INBOUND Bold Talks: Mitch Joel "wtf: What the Five-ish?"

Key Takeaways

I love intros like that there's no pressure how are you all oh this isn't YouTube I'm actually here you can interact with me I said how are you are you're good good thank you uh so yeah I was going to do a bull talk on control leete which is the title of my new book but I sort of changed my mind I'm going to call my bull talk this um get your minds out of the gutter it stands for something uh it stands for what the fiveish there are these five movements that have fundamentally changed business forever that most brands are doing absolutely nothing about and that was really the sort of impetus for what I wanted to do with the new book uh and the truth is in 20 minutes there's no chance I could go through all of them but I what what I wanted to talk to you about is the sort of bigger the macro play and why this change is so important what it means to all of you because you're all here and spending a ton of time in the next few days trying to up your your game so what happened to me is really interesting and in building up to the second book uh from about 2008 I would say all the way through to 2013 I spend my time doing stuff like this where I'm traveling around the world I'll do about 70 speaking events a year I work with big brands at my agency which is called twist image we work with Brands like Walmart work with Brands like fiser really helping them with digital and social and understanding this world and it was amazing to me that no matter where I traveled whether it was B Toc companies or B2B that when I would speak to senior marketers or people like you about how they felt about the world and how they felt about what it takes to connect with consumers in this day and age unequivocally I got the same answer people would tell me that they feel like they're in Hell uh which is like an interesting thing to hear from people like hell really hell okay why hell because like the stuff that we used to do doesn't really feel like we're work that's working that's why we're all here because we trying to figure out this new path and do this other thing and the way we see things and perceive things whether it's social media or whatever it might be is sort of unproven proven like it's hard to sell to the boss right they're sort of like prove it to me like where are the case studies and things like that and it leaves us in this weird place and I was really sort of kept hearing hell we're in hell we're in hell I was like this is wild and I started thinking about what hell really means to me hell for me was not where we are now hell for me is where we were 15 years ago 15 years ago I'd sit down with the big Brands and inevitably the question would be the same thing they'd lean forward and they'd say to me tell me why I need a website do you remember those times wasn't that long ago right like like justify why we and I would sit there with that same sort of smirk and laugh that you guys just had and I'd be like for real this is my life this is what it's become but but but I learned a lot and what I learned is that at the time what was so clear to me and I'm sure very clear to people who are sitting in this room was not clear to these people because get this the internet could have been a fad but it's true think about the numbers and where we were 10 or 15 years ago the internet could have been a fat could not have become what it was today that was hell right we're not in Hell anymore we know what the world is about like do you think mobile is going away anytime soon do you think social is going away anytime soon do you think the data having access to data of course not you know so we're not in Hell uh we're in purgatory see Purgatory is knowing full well that these changes have completely changed the the playing field you can't change that it's done but but yet we're not doing anything about it or we're not doing enough about it or we're not pushing enough in these directions and so what I wanted to talk to you about today is a bigger concept that I hope will drive you forward in the work you're trying to do as you move into what I would consider to be Purgatory so you're not in hell that we know that this this stuff has happened we know that social is here we know Mobile's here know data here all that great stuff is here but what are we going to do to drive our businesses and our bosses and everybody else out of this Purgatory so I would argue that what we have to to do is accept a new world and I call the new world the one screen world so you've heard of the third screen the three screens right web TV uh what's the other one computer no that would be computer TV and that would be the third screen would be the mobile fourth screen they're calling the tablets are out of home digital right not true the only screen that matters is the screen that's in front of me the only screen that matters is the screen that's in front of me this you know we have a mobile strategy we have a social strategy we have a web strategy we have an econ strategy stupid effing strategy all you need is a ones Screen World strategy because we are in that world screens are connected they're ubiquitous they're extremely cheap and they reside right here in the palm of our hands why do businesses open up stores where they open up stores foot traffic right A lot of people coming through why are physical offices office spaces where they are well they're there because they want to attract the right Talent if you know Toronto at all our office is at Spadina in front it's a very cool area very expensive why because if I put it out in this Saga by the airport nobody would want to work for us we have to be in an area that will attract that type of talent there's a new real estate in town that real estate is right here that's the new real estate and every day that you wake up you have to figure out what you are going to do as a brand to connect your