Is the medium still the message, or is it something else?

Last week I gave a presentation to a group of “traditional” sales reps (by the way, people who don’t work on interactive hate to be called “traditional,” so let’s stop calling them that) on the role and potential of the Internet and how they could best incorporate the Web into their ongoing suite of integrated offerings.

The presentation was going along fine until I came to infamous slide 36, aptly titled: 'The consumer does not differentiate between media. So why do we?' After which, the room exploded to a chorus of dissention, particularly from the editorial side of the n-shaped table (I embellish…but there was a difference of opinion).

Their perspective was that there is indeed a marked difference between media experiences -- for example, between magazine and online -- and that each medium has a very finite and defined role, against which consumers -- and by definition advertisers -- bank on, literally and figuratively.

I disagree.

• Does a consumer care whether he or she is reading the same article on WSJ.com or in the print newspaper equivalent? I would say no.
• Does the average Joe discern between watching "Bad Boys II" through his set top box (V.O.D.), by renting it from his local Blockbuster or purchasing it on Amazon.com? Again, I would chime to the negative. The means might be different but the end result is the same.
• How about the difference between buying a book (audio or otherwise) or downloading it as from iTunes? Negligible in my eyes.

What’s really happening here is the convergence of three major trends:

1. The ever empowered and increasingly in-control consumer.
2. The proliferation of alternative content delivery vehicles.
3. The diffusion of technology.

The one constant in this equation is content. While it might take on slightly varying shapes or forms as it morphs and adapts its way across a variety of touchpoints, the proposition is essentially the same.

This is a content argument through and through and points pretty emphatically towards a familiar declaration: content is king (once again).

In this era when the consumer is in control; in a time when the delivery of news, information and entertainment is always-accessible and always-on; in a world where connectivity is a necessity, it is content that is the foundation upon which empires are built.

So Where to for Brands?

People like to refer to the world of cable television to illustrate the power of brands. They normally start with ESPN, segue to MTV, pepper in a Discovery for good measure, and then pretty much get stuck. Perhaps, lately, we could add Bravo to this short-list, but it’s only because of content -- specifically, 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy' in this particular case -- that gave the channel a chance to peddle the rest of its wares to its transient audience.

HBO is the quintessential poster-child (and exception…how many of you tune in regularly to FX because of 'The Shield?') of how a brand was built, but even so, it was only through the help of content. 'The Sopranos' was the foot in the door, and everything that was to follow ('Curb Your Enthusiam', 'Sex and the City', 'Six Feet Under', et al) continued to snowball the momentum. Arguably, the brand halo established by 'The Sopranos' helped attract the kind of opportunities that has earned HBO an enviable place at the Emmys and Golden Globes tables. However, it was the strength and caliber of the programming that was to follow that kept the network in pole position.

Content first. Brand second.

"Media" Comes from the Word "Medium"

A medium is by definition between -- it is in transit. The main participants along the trajectory are the sender and receiver. How the message comes to the recipient is relatively less important, provided the message is in tact when delivered, and done so in a timely fashion.

In a world where attention spans are being bombarded from every possible angle, we simply must get over ourselves and in doing so, broaden our horizons from a superficial subset of primary media (TV, radio, magazines, newspaper, out of home, direct mail, the Internet) to include the growing emergent group of viable alternatives (PVRs/TiVo, V.O.D., HDTV, PDA, Wireless, Wi-fi, Tablet PC, CD-Roms, DVD, MP3s, Gaming).

All of which are included on the same slide 36.

A shift from "or" to "and" (then some)

So what does this mean for the publishing business?

For starters, it implies that content has to be easily accessible across a variety of vehicles for consumers to tap into it, where, when and how they choose fit. Period.

To keep content in one format and hold it over another is just plain short-sighted (and probably short-lived). Take these examples:

• I viewed the Diane Sawyer-Howard Dean interview online (via an email).
• Warner Bros. is running the opening nine minutes of 'Taking Lives' on the Web in order to entice viewers to the big screen.
• Starbucks is enabling customers to create custom CD-ROMcompilations while they sip their Lattes as part of its new Hear Music push (and as part of a partnership with HP).

In some cases content, and the delivery thereof, can even be enhanced from one medium to another. Read all about Martha Stewart in the newspaper, watch the coverage on TV or online and even participate in a discussion forum to cast your vote on whether you would have found her guilty (you can admit it).

Make no mistake, existing brands will flourish but emerging or aspirant brands will have to think about a different path to loyalty and frequency of patronage. This in no way implies that “traditional” media is going away either. But it does allude to the strategic democratization of access along the path that the smart folks at ESPN seem to have figured out. In this case, the one-two punch of content plus brand works much better than any permutation which factors the specific medium into the equation.

Media comes from the word medium. Neither rare, nor well done, to paraphrase Ernie Kovacs, well-known television personality from the '50s.

"The medium is the message," said Marshall McLuhan. But perhaps the message is the message in a new world order, where the medium is the body and the message is the soul.