Guiding Change to Communications Media

To understand who or what is driving changes to the communications media we must understand the past, present , and future with focus on the emerging existence of a Knowledge economy. This describes an economy where information and technology are central to wealth and creation through networked ICTS, media, and globalisation. Within the Knowledge economy is digital capitalism simply describing the business which takes place. Specifically, business in the knowledge economy thrives off of commodification.
Surviving in today’s economy and the future Knowledge Economy comes down to hypercapitalism or reorganising the foundations of economy and business structure. Basically it’s a “do or die” world where failure to adapt and integrate technology threaten business and personal opportunities. Andy Grove, the former chair of Intel said that by the mid-2000’s all companies will be Internet companies, or they won’t be companies at all (Economist, 1999).
In this economy are Knowledge workers described as idea producers and the ultimate information and communication processors. The role of these workers involves analysing information, thinking critically, producing new ideas, and working in teams.
When thinking in broader perspective all of this change is man-made. Man is responsible for revolutionary changes throughout history including the light bulb and since then has made further epic discoveries. These discoveries are made by the ‘super-creative core’ the ‘thought leaders’ which now make up twelve percent of the U.S. workforce. This creative class of people serve a large contribution to contemporary economic growth, accounting for 47% of wealth in the U.S. economy. This is where media companies come into the picture.
The link between communications media and people is that these “thought leaders” are the brains behind all of the innovative advertising campaigns which influence social norms, gender roles, stereotypes, language, culture, and also spending. So with today’s globalisation multiple audiences are being targeted resulting in our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to be drawn from these media channels. This power over society can have vast implications on businesses, products, people and their reputations based on how stories or people are portrayed.A specific example of communication media’s power is the effect on the diffusion of innovations. With today’s communications media the instantaneous connection to networks and the publics response can quickly deem a product or new innovation a success or failure. As a result, the knowledge workers become more vital to all companies whose survival lies with the ability to sustain competitive advantage and produce new ideas.
These knowledge workers create the innovations, other knowledge workers create ads to promote these innovations, and the communications media provide the outlet to share the story with the world. When this outlet releases the story, the public responds by accepting, rejecting, or influencing new ideas completing the never-ending cycle.
The technological innovations have greatly affected all aspects of modern life. Today’s companies expect idea generators and the ability of employees to process and communicate information in an ever-changing environment. One profession affected by this digital age is Advertising, who relies on the creative power of the so called “knowledge workers” to keep ahead and survive in the highly competitive industry. Advertisers have utilized the technology and all forms of communications media to reach the intended markets. For example, product integration was discovered by Zazza describing digitally inserting a product into a TV show before air time allowing higher profit opportunity since company’s may compete for the same spot. Companies are desperate for brand awareness to compete in the global market so sky’s the limit to their advertising efforts. For example, Ford had American Idol contestants sing car songs such as “Mustang Sally”, and even parked a Mustang in the studio audience of Jay Leno (Rose, 2003). Another popular way to advertise has been introducing the season premiere of popular shows on TV. For example, Ford premiered the hit show 24 with actors driving all Ford cars. In this case, knowledge workers or advertisers are taking advantage of consumer reports and supporting/sponsoring those popular shows ensuring the target market or audience will be reached. Even popular programs such as TiVo have turned to advertising through selling customer data and disk space to advertisers (Rose, 2003). Some say TiVo can help advertisers and TV programmers because it maps out more specific markets making the advertisers job less involving.
The new digital age has forced advertisers to invent new ways to capture their target audience. Companies taking the risk and aiming for that shock factor include Quividi, Holosonic, and Xscape Ski centres. Quividi installs cameras systems in billboards with computer technology analysing the passing people. “We know this many people have walked in front of the screen, how many turned to face the ad, and how long they looked at it,” says Paolo Prandoni, Quividi’s chief scientific officer. “We can even tell their gender with an accuracy of 85% and measure who approaches to find out more.” This company also had digital adverts that change depending on the gender watching, and is in the process of upgrading its system to detect different ages and family groups. Quividi http://www.quividi.com/vidireports.html insists that no data is permanently recorded. Also a U.S. tech. company called Holosonic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7jomMw8px8&feature=related has developed the audio spotlight (a system that fires a beam of sound onto a small area from a distance of more than sixty feet. The company claims the effect is to “entertain and startle” pedestrians without being audible to anyone outside the zone (Harris, 2008). One more inventive company is Xscape ski centres serving as the first UK location to use 3-D ads with images that “jump out” 2ft from the screen. These creative ideas are the result to meet the demands of the changing technological environment where “anything goes”.
The new world is filled with uncertainty and challenges in the economic environment. Ultimately, the thought leaders in the emerging Knowledge Economy are the brains behind the technological innovations and change transforming the modern world. In the end the consumer benefits from all the advancements because a competitive environment drives prices lower and quality assurance higher. Soon the “gloves must come out” for some industries and dependence on knowledge workers to come up with the next best thing is pivotal in the days ahead.
To conclude we are the product of our creations and in today’s society some are left in bewilderment and scepticism as to what is to come. So to be safe, we can only prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Harris, M. (2008, June). Digital advertising is watching you. Retrieved October 3, 2009, from:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk.html.

Rose, F. (2003). The fast-forward, on-demand, network-smashing future of television.
Retrieved October 6, 2009, from: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.10/tv_pr.html.