consumer to that brand in that world where that is where it happens and it seems really intimidating because when you speak to people about this they'll be like holy crap the data is bad data will tell you things like 25% of these branded apps get downloaded and used only once have you heard about this there's other data that says something like 15% of these branded apps get downloaded and never opened how bad do you suck they downloaded it and they didn't even open it right now all of that data lies do you know why it lies because they're talking about apps that suck I mean you guys use apps all day don't you what kind of apps do you use you use apps that provide a utility to you use apps that add value to your lives and what we do know is that these devices are not phones anymore who care phones stupidest thing ever who talks on these things right these are what my friend Andy nman calls the remote control of Our Lives because of this and because of this ubiquity of all these screens and by the way TVs are connected and all that stuff as well we have to change the way we market and connect to these consumers and we're just completely missing the point here why because if you think that web has got you your company going crazy if you think e-commerce has got your company going crazy if you think that social media still has your company going crazy I'm here to tell you that all of that together is a joke compared to the era of this onescreen world that's the magnitude of which we're going to have to change our tactics and strategies and how we engage with these consumers following me it's very very profound and most brands suck at it they just don't get it they have these narcissistic apps that tell people uh Hey we've got some coupons really this is what we're doing in this day and age it's it's a shame Seth was totally was on the right path with this why are we doing that the same old stuff in this Brave New World the ones screen world people will look at slides like this you ever see a slide like this how many times have you been to an event where they had somebody who was tall bald and dressed in black showing a slide like this and talking about the disruption and you know you know what impossible it is to get your message through in a world like this this slide might as well be 600 years old I've got a 19-year-old these three years ago 16 she comes home from school she take that takes out her lap sits in front of the TV opens up the laptop turns on the TV has her earbuds for her iPod and she has a Blackberry she's 16 years old it's like she's running NORAD okay you fast forward now three years she's 19 she comes home she takes out her iPad sits in front of the TV TV does not go on that's it everything she needs is in this one screen world now you might say but there's companion devices right people all the time are like watching TV and they have their smartphone listen your right eyeball isn't on your iPad while your left eyeball is on the TV the only screen that matters is the screen that is in front of me these screens are connected and they are ubiquitous forget this it's old news it's dead it's done no one cares about this think about it this way this man came down from the mountains with tablets and he gave them to us as a people this is like a story of biblical proportions right this is like an amazing thing that happen it's crazy happened twice so you think about think about these devices we take them for granted and and it's it's crazy I can't believe how how silly people are with this they're like oh you know the iPad like it's it's the biggest deal ever why is because we've reached an inflection point and the inflection point that this device brought forth is simple technology has finally removed technology from technology you following me technology has finally removed technology from technology how many times you've been on YouTube and you've seen a video of this crabby little kid in restaurant and the parents toss the kid the iPad it's like z z and the kids all happy you're like w this kid is freaking me out the way they use the iPad you've seen these videos right my favorite one uh they have one for the iPhone 5 with a cat have you seen the Cat video where the Cat knows how to slide open the iPhone 5 and find the photos it likes have you seen this my mother turned 75 last year we gave her an iPad and I told her she can't figure it out we got to put her down you know the cat can figure it out on YouTube but there is something really big Happening Here Right technology has removed technology from techn olog you don't need instructions for this you turn it on it's like a light switch you can just figure it out and go this changes everything we do and how consumers connect to Brands and yet we're still toiling around with this crazy idea that the internet is the thing and it's not it's about these connected screens and what they all mean to each and every one of us and so I want you to embrace this because this is also a moment of exponential growth you can't even understand exponential growth right we're not talking about you know iPad penetration rate went from 22% last year it's going to hit it's not the world we live in this thing didn't exist four years ago didn't exist four years ago right um I wanted to take a break and show you a picture of the cutest human being ever created take a look at that it's not true actually three years ago I had the second cutest human being ever created Google onesie I know you're jealous admit it um Don't Panic my son doesn't always wear a helmet he's uh he's people have asked he's wearing a helmet because you might be able to see in the app he was playing a Motocross app and he realized that the guy has a red bike helmet and he has a red bike helmet so when he plays it he wants to wear it my son just turned five I took this picture when he was one and a half years old so I'm working from home one day and my wife