Zenith is "one of the world's leading media planning and buying companies". Morris said his perspective was one of someone who is a merchant in the media market bringing buyers and sellers together rather than making big plays and taking risks.
Morris said the big change has been, and will continue to be, more of everything. More choices, more media outlets, more brands, more ways to buy etc. Tesco, a very big UK supermarket chain, for example, introduced 44 new types of soup during the past 12 months.
There is the internet but also more TV, more newspapers, more magazines etc.
Paradoxically, with many more ways of reaching an audience the ability to reach them has declined.
Consumer power has grown and is effective faster because technologies like mobile phones speed up the capacity to organise.
What hasn't changed? Morris was passionate about saying that old media hasn't and won't die, instead it will adapt. He is an adherent of the ecology not economy interpretation of media. Web will lie at the heart of the new ecosystem but it will interact with TV etc and not replace it.
On the other hand the web demands that some control be handed back to the user. We need to move from an exposure to engagement model and take a holistic approach which looks at the way people experience brands through many touchpoints. The touchpoints themselves have to be personal, interactive and experiential. Campaigns have extended beyond old-style sponsorships to include digital, tie-ins and events.
Change has been slow because industry is cautious and conservative; don't want to spend a lot of client money on untied stuff, tending to wait to see some more evidence of what works and how.
User generated content and social networking have their place in the media ecosystem but most people just want to watch great telly much of the time. They want to have the work of great writers, directors and actors. They can't do all that for themselves.
Data is king, most clients are driven by short-term accountability and they want hard evidence.
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