Blog
Q&A Evan Slater from Ogilvy
You know the drill by now: Another Q&A, this time with Ogilvy planning director Evan Slater. Slater will be on the TED-curated panel, #Promises Worth Sharing. We asked the advertising guru our #Promise-themed set of questions, and here’s what he had to say. 
Can you give ThinkSocial readers a few hints on what topics will be explored during the panel discussion?
The global focus on corporate social responsibility — and not simply because of it’s contextual pertinence. Companies are becoming increasingly responsible for not just what they do or make, but how they do it.
In your opinion, over the last few years, what have been the biggest shifts or changes in the way we think about the business landscape?
It’s difficult to pin down one or two iconic shifts here, but I’ll throw out a few that I find particularly interesting. Convergence and Micro-emergence. And not just because they rhyme. Convergence isn’t a mash-up of devices anymore; it’s rapidly becoming mash-up of companies and industries. Auto and internet. Medicine and music. And then there’s micro-emergence – the simple reality that emerging ideas and innovations are happening everywhere, at every scale. Socialization of business is fascinating as well – as transparency and interaction increase, businesses are being forced to anthropomorphize and adhere to social rules.
And what are the reasons for these changes? What technologies, in particular, do you think are most responsible?
Lots of tech, but it comes down to one thing The human voice. And we should never forget that.
What are some of the greatest challenges in the changing business landscape today?
Above all, resistance to change. Businesses want to put up walls and throw their arms around everything ‘proprietary.’ They’re afraid of ideas and money escaping. And that, in the end, will be their demise.
Can you give a best, perhaps unexpected “lesson learned” in your experience with your particular projects/companies?
Always, always, always be valuable.
About Evan Slater
Evan Slater joined Ogilvy in 2009 as Planning Director working across disciplines and clients.
Evan found his way into advertising through a relatively precarious path. He was the member of start-up teams for both an oil industry e-commerce platform and a national/military intelligence company. From there he moved into the defense industry working as a corporate liaison and in marketing for the US arm of quasi-government Israeli defense firm Rafael.
Evan moved to a strategic role at Atlanta ad agency WestWayne (now 22squared) serving in various roles, from Director of Non-Traditional Marketing/Media to Director of Innovation.
When he’s not at the office, Evan spends his time as the only resident of Manhattan’s Upper West Side without children.
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged: #Promise, #Promises Worth Sharing, Evan Slater, Ogilvy, TED