says come to the den I want you to see what your son's doing now how many of you have young kids okay my first child so I was a rookie I didn't know how this works when your spouse says you come to the den I want you to see what your son is doing it's not good if if it were good news it'd be come and see what our son is doing um and if it's really good news it's come and see what my son is doing when it's com and see what your son is doing not good so I go into the den and my son is standing there in front of our big screen TV and he's like this with his hand on the screen he's going like this on it gets better one and a half years old so very limited vocabulary he looks back at me and he goes Dada broken broken the best is after that he said Angry Birds which I thought was hilarious my wife not so much uh it's like going to call Protective Services you're playing Angry Birds with a one and a half-year-old I'm like hey such just like um so I had a real moment of Awakening and my moment of Awakening was my son's going to grow up in in a world where the office and the work that he does will look nothing like our environment me just think about that and lay it against the cubicle or the desk or the computer or the lamp or the pencils and the P like you just won't need this in a ones screen world will you I can look across this room of hundreds and hundreds of you and I can tell you something really profound on top of that you're all going to work in that environment you will all work in this transformative environment because we are at that exponential growth we are seeing the data that supports that we are currently right now all of us in this post PPC world we are in the post web browser world all of us and so when I ask you what are you doing about this some people will say well we've got you know some planning that we're doing this year and the next year we should be in Market with some of this stuff two years the iPad didn't exist four years ago do you think you're going to make it do you think your brand is going to make it across that finish line so it's called bull talks for a reason you need to be bold right now in how you're engaging with your consumers and how you're thinking about how you're connecting those Brands through to them because the writing is on the wall and it's bloody the sales of PCS have dropped so dramatically that they don't even know how to chart it analyst thought it was going to be like 7% this year and it's like over 15% already it's done now we're talking about an influx of devices tablets smartphones whatever we're not just talking about product shipped because that's what that was the news two years ago where now we're now shipping more smartphones and tablets that's not shipping isn't really great what's more important is the install base right the percentage of people that are actually using it now the install base is more significant than PCS that just happened this year so you're seeing it we are seeing every single article that's looking at smartphone and tablet traffic and all that it's going to what they're calling Leaps and Bounds Leaps and Bounds is is code for exponential growth we're not able to track it in that sort of small percentage way because it's like hundreds of percentages and growing and growing every single year that's the truth and you can see it in a visual way it hopefully really illuminates you where we're at I mean take a look at this 350 million PCS compare that to 66 million iPads didn't exist four years ago again but look at that middle one look at those mobile handsets 1.7 billion that's Dr evil pinky stuff right that's like it's a lot of it's a lot of devices there right and so you start feeling it and you start understanding it you have to do something about it I mean what happened the iPhone 5 goes on sale 2 million units get shipped in the first 24 hours were all of your contracts up on AT&T like were all of you just suddenly ready for a hardware upgrade no I mean these are the remote controls for our lives and so we are invested in them we are willing to spend significant dollars against it and for those who aren't willing to spend it for that device they're happily going to Android Android is basically I think close to 80% now of the market start thinking about what that means the ramifications are huge over 30% of all the traffic we're now seeing to these sites is coming from mobile devices 30% we're not talking about 1 2 3 4 5 30 that's just today what's it going to be next year how prepared are you for that world because if you're not prepared for that World stuff happens and being Canadian is this is not an easy slide to put up there you can imagine you know because innovation has a funny way of working and and what I'm here to tell you is that there are actually two types of Innovations the two types of Innovations are the companies that had a brilliant Innovation and were able to capitalize and monetize it Rim blackberry and then there are companies that are able to take and constantly innovate and figure out the new ways in which consumers are going to look at the world and I don't think it's even fair to compare an apple to a Blackberry for that specific reason there are fundamentally two different types of companies one company is entrepreneurial and that they are trying to invent the future that does not yet exist versus another company that's simply trying to mitigate and minimize risk against their Innovation do you understand the difference you have to figure out when you walk out of this room in a ones Screen World which company you want to either be or which company you want to work for because that's the reality of this world and what it means and that's what you need to really start thinking very very deeply about why because this isn't a bubble people say is this a bubble I mean you live in a world where Instagram is bought for a billion dollars on the same month that Kodak files