At Least They’re Still Trying To And Capable Of Making A Difference.

By 2050 nearly one-third of Americans will identify as Hispanic, but the cultural tipping point is already here—from music charts to marketing playbooks. We’ll show how a digitally-native, values-driven cohort is rewriting content formats, brand purpose, and cultural connection.

As Garza is one of those lucky full-time residents whose biggest traffic nightmare would be navigating I-95 rush hour traffic, I would expect his performance will be stellar and, frankly, if you’re in any business that is attempting to make a dent in the U.S. consumer in the second quarter of the 21st century you’d best at least be aware of what he chooses to share that typically preoccupies him and his staff on a full-time basis.  Peacock should be as disruptive in their business sector to their established competitors as Telemundo has been to Univision—and don’t think his superiors at Comcast don’t already know that.

And since Tuesday morning the attendees have had the chance to take back similar learnings to their management via the dozens of presentations large and small that MI&E clusters into the conference.  Unsurprisingly and a bit ironically, a goodly number of them this year focused on the role of AI in best practices as well as how it’s impacting the content that the majority of attendees typically engage in.  Considering how obsessed some of their more senior colleagues seem to be on replacing many of their roles with them, I for one would be taking copious notes for self-preservation first and foremost.  In a week where Amazon jettisoned 16,000 positions, a significant percentage of them reportedly in their media businesses, there would seem to be a particular urgency for that.  I didn’t see too many of their executives included in MI&E’s attendees list, either.

Granted I’m making those observations from afar, and if you’re picking up vibes that I’d rather be there in the flesh you wouldn’t be wrong.  More loyal readers might remember I dedicated entire subsections of this space to previous years’ MI&Es, including a series of musings direct from the 2022 edition in Nashville.  Those were indeed different times.  I was a welcomed guest and partner of that conference and relished the chance to help them promote it.  Many of the subjects we profiled are no longer in the positions they had at the time.  One of them recently died.

(Incidentally, someone actually went out of their way to remind me that the now-deceased executive  actually did turn up at a subordinate’s funeral.  First time I heard from that other person since said conference.  Many thanks for that correction.)

I had every intention of providing similar coverage— with the convention management’s full support— the following year. We even authored some musings about that year’s event which was bringing the party to San Diego.  But apparently some of the folks who were paying their way to exhibit their wares and provided de facto advertorial content had registered some complaints about the fact that I had the audacity to actually lobby for business of my own in Nashville and raised enough of a stink with the conference management that I was humbly requested to stay home.   I never have been able to confirm who may have been that whistle-blower, but more than a few people with knowledge have insinuated it may very well have been the very same person who felt the necessity to defend the legacy of their now-deceased client.  One of these days maybe we’ll know for sure, but I suspect we’ll probably know how chose to not elect Bill Belicheck to the Pro Football Hall of Fame first.

Indeed.  I was paid for my promotional efforts but given the degree of hurt that decision inflicted and how deeply I miss the actual physical engagement with people I otherwise admire and respect it was a pyrrhic victory at best.  I felt–and still feel–no better than I did when I emerged victorious after a two-year quest for justice in small claims court.  Sometimes money can’t replace what at least one would have like to believe was a friendship.

I hope you will pick up I’m far more wistful than I am bitter, though I won’t deny there are tinges of both as I look upon the agenda I once again wasn’t a part of and the familiar faces of a few I still somehow consider friends as they once again networked and connected–many of them still doing so on their company credit cards.  Given what room rates and mojitos are going for in South Florida these days, I’m especially envious of that.  That said, I don’t envy the degree of challenge they have in being able to still even have a seat at the table in most of their companies’ bigger picture sessions these days.   The words “strategy” and “insights” have been grafted onto many of the titles that executives once exclusively called “research” people now possess, if only to justify their presence on any organizational chart at all.  The word itself connotes visions of geeky nigglers spewing out transactional data and talking points to con people into making deals.  Arguably, I was once one of those people myself.  Those that still remain have successfully moved beyond that by necessity, and those that never knew that world have matured into one where they sometimes forget that a good deal of what they are paid handsomely to do still requires those very skill sets–even if it’s only to help their superiors craft a narrative to help them save their own cushy jobs in a landscape where survival is anything but a given.

I truly admire their tenacity and the fact that they have the passion and, frankly, the budget to provide the insights that they do.  Even in this environment they are usually provided enough respect and attention to make them feel that it was a worthwhile way to spend time earning a living.  I would hope that even when they have more challenging days in their own companies they realize that it’s events like this that allow them to be justifiably rewarded and appreciated.  Heck, this morning’s most anticipated session (for what they are whimsically labeling an unconference) will feature this showdown for such acclaim:

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