Words to the Wise #1: Steve Blakeman

LinkedIn is amazing and one of the many wonderful things about it is how many incredible people are on LinkedIn. They inspired me to start a series where I pick their brain and bring some of their incredible wisdom to you.

For the first, I thought I'd start with Steve Blakeman - a Top Voice on Linkedin, MD Global Accounts at OMD, a best selling author and a prolific contributor.

How do you think your career would be different if you were starting today?

I think it would be a lot more varied. I have been in media for 30+ years now and have worked for only 5 companies in that time but I suspect that if I was starting my career again now I would have broadened my horizons far more and worked across many more disciplines. 

Is it easier or harder to be a marketer now vis a vis then?

It's way harder now as the number of media / marketing choices has exploded. Back in the day the vast majority of adspend was concentrated into TV, Print, Outdoor and Cinema. With the advent of the internet the landscape has been totally transformed which has also forged the need for new skills and ways of working.

What advice would you give to people starting out today?

I have 3 pieces of advice: 1) do a degree which has relevance to the industry that you want to work in 2) go ‘all in’ if you want to succeed 3) have fun

You've had an incredible career - any regrets?

I have fulfilled most of my ambitions - I wanted to travel, I wanted to become a CEO, I wanted to win lots of new business, I wanted to write a book and I wanted to make lifelong friends / colleagues. I’ve been very lucky to do all these things. But I do have one ambition left: to put something back into the industry so when my days of being an employee are over I intend to go on the teaching circuit and become a mentor to a new generation of marketeers. 

How do you view smartphones and their usage?

I saw a piece of research recently saying that mobile advertising will become the biggest single ad format in terms of revenue by 2020 in the US. And I believe it. The smartphone has revolutionised our industry and our every day lives and that is set to continue with the advent of technologies such as VR and AI.

Is it a blessing or curse for kids today to grow up with them? How do you think this impacts the rest of their life?

I’ve been very vocal about kids using smartphones. As with most things in life, everything in moderation. Too much time on any tech is bad for children. And I do practice what I preach as my own kids are set limits on their screen time.

We're witnessing the decline of newspapers as we knew them, what do you think will happen to news?

News is a huge commodity and what we all crave these days is discovering it sooner rather than later. Our devices can provide news almost in real time via the likes of Twitter and I often use that platform to get the initial scoop on a situation. But I still feel there is a role for print as I want to read from smart, educated experts what their opinions are about the news as that helps me shape my own thoughts.

Despite this, there is more news than ever, how hard is it to penetrate the white news/fake news?

Much of the time I think it is down to the individual to exercise some caution. Check your facts before you comment or share something you have seen or read online.

What will the social media landscape resemble in 5 years?

Well I’m hoping that the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter etc. will have cleaned up their act in terms of privacy for a start. Beyond that, I can see social media becoming the central portal for live sports, the latest movie downloads and much more content creation. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Facebook buy the likes of Netflix for example and merge the two together.

How accountable should people be for their past social media posts?

We should all be responsible for our actions in the past and social media is no different to that. If you transgress, then expect repercussions at some stage. 

Much of what is digital is fake (profiles, likes, views, etc). What can or should be done about this? 

The internet giants need to start taking some responsibility and get their house in order. They can’t just keep taking the ad dollars and building their businesses to the detriment of their consumers / clients because ultimately they will take their business elsewhere.  

You can find Steve on LinkedIn, Twitter and Digital Market Asia.