DIGITAL PEOPLE - CON FRANTZESKOS

Name: Con Frantzeskos

Works: Edelman Digital

Job Title: Head of Edelman Digital Australia, Senior Account Manager

1. How, where and when did the digital industry find you?
   I've had a passion for the digital space since I was young - logging onto various Melbourne BBSs in the late 80s on my 2400 baud modem.  I worked in the music and hospitality industries, using digital tools to build fan bases, build sites and promote to email lists from the early 90s til a couple of years ago.  I got frustrated with the music industry's approach to the digital space as a means to communicate and distribute music and entertainment content, so I moved into consultancy in mid 2006.
2. What is your current role and what do you actually do?
   I lead Edelman Digital in Australia (Melbourne and Sydney offices), managing clients and educating our staff and clients on the opportunities, implementation and measurement of digital communications programs.  We've developed a really strong set of digital products and methodologies to assist our clients to communicate effectively using online channels.
   We have had great success creating various integrated campaigns for clients such as Woolworth's (Drought Action Day 2007 and 2008), 7-Eleven (Slurpee 7-Eleven Day in 2007), Foster's, Bayer and others.  I am confident we've got the most savvy and capable digital team in Australia - across Lifestyle, Corporate and Healthcare practices.
3. If you could have any job, what would it be (can be in and/or outside the industry)?
   Any one of: Captain of the Collingwood Football Club / Minister for Communications / CEO of Google.
4. Take a punt on the 'next big thing' in digital?
   Clients will become far more critical of current digital media measurement reporting, and expect greater accuracy on their ROI.  Apart from incorporating it into our client reporting, we run a series of client Digital Bootcamps, and the module we run on ATL and BTL campaign measurement using digital tools literally makes client's jaws drop.  Most clients don't realise how easy it is to accurately measure campaigns by incorporating digital tools and processes such as search insights, online monitoring, analytics and unique feedback channels.   There are still a lot of "digital" consultants of all types that are providing campaign results to clients simply based on website "hits".  One of my colleagues, Phil Gomes (Senior Vice President of Edelman Digital), has a saying that if you measure using just hits, then HITS stands for How Idiots Track Success.
   
   As far as a big development is concerned, we'll see an explosion in collaboration.  A good example will be the first local case studies of crowdsourcing for corporate and consumer communications.  We have developed a process called the "Mass Collaboration Framework", which aims to direct our client communication from one way communication to collaborative conversation.  We'll see tangible results of this in Australia with firms engaging online, bringing the most passionate stakeholder advocates and detractors into their decision making and communications processes.  Two standout examples from the US are the Dell Ideastorm and the American Express Members Project.  We're developing similar client projects locally.

   Outside of client based developments, cloud computing is a really interesting and completely sensible shift.  Now that broadband is getting cheaper, why bother storing everything on a local drive, including content, documents and applications, when you can store it in a "cloud" and access it securely from anywhere in the world, and share it with colleagues and friends collaboratively?  This will have a profound effect on internal communications in particular.

5. Where do you see the digital industry in the next 5 years? (any forecasts and challenges)
   Conversation will dominate the digital industry over the next 5 years and beyond.  The internet's primary role has always been to enhance communications and conversation, and for the past few years we've seen a lot of money wasted on top down, "build it and they will come" online investments such as limited life microsites, banner ads, "viral" videos and online portals.  The biggest and most sustainable growth will occur with investments in conversation spaces, where authentic communications occur.  Again - it's about collaboration.
   A tangible example of this is the huge number of independent and often semi-professional forums and message boards in existence in Australia.  These are the most important and durable online spaces in the country that often relate directly to their company or industry, and yet they are largely ignored by corporate Australia in favour of bells and whistles websites.
   We have been working with a number of clients to encourage them to engage with these sites, to great success.  I would suggest that within 5 years, most of the largest online forums and community sites in Australia will be subsidiaries of large companies - or at the very least, Australia's companies will be very active participants in these online spaces.
6. How do you see other media evolving in the next 5 years?
   I don't understand how advertising agencies will be able to maintain their current business models - based on producing highly expensive content, distributed through increasingly irrelevant top-down channels on the loose assumption of viewership and readership.  I think they'll suffer greatly.  That being said, I think there will be a strong shift towards companies becoming content companies, either telling their own story via podcasts and vodcasts, or through branded content and product placement.
   Any mainstream media that is based on "appointment" - that is, I have to watch a particular TV show at 8:30pm or I'll miss it forever  - will suffer greatly.  People don't hope for time-shifting, they expect everything on demand.  The ABC's iView and services such as Joost and Hulu should be the model Seven, Nine and Ten aim for.  FTA TV will be the place where people browse for compelling entertainment, while digital will serve it up in depth.
   Radio is better at this than the visual media.  The ABC is doing a great job, and Chelsea Anthon at Austereo has built their digital department into a powerhouse.
   BitTorrent (and other peer-to-peer sharing networks) will become a primary source of official media distribution.
   Newspapers will move heavily into building micro-communities around particular issues and geographies.  The Herald-Sun is doing a particularly good job of this under Matt Kitchin.
   The era of multi-billion dollar TV sporting rights is over  - sports bodies should distribute their content via peer to peer services, iTunes and in downloable HD vodcasts.  It's already happening.  I can currently download the lastest NHL, NFL and NBA games onto my AppleTV at home in full HD instantly for a couple of dollars.  Why not in AFL, Cricket, A-League and NRL?
7. Where do you see the digital industry going in the next 12 months? (particularly in light of the evolving financial situation)
   As dollars will be tighter, people will be far more discerning about the money they spend.  In the light of that, they will expect better measurement of ROI and campaign success, and further, they will be moving away from the "big spend" of TVCs towards more authentic, measureable, conversation based communications.  I think there will be an adoption of the basics - conversation monitoring and reporting, engagement and content development - doing the basic, tangible and most effective things very right.
8. Did you ever have a big digital idea you wish you pursued (or someone else's idea you wish was yours)?
   Back in 1994, I corresponded with two guys named David Filo and Jerry Yang (founders of Yahoo!) suggesting some cool links I had found for their then new site.  I wish I had done more than just email them!  Skype (as a peer-to-peer communications service) is brilliant, as is the whole concept of Google Docs and hosted applications.  YouTube - so simple, so stupid, so excellent.
9. Where do you get your industry information from?
   I subscribe to around 400 RSS feeds from various sources through Google Reader.  Some of my favourites are business, economics and politics sites (for the business perspective) fashion, music and entertainment sites (for the trend and entertainment perspective) and obviously marketing and digital sites (for a sense of the competitive set).  Most of the key trends I pick up come from forums - huge numbers of people curate the highest quality information and tools on online forums.
10. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?
    Do Facebook groups count?

Next fortnight, we hear from the head of a well known digital sales representation business.

I look forward to presenting  you with many more thoughts and opinions from people within the digital industry throughout 2009.

Till then!