The document discusses how the internet has negatively impacted various aspects of society and culture. It argues that the internet prioritizes fast profits over quality, atomizes attention, is not truly democratic, and promotes groupthink over dialogue. However, it suggests that brands could play a positive role by focusing on purpose rather than just sales, and that new creative processes are needed to build a better digital future.

1. HAS THE INTERNET MADE EVERYTHING SHIT?
9 TH S E P T RMB E R 2 0 1 4
C H R I S C L A R K E
@A L B I O N I C S
Chris Clarke
Chief Creative Officer, International
@albionics

2. When all you have is a hammer,
everything looks like a nail
Abraham H Maslow The Psychology of Science 1966

4. Overview
• Internet connectivity is becoming intrinsic
• The consumer is not in control
• The internet has nothing to do with “democratisation”
• The priority of the money behind digital disruption is fast return for cash and the
removal of salaries
• We don’t live in innovative times
BUT
If we change the way we work and understand the hard truths of the digital era, we
can build brands with purpose and maybe save the world.

5. More people use the WiFi in European
hotels than use the shower

11. We began with a mission

12. A powerful global conversation has
begun. Through the Internet, people are
discovering and inventing new ways to
share relevant knowledge with blinding
speed. As a direct result, markets are
getting smarter—and getting smarter
faster than most companies.

13. ATOMISATION

14. Niche!

15. With constant partial attention, we cleave to the banal

16. Why the internet makes things shit
Amount of attention
Amount of media

17. Read this
"When the news is decided not by what is
important but by what readers are clicking; when
the cycle is so fast that the news cannot be
anything else but consistently and regularly
incomplete; when dubious scandals pressure
politicians to resign and scuttle election bids or
knock millions from market caps of publicly
traded companies; when the news frequently
covers itself in stories about 'how the story
unfolded'--unreality is the only word for it. It is,
as Daniel Boorstin, author of 1962's The Image: A
Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, put it, a
'thicket ... which stands between us and the facts
of life.'"

18. Dialogue and debate gives way to group think

19. The consumer is not in control

20. Internet is not democratic

21. Winner takes all

22. Money is dumb

23. We are not living in especially creative times

24. Breaking the language barrier? Really?

25. Culture eats itself

26. Buy this shit that’s slighter better than the other shit

27. We are no longer creators and
consumers but rather we are all plugged
into a kaleidoscope of choices, sharing
and sifting, refining and disguarding

28. Brands should be increasingly
important, not just as signifyers of stable
quality and meaning, but as a focal point
for purpose.

29. The things we will grapple with next
• Internet of things – constant monitoring, and like it or not,
wearable shit
• Genuine virtual reality
These two things change who and what we are and radically
alter our relationships to eachother

30. The end of reality as we know it

31. How to slip the noose and make this
good?

33. Culture is accidental, new creative
processes are needed to foster better
accidents

34. How to make more of this….

37. (Reuters) - A lawmaker from Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling
party has described rape as a social
crime, saying "sometimes it's right,
sometimes it's wrong"

38. Brands can have true purpose

39. We need to find new ways of working to
accommodate the new digital reality

40. The digital marketing envelope
Client
Conversion rate
NPS
Traffic
Loyalty
Sentiment
Brand equity
Call centre costs
Beyond business as usual

41. DIG VID

42. The two possibilities of marketing

43. Getting people to buy stuff they don’t
need with money they don’t have to
make themselves feel better about the
fact they work all the time and aren’t
famous

44. To add value richness and purpose to
products and services, so economic
dignity grows and we all get happier

45. The near future could be terrifying or the
threshold of a saner humanity. To have any
chance of a positive outcome we need
purpose in our lives and jobs. Brands will
be at the forefront of the changes to come.
So better start understanding what’s really
happening and start changing the way you
think and work.

46. We are the music makers, we are the
dreamers of dreams

47. Breakout session 1
1. One team member to volunteer their brand
2. What are the communications “nails” in this business? (The
persistent problems you routinely tackle with the same tools)
3. Given the way the internet has atomised attention, how
effective do you think you will be in the future?
4. How might you approach those problems differently? Think of
ways you might motivate staff and customers by being
surprising enough to compete with linkbait!

48. Breakout session 2
1. One team member to volunteer their brand
2. How might commitment to a “purpose” improve staff
motivation and customer loyalty?
3. What persistent social problem might your brand get behind?
4. What “social currency” can you offer customers in exchange
for promoting your brand via its purpose