Comments on: Parallel lives: media and telecom http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/06/12/parallel-lives-media-and-telecom/ by Jeff Jarvis Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:40:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: anonymous http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/06/12/parallel-lives-media-and-telecom/#comment-68432 anonymous Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:16:08 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=1641#comment-68432 Did the people from the newspaper say anything? Did they have any comments? Or were they just there to take notes? Why were the editors there at all? Did the people from the newspaper say anything? Did they have any comments? Or were they just there to take notes? Why were the editors there at all?

]]> By: Chris Tolles http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/06/12/parallel-lives-media-and-telecom/#comment-68389 Chris Tolles Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:48:34 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/?p=1641#comment-68389 Best analogy I've heard between these two was on a radio show I did with Jonathan Weber - the guy who runs NewWest, and a founding editor at the Industry Standard, who covered Telecom for the LA Times in the 80's -- He said that the Telecom *buyers* had to shift in the 80's with the fragmentation of products and services -- the buyer used to just go to AT&T with a checdk and haggle a little. At the end of the 80's the buyer was a 28 year old with a Ph.D and a staff of 10 trying to figure out the right package from the plethora of availability. Likewise, the advertising buyer, trying to reach a particular demographic is holding on to the myth that they can do things simply, and get what they want. With the explosion of media and the difficulty of reaching a given set of people in the exploding media universe, I think you're going to see the same thing in media -- the changing of the advertising purchaser over time. After all, when the thing being observed is difficult to analyze effectively, looks at the inputs and outputs to see how things change meaningfully. Best analogy I’ve heard between these two was on a radio show I did with Jonathan Weber – the guy who runs NewWest, and a founding editor at the Industry Standard, who covered Telecom for the LA Times in the 80’s –

He said that the Telecom *buyers* had to shift in the 80’s with the fragmentation of products and services — the buyer used to just go to AT&T with a checdk and haggle a little. At the end of the 80’s the buyer was a 28 year old with a Ph.D and a staff of 10 trying to figure out the right package from the plethora of availability.

Likewise, the advertising buyer, trying to reach a particular demographic is holding on to the myth that they can do things simply, and get what they want. With the explosion of media and the difficulty of reaching a given set of people in the exploding media universe, I think you’re going to see the same thing in media — the changing of the advertising purchaser over time.

After all, when the thing being observed is difficult to analyze effectively, looks at the inputs and outputs to see how things change meaningfully.

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