Welcome to the Future: Mindshare Launches Season Two of Media Dystopia

For marketers, the only way to survive a potentially dystopian future is to run toward it. Mindshare North America, the global media agency network that’s part of WPP, has launched the second season of Media Dystopia, a series that imagines the potential fates of media based on the provocations that many industry players would prefer to ignore. Each episode provides an in-depth look at current and future shifts across culture, technology, and marketing.

“The brands that don’t run toward disruption are the ones that get left behind,” said Adam Gerhart, CEO, US, Mindshare. “The provocations that we outline in Media Dystopia may seem extreme in the moment, but they embody the rapid changes that are happening in our world today, and their natural long-term results. And, we’re already seeing some of the hypotheses from season one progress at a rapid clip.”

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Following a presentation to more than 150 senior clients at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, the agency has begun customized workshops with brands to assess which ideas will impact them the most, and what to tackle first. Over the next few months, Mindshare will unveil a slew of new partnerships and tools designed specifically to address the five episodes from season two.

“It will never be enough to just talk about the future. Brands have to be brave enough to shift investment where it counts, and agencies have to future-facing enough to not just advise, but actually execute,” said Joe Maceda, Chief Instigation Officer, US, Mindshare. “Media Dystopia isn’t just about provocation, but provocation with purpose and action.”

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For more background: season one of Media Dystopia explored the rise of voice commerce, visual search, new world partnerships, emotional media, media multiverses, and the Netflixization of sports. To help prepare clients for this new world, Mindshare developed new offerings and tools, including the Mindshare Discovery Risk Index (which assesses a brand’s risk tolerance on the voice shelf), a series of sonic branding workshops, a wide-reaching study on fandom to match brands with specific franchise properties, and more.

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