Truth Is Stranger Than Truth

I recently returned from an “iMedia” reunion in New Orleans and in-between Hurricanes, dueling pianists, Beignets, Crawfish, Jello syringes, riverboat cruises and beads, there was actually some content! 

Part of gathering together after almost 20 years was to figure out “what’s next” for the industry and this really came down to passing the torch to the next generation of leaders. From mentoring to leaving behind a legacy to doing our part to make sure there is a “next act” for the industry. 

It’s in trouble, in case you didn’t know.

Our small family gathered into small groups and discussed topics relating to fake news, transparency, brand safety and truth. My small group discussed: Truth – the Veracity of Content.

First I had to understand what the word, veracity meant. Still not quite sure I do.

What ensued was quite an amazing conversation (Brian Monahan, you are a saint for trying to keep a semblance of control, order and logic to our table of renegades) about content, advertising and that swampy overlap of the Venn diagram that includes the likes of:

• Native
• Branded Entertainment
• Product Placement
• Influencer Marketing 

 I wish I could tell you that we figured it all out, but we did touch on a few interesting themes:

1. Truth is relative. And it shouldn’t be. Today we hear the phrase, “my truth” a lot. It’s my truth and you can’t tell me I’m wrong, because it’s my truth. Perhaps, but if it’s your truth, then shouldn’t it be my truth as well? Shouldn’t it just be THE truth? We are living through a particularly dynamic, fluid and turbulent time, where truthiness and alternative facts sit on an equal footing as truth. That’s troubling, especially when – as a consumer – you don’t know what to believe anymore. We debated whether truth is subjective, whereas facts are objective. 2 + 2 = 4, right? Er, not if you were following the impeachment trial. Fact: The glass is half full. No. Fact: It is half empty… 
2. Disclosure. It’s the truth serum in an otherwise pit of despair. If the simplest solution is often the correct one, then this is about as close to the truth…as truth itself. Put differently (because I’m not sure that last statement made sense), disclosure is an absolutely critical – and inarguably mandatory – part of the solution. Consumers should never be in doubt when they are being sold to versus informed versus manipulated. Editorial content is different to advertorial content is different to native content is different to advertising “content.” I don’t care if it sullies your beautiful creative; you need to let consumers know “in real time” when somebody paid somebody to hawk their wares in front of you!
3. Bar Part 1. Everyone should play by the same flawed rules. Whether you call it standardization or not, every single medium should be held to the same account when it comes to disclosure and speaking of which, fast talking disclaimers, fast scrolling small print that occurs at the end of the show and other poor practices don’t cut the muster. 
4. Bar Part 2. This doesn’t mean lowering bar to conform. We clearly need to raise the bar and if “bad actors” cannot meet these standards, then they need to leave Tribal Council immediately!
5. Good Housekeeping Seal. Why not? Why has no one stepped forward to create some kind of universal rating system that provides two key disclosures: 1) A clear line between content and commerce (commercials) and 2) Within the content, some kind of a truth meter indicator. 
6. Who you gonna call? It’s most certainly not the trade associations. Sorry IAB, ANA, AAAA’s, you haven’t exactly done anything of substance to date, so why should we trust you now to step up? What about the corporation? Have you read, “Built to Suck?” It’s all well and good to hear P&G’s Marc Pritchard threaten to pull his advertising from sites or platforms that don’t adhere to some basic standard of brand safety governance and disclosures; it’s another thing to act on it. One thing is for sure, if the top 10 advertisers all complied, things would change overnight. Oh, hi Facebook! What about government? Well, that’s kind of where it’s all going….but who trusts the government now? Which brings me to the startup community. I’ve always believed in the entrepreneurial revolution and as much as we might fear AI, I could very well imagine a scenario that looks like this, thanks to natural language processing, augmented reality etc.

Key:

• E = May contain Embellishment 
• BI = Borrowed Interest
• NV = Claims not Verified 

 Any takers out there? 

 As we approach the 20th year anniversary of iMedia, it’s always disheartening to be debating some of the same issues we were 20 years ago. That said, some of these issues were being debated decades before that. 

So will we still be having the same conversations in 20 years’ time? I’ll go out on a limb and say categorically….definitely NOT. I believe we’ll figure things out over the near future – most likely through necessity, but perhaps through ingenuity – because if we don’t, there won’t be a future. And I’m not just talking about media here; I’m talking about (editorial content,) so go stick that up your veracity!