Keynote by Michel Lent for the DigitalAge 2.0 conference in Sao Paulo, August, 2010. In an era of lots of content and not enough time, in the midst of the culture of ‘free’, a vital question worries the media outlets: if the traditional revenue streams for content have shrunk and there is still no alternative business models, how will media survive? And what’s our role as readers, brands, and advertisers in the future of the intellectual production?

1. Michel Lent
Schwartzman
In the world of
‘Free’, who will pay
the content bill?
In an era of lots of content and not enough time, in
the midst of the culture of ‘free’, a vital question
worries the media outlets: if the traditional revenue
streams for content have shrunk and there is still no
alternative business models, how will media survive?
And what’s our role as readers, brands, and
advertisers in the future of the intellectual production?
@lent

2. premisses

3. Intellectual professional
work costs money

4. The culture of
‘free’ on the
internet is, in
fact, an illusion

5. Somebody is paying the
content bill, but will not keep
doing it for very long

6. “The advent of the Web has had the effect of a massive
asteroid impact to the classical business ecosystem.”
- Dion Hinchcliffe, Founder, Web 2.0 University
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hinchcliffe/what-will-power-next-generation-businesses/1076

7. Solution?

8. 1. Understand the context
2. Search for the ‘awesome’

9. 1. Understand
the context

10. It used to be like
this...

11. Production and publishing
costs were high and thus
restrict

12. Only big corporation
were able to play

13. Content
production was
kept by sales
and advertising

14. Advertising model was
based in exposure

15. Product sales (records, movies, books)
were controlled and limited by shelf
space

16. It is getting like
this...

17. Technology has
lowered
production costs

18. And made available
publishing tools to
anyone

19. Big corporations side-by-
side with new players

20. Virtual
shelves make
product
options
unlimited

21. Audience is pulverized among
infinite content options

22. The content industry is
transformed in long tail

23. The new (old) rules

24. Shelves may
be infinite, but
our day will
always have
24 hours.

25. The industry has changed but the
business models are still the same:
Advertising
Sales

26. It’s only in the head of the
long tail that corporations
get the volume of revenue
they need to operate

27. To be at the
head of the
long tail is
corporations
today’s ‘holy
grail’

28. But
corporations
do not control
channels any
longer

29. Then, how to get to
the head of the tail?

30. 2. search the
‘awesome’

31. What determines being in the head of the
tail is no longer economic power, but
social power, the power of the individuals

32. The individual filters, likes, shares and
pushes the content, services and other
products he likes to the head of the tail

33. But how to be
liked? Filtered?
Shared? What’s
the recipe to
become viral?

34. In plain English:

35. make
awesome
stuff.

36. “When we can find more efficient ways to sell stuff, we
don't have to make better stuff. (...) We invest in selling
stuff better.”
- Umair Haque, “The New Capitalist Manifesto”

37. Awesome
examples

55. “The best business model in the world is also
the simplest: make stuff that's insanely great.”
“When you can make awesome stuff, you don't
need to find "better" ways to sell it.”
- Umair Haque, “The New Capitalist Manifesto”

56. Build awesome stuff and they will
come: audiece, advertisers and
consumers.

57. Thank you!
twitter: @lent
michel.lent@gmail.com