3 Ways the Ad Industry Can Embrace Emerging Tech

As tech advances like VR recast brand-building relationships, sharing culture and capability is crucial.

- Jonathan Shipman

The client/agency/vendor model continues to be flipped on its head every day. Case in point: Late last month, Adweek (April 18 issue) published a story about the uptick in West Coast agencies building out their own virtual reality labs for experimentation.

For companies like my own, which pride ourselves in pioneering emerging VR thought leadership well ahead of traditional agencies, the thought of shops potentially one-upping us should, in theory, chill me to the core. But that’s not how I see it, and that way of thinking isn’t a viable business model to survive in our industry today.

Team One’s experimentation with VR is an effort to be celebrated— for brands, agencies, VR studios, production companies and postproduction houses alike. Why?

Because it’s an indicator of the curiosity and empathy required to work together effectively to address the ever-complicated challenges marketers place upon us. Today more than ever, cost-conscious, platform-happy CMOs are placing a premium on efficient content creation—often at the price of great creative work that actually delivers ROI.