BPC future pointers - Preparing for the future
To state that the world is a different place today than it was when BPC was set up 50 years ago seems a bit of an understatement. The whole marketing process has changed considerably; consumers are much more savvy and will become increasingly so.
To state that the world is a different place today than it was when BPC was set up 50 years ago seems a bit of an understatement. The whole marketing process has changed considerably; consumers are much more savvy and will become increasingly so. Enlightened organisations are moving towards real dialogue now, and the old model of communicating to a target audience has evolved to one of engaging with an interested and more vocal one.
The media sector is also changing. To take just one example - the internet is now growing much faster than traditional media, and by 2009 will account for more than 10 per cent of advertising investment in many EU countries. We expect Malta to catch up shortly thereafter.
Looking even a bit further ahead, some predictions indicate that large European firms will be spending almost 20 per cent of their media budgets on online marketing by 2012.
If such drastic change is in store just four years from now, to hazard a guess at what the world might be like by 2058 takes us to the realms of science fiction.
Yet, the courage to anticipate the future was fundamental to our success when we started in 1958; we think that a forward-looking approach is still very relevant.
So, even if we do need to tread with a great deal of caution, it is to the future that we must look for guidance to asses not only what innovation and change we need to embrace but also what elements of the past to retain. It's also fundamental that we remain open-minded; while we have our own experts in the various areas of communications, we also need to listen to people with a different and broader perspective.
As part of our anniversary celebrations, we have therefore embarked on the BPC Future Pointers initiative, in which we are asking marketing and communications experts and thinkers to help us forecast the changing face of communications over the next 50 years.
We are delighted that another forward-looking organisation, The Times, is collaborating with BPC on this initiative.
By publishing the first series of studies, The Times Business will be providing us with the opportunity to share the thought-provoking insights by the various authors with a much larger audience.
• Mr Brockdorff is managing director of BPC.
The media sector is also changing. To take just one example - the internet is now growing much faster than traditional media, and by 2009 will account for more than 10 per cent of advertising investment in many EU countries. We expect Malta to catch up shortly thereafter.
Looking even a bit further ahead, some predictions indicate that large European firms will be spending almost 20 per cent of their media budgets on online marketing by 2012.
If such drastic change is in store just four years from now, to hazard a guess at what the world might be like by 2058 takes us to the realms of science fiction.
Yet, the courage to anticipate the future was fundamental to our success when we started in 1958; we think that a forward-looking approach is still very relevant.
So, even if we do need to tread with a great deal of caution, it is to the future that we must look for guidance to asses not only what innovation and change we need to embrace but also what elements of the past to retain. It's also fundamental that we remain open-minded; while we have our own experts in the various areas of communications, we also need to listen to people with a different and broader perspective.
As part of our anniversary celebrations, we have therefore embarked on the BPC Future Pointers initiative, in which we are asking marketing and communications experts and thinkers to help us forecast the changing face of communications over the next 50 years.
We are delighted that another forward-looking organisation, The Times, is collaborating with BPC on this initiative.
By publishing the first series of studies, The Times Business will be providing us with the opportunity to share the thought-provoking insights by the various authors with a much larger audience.
• Mr Brockdorff is managing director of BPC.