for chapter 9 or 11 or whatever it is it must be a bubble it's not a bubble bubbles happen when there's not a market to substantiate the Investments that are put being put into it so if you go back in time a little bit and look at what happened with the dot crash we had a world where we had 38 million broadband internet users with all that money there wasn't a market to substantiate the extraction of what was being invested into it now in the mobile World 1.2 billion people getting Broadband on their phones the market is there to substantiated and you see players making and doing amazing amazing things in that environment and so again we sit in a world where we understand that these aren't Trends but these are foundational movements these things have happened already and we sitting back and go so what's the Facebook strategy here instead of thinking what is the ones Screen World strategy in that place where the consumer is so connected to these devices devices the most amazing and profound thing that I'm going to share with you about this ones Screen World idea idea that I'm trying to spread and get everybody to Advocate is this digital has also become physical but what's really cool is that physical has also become digital and that's the coolest thing ever right you guys are all familiar with square how many of you familiar with square transacted on it this morning so Square was co-founded by Jack dorsy one of the guys who co-founded Twitter that's sort of the claim to fame but Square actually has one of the coolest vision statements I've ever heard for those you who don't know Square really simply is the ability to turn any mobile device into a merchant account meaning you can transact you can receive money small percentage of that money gets paid to square much in the same way a credit card swipe w a machine whatever it might be you don't even need the dinky little white piece of plastic you can just finger touch it in if you want to but it's there if you want it the vision statement for square is awesome very simple and I wish you all had a vision statement like this their vision statement is no more cash registers see that's that's what happens when digital meets physical physical meets digital it's why I get so excited about this industry these are massively cool changes that allow us to do things that we could never do before so what we're trying to do is fill this Channel with a bunch of ads how who's going to win the the mobile ad War dumb create utility create things that people want to connect to make them loyal because it's going to be in the pockets and their palms of their hands and they want to have access to things that matter to them that are value to their lives now you might be saying to yourself This Tall ball guy is completely off his rocker I could be wrong but I'm not and here's why um what they were trying to do is put Global Mobile into Focus so on the left hand side the the the line going up you're seeing the 0 to seven that's the population of the Earth from 0 to seven billion people on the right you're seeing the percentages of 0 to 90% of penetration of all the stuff on the bottom now I recognize that a lot of you guys in the back can't read it's going to help you out the bar on the far left the one that's really tall the Big Blue the big blue bar that one is people who have mobile subscriptions okay to the right of that are people who have electricity to the right of that and I'm really glad about the HubSpot partnership here with Charity water are people have access to Safe Drinking Water uh to the right of that are people bank accounts then you have internet users and on and on and on and on and that's where you go you are in a world where this is already transpired the ones screen world is here it is now it is real now you might say well that's because brands are untethered and they're hyperconnected it's not the case do you remember this movie Neo The Matrix right consumers used to be in The Matrix and Brands were Neo flying over them weing control you you don't even know you're in The Matrix you're so dumb and then it flipped connected smart devices and suddenly the consumers are Neo in The Matrix and the brands are in The Matrix and they're hyperconnected and they're untethered you know that it's stupid words we all use all the time that's not what I want you to think when you go downstairs and take your break you go through Copley Place or you're heading and walking through the credential Center you watch a couple of kids who are shopping and if you're St stupid enough to think that that's just two people you've lost your mind those two people who are shopping together are 5,000 people because they're connected digital is physical physical is digital they're texting they're sharing they're linking they're doing stuff the conversation is completely evolved beyond the physicality into these digital Realms and that's an amazing place to be because what happens ultimately and this is the Bold part is you can tell a different brand narrative you can go to work tomorrow and decide that you're not going to just take the stupid ads and coupons and this crap and push the same crap out to people in the same channels but you can look at this and see a brand new narrative that we can tell a different story in these different channels the way we want to I look at that as a truly amazing thing and I'm here to tell you that for those of you who see this and get completely scared Ridiculousness it's never been a better time to be a professional in business than right now because the opportunities to be the architects of what marketing can be are there for you to take and I think it's amazing because in marketing is such a awesome leader in this and that sort of perspective I think adds a whole bunch of color to it and I just hope you're up for the challenge for it so thank you for your time be bold be brave and embrace the onescreen world thank you