Charlie Crowe considers some of the themes of the year through the perspective of one of the speakers at the upcoming Festival of Media Global in Rome.

The ‘pivot’. Could this already be the leading candidate for media buzzword of the year? In venture capital and holding company boardrooms across the world, the ‘pivot’ appears to have become the new favourite for the weekly round-up of bullsh*t bingo.

As the Founder’s presentation progresses… and as those lofty expectations which underpinned that ridiculous valuation appeared to have been unmatched by revenues in the real-world … here it comes… wait for it…!

“Given the unprecedented competition in the programmatic RTB trading business, we propose a pivot to become the leading platform-neutral supplier of online engagement across the digital eco-system, focusing on viewability.”

BINGO!

OK, OK – I confess to being a little cynical. (Perhaps it is an unfortunately British trait to equate the word “pivot” with “failure”). However, my experience in setting up emerge – a new project at C Squared which involves matching brands, agencies and publishers to the most innovative start-ups around the world – has caused me to pivot my own attitudes.

From Tel Aviv to Berlin and Singapore to London, I have met some amazing small businesses bursting with energy and enthusiasm. In many cases they have great technology but are still unsure which marketing problem they might be better at solving. One start-up (which will present in Rome next month) created the algorithm that optimised the matching of bids to offers on the German Stock Exchange. It was only a chance meeting at a dinner party that led them to consider how this could be applied to advertising exchanges.

The word ‘pivot’ refers to a central point or shaft on which a mechanism turns or oscillates. And isn’t the entire media industry undergoing a massive revolution right now? So, while the Festival of Media will address many of these issues directly, one of our speaker challenges was to try and provide a unique perspective on the issues all businesses must face in this era of digital change.

Who could provide some inspiration when it came to topics such as adaptability, agility and conquering fear? If, like me, you were amazed and inspired by the feat of two climbers who earlier this year spent 19 days climbing up the face of a sheer marble mountain, then you might want to hear from one of our speakers.

Kevin Jorgeson made it up the ‘Dawn Wall’, a 3,000-foot rock also known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, with his fellow climbing partner Tommy Caldwell. He literally pivoted himself up to the peak. At various intervals he had to stop to allow holes in the skin of his fingers to repair, and was forced to pause when enveloped by clouds – real ones, of course, rather than technological.

Much of the climb was attempted under cover of night, avoiding warmer rock which becomes harder to grip. And the sheer duration of the task brought other challenges. For a start, there is no water source 800m above ground level – nor toilets for that matter. All food, drink and supplies had to be hauled by Jorgeson and Caldwell, inch by inch, to the summit via a pulley system.

What an inspirational start to our conference! So back to our ‘pivot’. The industry is facing its own Dawn Wall – and we will all need the commitment and agility to climb it. It may be a buzzword, but it sums up the evolutionary – nay, revolutionary – attitude we must all adopt in this new media world.