What's the deal with big tech, anyway?
Media houses were too busy admiring their reflection to notice the writing on the Facebook wall.
An endless saga unfolds in the media spotlight, a complex, high-stakes love triangle between big tech, legacy media, and the advertising industry. It's pure drama. The media houses are practically ripping up cobblestones, ready to storm the Bastille like it's 1789.
But what's the fight really about? In their golden age, media houses were throwing their last lavish party, flexing with epic New Yorker-style investigations about power and corruption, serving up literary journalism to readers who still curled up with newspapers on Sunday mornings. Meanwhile, the printing presses were humming, and publishers were swimming in piles of ad cash like Scrooge McDuck.
Their story was all about "them" being the heroes. The audience was mere extras, taken for granted. Then some nerdy students in dorm rooms started cooking up new publishing tools with one blunt question: What do you and I actually care about? The answer was so obvious it was almost embarrassing: We're obsessed with ourselves.
Media houses were too busy admiring their reflection to notice the writing on the Facebook wall. Their top-floor windows must be from the Mirror of Erised at Hogwarts. Meanwhile, those students quietly built tools all about "us". They "saw" us. They got us. They snatched our attention.
The legacy media's only consolation? Some advertisers still don't get what happened.
I'm scratching my head over all this legacy talk about "saving public discourse" and "protecting culture and sovereignty". One LinkedIn legacy hotshot even called it a brutal, unfair fight against global tech giants who don't care about national values or democracies.
Big tech is gobbling up all the market growth, and then some. How? Slick tech, sticky user habits, and ad systems so streamlined that buying, measuring, and optimising campaigns are as simple as swiping right.
Plot twist: Remember that iconic book about a dude fighting windmills, thinking they're giants? Media execs, that's your next beach read. Big tech isn't even playing your game; they're serving a completely different product.
Sure, both generate brand awareness and reach. That's where the similarities end.
Big tech allows brands to be themselves while seamlessly integrating into users' feeds with hyper-personalised content. It's a real connection, authentic engagement, dynamic optimisation. Endless formats tailored to each user's weird little preferences, laser-precise targeting and massive reach. And here's the kicker: Do it right, and it's a fraction of the cost of traditional media buys.
We've been shouting this for 15 years: It's a different product, people!
What is big tech's secret sauce? You and me, baby, our egos. Or as I like to call it, "Umberto Ego." It's hypertextual magic, feeding our endless quest to find ourselves. Comparing this to media house ad slots is like comparing fish to ice cream. Sure, both have their place, but ask any kid what they're craving. Or think of it this way, traditional media is the Wedding at Cana, a massive, detailed canvas perfect for a newspaper spread. Social media is the Mona Lisa, small, iconic, infinitely shareable. Guess which one the Louvre crowds are taking selfies with?
Now, media houses are desperately trying to turn water into wine while lecturing us about the value of democracy. It's a bold strategy, shading your customers and readers. Let's see how that plays out.
Let's clear the air: Some advertisers are completely misusing big tech, treating it like just another billboard, with basic reach campaigns, no targeting, no personalisation, just coverage.
A media house exec admitted it's "painful to watch advertisers run plain coverage campaigns on platforms like Meta." Preach! We fight this battle daily. These uncultured CMOs are torching cash that could've funded actual journalism, or, you know, campaigns that actually work. It's like buying a Ferrari to sit in traffic.
So what's this really about? Media houses' biggest enemy isn't big tech, it's us. Big tech is nothing without you and me. If there's a battle here, they're tilting at windmills while fighting their reflection. Look, journalism is a genuinely incredible product. Vital, even, it's just, sigh, a different product.
Why are media houses measuring themselves against big tech's yardstick? It's baffling. Some of our best campaigns come from playing big tech and media placements like a symphony, each instrument doing what it does best. Why not lean into that? From where I'm standing, media houses have tremendous potential. But their corporate overlords seem to prefer living in delusion, pulling an Ibsen "Wild Duck", hiding in the attic of comfortable lies rather than betting on their actual strengths. Where are the media mavericks when you need them? Jan Stenbeck, what happened to you in all the confusion?
Duck those cobblestones you're throwing. Next time you're at the Louvre, linger at the Wedding at Cana. It's magnificent, the biggest and most detailed painting in the room. A masterpiece that deserves more than a glance.
Media houses need to evolve so that after we're done taking selfies with the Mona Lisa, we turn around and see what else is there. When that happens, advertisers will follow. And the publishers will finally get their ice cream for dessert.
