From Chaos to Clarity: Symbiosis

Judy Franks

Thursday, April 21, 2011 Minsider columnist Judy Franks' new book Media: From Chaos to Clarity recently launched, including chapters covering “The Five Global Truths” that can guide media companies towards better, more integrated outcomes in a new age of fragmentation. This week Judy shares an excerpt from one of the “Global Truths” – Symbiosis. The book is available in paperback and ebook formats direct from her company The Marketing Democracy.

Symbiosis (n): the living together in more or less intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms, a cooperative relationship.

(Source: Merriam-webster.com)

We are a species of hunters and gatherers. It’s how we’re wired. We hunt prey that fall beneath us in the food chain, and we gather materials to help us thrive. Both actions are essential to our lives.

But, for some reason, we focus on the “hunter” part of the equation, and we tend to forget the “gatherer” side of things. When we look at the systems in our world, we quickly try to figure out the food chain. What sits on top? What is going to get killed off? We expect to see winners and losers.

We rarely talk about the cornucopia of “stuff” that we collect to help us survive and thrive. Perhaps there’s more drama in focusing on the kill, and it’s less interesting on the surface to talk about the strange relationships that spring up among all the things we gather in our lives.

Such is the story with modern media consumption. We tend to gather an entire market basket of media to help us survive and thrive in our daily lives. Something new comes along, and we gather it up. We simply make more room in our repertoire. It’s rare that we let go of anything. What are we left with? More hours of media consumption than the total number of hours in an actual day! And the only way this phenomenon can happen is if the media work with, as opposed to against, each other.

The Technology Isn’t the Story

While in the previous chapter we could point to digitization of all media as the catalyst for the first global truth, convergence, there really is no technology story that can explain the phenomenon of symbiosis. Rather, the phenomenon is driven by human behavior. When a new medium comes along, we simply make room for it, and we create a new role/relationship for the existing medium. Skeptical?

Let’s go all the way back to Gutenberg’s printing press. This transformative media invention forever changed the face of communication. But why, approximately 300 years after the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, did Paul Revere make his infamous midnight ride? Why did town criers still exist? While the printed page offered a critical value, it could not replace or displace the value of word of mouth.

Even today, one of the oldest forms of human communication—word of mouth—is still considered among the top most influential modes of media and message delivery. We use other media to fuel conversations that take place via word of mouth. Conversely, our word of mouth often becomes the fuel for mass media content. The symbiotic relationship between one medium and another was formed.

We Keep Waiting for Winners and Losers, and It Just Doesn’t Happen

Let’s fast-forward from Revolutionary War times to the 20th century. During the 20th century, the face of the media changed to a degree unlike anything we had ever experienced before. The media world exploded with an unprecedented magnitude of media choices. If you look at a 20th century timeline of media innovation, you will be struck by the growth in platforms without the demise of others. Think about it. Can you recall a single media industry that has systemically collapsed? True, while formats have changed and several media properties have come and gone, that’s going to happen. But what we are talking about here is the foundational structure of the media. It just keeps growing! And the only way such growth can be sustained is through symbiosis.

Enter the dawn of the 21st century. Despite the history lessons of the 20th century, the doomsayers are filling headlines with the predictions that “old” media will be displaced by “new” media. Why, at the dawn of the 21st century, are we talking about the fall of old media? What is happening now that leads us to believe that centuries of media cohabitation will suddenly change? We can’t place the blame on our legacy systems or the academic theories that sit on our bookshelves. The idea that media is an ecosystem of winners and losers doesn’t hold water: It’s our own baggage that we have to deal with.

minsider Judy Franks is the founder and president of The Marketing Democracy, a consultancy that helps world-class marketers bridge the creative and media divide that exists in today’s unbundled marketing services industry.

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