IPG's Michael Roth Leads Panel of Prognosticators @BIC

10/02/2018 Unknown 0 Comments


IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth (CCNY '67) returned to his alma mater on Sept 27th to lead an all-star panel including Gail Heimann, President of Weber Shandwick; Matt Neale, CEO of Golin; Suzanne Powers, Global CSO of McCann Worldgroup; and Nada Stirratt, VP of Global Marketing Solutions North America, Facebook at "The Future In Five" @BIC event. In front of an SRO crowd, panelists were asked to predict the near future as part of BIC's year-long 5th Anniversary celebration.


Nancy R. Tag, BIC Program Director, invited this impressive group of high wattage IPG agency and client leaders to City College ahead of the 2018 Advertising Week conference in mid-town. While the audience was primarily BIC students, the event also attracted CCNY President Vincent Boudreau, faculty and administrators, as well as advertising and PR professionals, and members of the press.


Roth led the lively discussion, peppering the panelists with questions about our evolving industry and the trends future and current practitioners should watch. Topics ranged from data and privacy, to social purpose, to diversity and inclusion, to talent, to trust, client service, and more.


Here are the top five predictions shared by the panelists.

Prediction One 
Diversity and inclusion will be tied to business objectives and result in positive performance indicators and a stronger bottom line.

Prediction Two 
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) will become passe. Social purpose will be woven into the DNA of a company and more CEOs will become activists.

Prediction Three
VUCA talent - talent that can solve problems with velocity, and deal with the unexpected, with complexity and ambiguity - will rule.

Prediction Four
People will continue to trust brands more than the government. So using trust building strategies like McCann's #truthcentral will be critical in the next five years and beyond.

Prediction Five
Facebook will more deeply integrate messenger and messaging.

BONUS Predictions:
IPG's recent acquisition of Acxiom drives a commitment for more nimble, integrated, and personalized usage of data and technology.

AI and machine learning will analyze millions of conversations around the world in mere minutes -- empowering human beings to make sense of it all.

Despite a media environment where everyone's jumping into the pool, agency value and the need for talent has never been greater.

In this data-driven world, where clients look to agencies to prove they've solved problems, there's a real tension between the short term solves and long term crafts of this industry. We will shape and grow their world by giving them both the long and short term.


What does the future hold for @BIC? More @BIC Lectures starting with "Notes From Davos" on Monday October 29th, featuring PR Hall of Famer Barri Rafferty. Each year, global leaders converge in Davos, Switzerland, to talk shop about the world's most pressing problems: poverty, technology change, global trade, sustainability and, lately, populism. As an Agenda Contributor, Rafferty, who is President and CEO of Ketchum (and a BIC Board Member) will come back to campus to share her top takeaways from the 2018 World Economic Forum. RSVP to get your ticket.

And save the date for "Breaking Brand" on November 6th - a conversation between legendary designer Paula Scher and her client Eric Oberholtzer of Tender Greens about how a brand is defined and in what ways the design process elevates that identity. Before embarking on an East Coast expansion, Oberholtzer decided to rebrand his California centric, fast-casual restaurant chain. He was introduced to Paula Scher by restauranteur Danny Meyer with this bold statement: "Paula is the best in the world. She's in the design hall of fame. You and I are not. She's going to make you uncomfortable. But trust her. Let her take you somewhere amazing."

Has it been five years already?

Launched in Fall 2013, BIC is the only master's degree program that teaches branding and integrated communications in an integrated way. It combines theory and practice in an interdisciplinary,  multi-tracked curriculum that addresses the expanding opportunities and needs of marketing communications industries on behalf of both private and not-for-profit organizations. The silo smashing BIC program has been a raging success, with grads going on to work at companies like Y&R, Apple, BBDO, Droga5, Cohn&Wolfe, Ogilvy, VaynerMedia, TBWA, SS+K, 360i, Berlin Rosen, DDB, and NYTimes T-Brand Studio, among others.

Explore further and stay in touch at http://www.ccny.cuny.bic