The media and marketing industry needs to embrace a start-up mindset
Established businesses need to start from scratch to recover from the impact COVID-19 has wreaked upon the industry, argues Foxtel Media's Mark Frain. In other words, traditional, larger companies need to act like start-ups.
As we start to think about recovery from the trauma of 2020, we need to remember that the world, its people and its markets have changed.
During downturns – from the 1929 Great Depression to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) – there have always been organisations which seized the advantage, as well as start-ups that have sprung up to fill new niches and needs.
After the GFC, we saw the digitisation of discounts (Groupon, 2008) and of transportation (Uber, 2009). People lost trust in banks, creating a space for fee-free financial services (Credit Karma, 2008), P2P finance (Venmo, 2009) and mobile payments (Square, 2009).
The fact is, any one of these companies could easily have been created by larger incumbents, but big corporates struggled to innovate. They wanted the ‘old ways’ back – but the old ways were over. People had moved on.
Australia’s media and marketing sector has no choice but to reimagine how to do business. Over the coming years, to not just survive, but to thrive, the winning organisations will be those that successfully embrace a start-up mentality. We need to foster some of the Amazon philosophy, that “It’s always Day 1” in the business. Some of the people we deal with might be the same, but the way we work now and into the future will be anything but.
For established businesses, this means starting from scratch and moving faster than ever before. In the media industry, we’ve gone through unprecedented change in the past couple of decades, with the advent of YouTube, broadband, smart TVs and streaming media. Evolving consumer habits are changing media, and media organisations have had to evolve to not just adapt, but to step out ahead of these changes.
This means finding out what customers want, and making sure they get it, almost at the same point that they are arriving at the same conclusions about their own business.
For us, this means accelerating our efforts into the intelligent video marketplace. We need to be willing to overhaul traditional challenges and make advertising work better for both viewers and marketers. Digital technologies enable more effective, targeted advertising rather than focusing on volume. By leveraging data, messaging can be made much more relevant. I’m watching our customers move mountains to bring data and video together in a more seamless way for their advertisers and our plan is to meet them on that journey.
Ultimately, success will be measured in the customer experience. How people engage with businesses is evolving rapidly. There are new expectations around ethics, social responsibility and sustainability.
Most importantly, for organisations like Foxtel Media, it means developing a culture and mindset of urgency and speed, reworking not just what we do and how we do it, but how we think about the world. We need to be guided by an outside-in view of who we are and where we fit in the media ecosystem.
Having a start-up mindset means being agile and nimble, reacting quickly to what clients want, breaking down legacy structures, and reinventing with extra efficiency.
This task at hand is not easy. It takes courage, vision and probably a bit of luck to get the right outcome. Often larger, more established companies are hidebound by traditional practices and legacy infrastructure. They don’t necessarily have the luxury of a ‘clean slate’ to innovate on. However, on the flip side, they do have the experienced team, the resources, the brand awareness and the market share.
Size is not a barrier to innovation. There are no excuses. As the world strives to recover and reopen, Australia’s established media and marketing businesses need to be at the forefront of enabling and driving change.
Mark Frain is the CEO of Foxtel Media
Agree wholeheartedly. And if any org needs to innovate more than others, it’s Foxtel.
Alas, you will not see much innovation in media. First not many have a grasp on what innovation means (hint – it is more than creating new stuff). Second most sr media execs over the past 30 years that have seen pubs, agencies living off the fat of the land when it comes to economic growth. Third most structures dont reward long term thinking or finding new oceans. Gotta hit that next target!
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Thanks for this. I struggle to accept the validity of this opinion piece when there are no examples or relevant case studies that foxtel can use to demonstrate this in action.
As an advertiser working with foxtel media has not improved and there is certainly no evidence of innovation that drives a benefit for advertisers. In fact reporting continues to be opaque at best And out of date and completely shrouded in mystery at worst.
Given the public data about the cancellation of subscriptions exceeding 200k one wonders what the real opportunity with foxtel media is?
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Ah yes, an opinion piece calling for innovation from one of the least innovative companies.
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OK, game’s up, who really wrote this? These Mumbrella op-eds are just getting worse. Clearly penned by an ex-journalist for hire demonstrating nothing more than an ability to put one word in front of another coherently. You are saying very, very little here. Here’s a clue, it’s the op in op-ed you need to be looking at . 1/10
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Old rhetoric used back in 2004. Maybe nothing changes
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Stick to your knitting. Large media in AU has no appetite (or the intestinal fortitude) for the risk needed to really innovate.
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I agree at the lack of stated examples to back up this opinion, by all means my recommendation would be to lead by doing not voicing. The style at which Foxtel Media has conducted business previously has been reminiscent of a time long ago, the industry has changed.
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Innovation? Foxtel? The only area Foxtel have been innovative has been in extracting revenue out of its subscribers during the 1990s and early 2000s. A model that’s run out of steam over the last decade.
Good luck developing that ‘nimble and agile’ ‘startup mindset’, Mark. I’m sure the big consultancies will be happy to sell you a lean canvas or five.
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There’s also a logical fallacy in assuming those businesses listed that started post-GFC, started because of the GFC.
Or as that great Aaron Sorkin series, The West Wing, once titled an episode, “Post hoc ergo propter hoc”.
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Have reached out to Foxtel and FoxSports recently on 3 projects. One to own grassroots sports in Australia, another to control a new global sport being launched from Australia and another was an exclusive esports tournament during Covid. Zero responses back. They’re not looking for innovation, ideas, content, investments or channels to promote themselves; they have it all covered. Or maybe they’re just too busy watching their business struggle to look at new opportunities.
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Lots of words but little action – what has Foxtel Media ever done that is innovative?
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Australia doesn’t do risk.
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