If 2017 Was The Year Of AI, 2018 Is The Year of Blockchain

From Tokyo to Davos and everywhere in between, I have spent the last 7 days traveling around the world and learning more about how the "B" word - yes #Blockchain. Blockchain will impact marketers, business owners and nearly every industry that has middle men and a need for efficiency and decentralization. 

The concept of blockchain was everywhere at CES 2018. If you do not yet know or understand what blockchain is - DM me and I am happy to spend some time with you on the subject. I have also included several articles below on the topic to read. One of the first you may want to read is from Satoshi Nakamoto and watch this interview with Milton Friedman.

#Blockchain is not cryptocurrency - but #cryptocurrency does operate on blockchain. Blockchain is not to be confused with Etherium or Bitcoin, the cryptocurrencies it enables. Blockchain is a distributed ledger. Blockchains offer a secure and immutable record of transactions. The values can only be changed by way of an agreement between the parties, providing a different level of security. Each step, or block in the chain is encrypted separately and stored throughout the chain, so there is a second level of security and no central point of attack for hackers.

The market is moving at a pace that I have not seen in my career. Blockchain technology will absolutely disrupt many businesses as we know them from logistics and supply chain to media and marketing. Anyone that tells you that blockchain cannot or will not impact programatic because it cannot handle the speed of transactions does not understand how to apply it and is probably not looking at it through the right lens.

Brands and agencies need take notice (many are). We have seen this sort of change in TV and Video in the past and companies like Blockbuster who did not believe or recognize the change were left holding the proverbial VHS tape. Jess Kimball Leslie makes a bold but accurate statement below:

Jess Kimball Leslie, Global Chief Futurist from Ogilvy Red said "Agency professionals should learn to write code for Blockchain now. If you learn to code for these systems now, the best coder in the world won’t have a six-month lead on you,”

Blockchain is not a ponzy scheme, it is not fake news, this is the beginning of a sweeping technology change that will disrupt many businesses and improve many along the way. I think that blockchain has gotten a bad wrap before 2018 because many of the ICO's and projects were hype and lacked any real business concept or implementation. But times, they are a changing..

“Whether it’s through Blockchain or a data wallet, consumers are going to own their data,” said Rob Rupczynski, Global VP of Media & CRM at McDonald’s Corp."

Don't take my word for it. After all, I am a consultant and am working on a few blockchain ICO projects so you may think my POV is eschewed. Read for yourself why major brands are now looking at blockchain for media, marketing, data security and privacy, supply chain, logistics and many other areas that would be better managed by a decentralized authority versus a central authority.

Need help trying to better understand blockchain and how it can help your brand? DM me to discuss.

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