Tobacco’s health risks and how senior leadership knew. How this will be done with Facebook is a whole different story… and something that seems so impossible with how divided America is. But I’m hopeful that perhaps our industry can make strides towards informing the public of the harmful effects and intentions of Facebook.
Goodby adds towards the end,
“Companies and people voting, people changing their behavior will change this. People can do this on their own and demand a better internet, social media. And we can do that,”
says Goodby. My takeaway was moreso an excitement about the future and a curiosity for how this will all play out in a Biden presidency / Democratic Senate. It’s interesting to me to think about what an America without Facebook is, or Americans asserting our rights to our data. Or a country connected by a simpler social network. While there are no benevolent tobacco companies (that I know of) — I would like to see a benevolent social media company that does respect our personal data and is willing to take a stand on what’s right. Or at least draw the line somewhere close.
All in all, this was a very different kind of conference, but big props to the AdvertisingWeek team for pulling this off in such uncertain times. Since we’re all at home anyway, this format worked well for those of us at work or juggling many different things. That being said, I’m looking forward to the future where this format will be a footnote when looking back at the wild ride that is 2020—nothing substitutes for an in-person event.
