Razor Sharp

Almost 15 years ago, I started asking the best and brightest in marketing questions about the future of this business, first on Reveries.com and now in The Hub Magazine. That probably translates into thousands of questions asked. But, in fact, I've really only posed variations of one, pivotal probe: Where's it all headed? Some of the answers have been more memorable than others, obviously. If there's one I recall best, it was the response from Geoffrey Frost, a former chief marketing officer of Motorola, during late summer, 2005.

It's memorable partly because, tragically, Geoffrey passed away within weeks of our conversation. But it's more because he was so damn clear about what he saw coming. He was remarkably prescient when he referred to his product as "the device formerly known as the cell phone." He also suggested we should think about our business as "the industry formerly known as advertising."

But my favorite part of the interview was when Geoffrey talked about the famous William Gibson quote: "The future has already arrived; it's just not evenly distributed." As Geoffrey explained, "What he's saying is that there are people of the future, already here, walking among us. If you can figure out who they are and co-create with them, you're actually doing a rather amazing job of not only anticipating, but also shaping where the world can go." It's a new year, and a new decade. What's new, for you, in the industry formerly known as advertising? Where's it all headed?