Five Minutes With: Phil Rowley
REWIND sits down with Phil Rowley, Media Futurist, and Head of Futures at Omnicom.
“Five Minutes With” is a regular feature that gives you an insight into some of the greatest minds in the immersive industry, all within the time it takes to grab a cup of coffee.
Phil is a Media Futurist, Keynote Speaker, and Head of Futures at Omnicom Media Group, UK, working with businesses and brands to fast-track their future via emerging tech and innovation. He has 20 years’ experience working in London, Dublin, and Auckland — and is a recipient of ‘The Internationalist’ Agency Innovators Award. He has delivered keynotes on the future of media and marketing in London, New York, Moscow, Berlin, Frankfurt, Dublin, Rome, Milan, Copenhagen, Riga, and Basel. He also runs innovation training, education, and workshops for global clients and agencies.
What are you looking forward to within the gaming industry and the immersive industry this year?
I’m excited about the fact people are picking up on the idea that gaming is going to be massive and that it is going to be the entry door into the metaverse and spatial computing.
People are understanding that there’s an entirely digital world layered over the top of our physical world, that people can inhabit, socialise in, and game in. Currently, gaming is the most common use of that digital layer, and the broad architecture for a virtual environment is now being laid down. That will be the door into connectedness, so really gaming is an entry point into spatial computing as a more ubiquitous form of interaction for users, and indeed consumers and users.
How can brands get it right and wrong?
The first thing that brands need to do, is understand that we are undergoing a huge shift in our media landscape.
Once they realise this, they have to be careful not to dive in too quickly and align themselves with the wrong kinds of experience. They cannot assume that they have a right to be in the space straight away without establishing some credentials to build authenticity with the people who already exist in that space. Brands need to find a way to genuinely add value to any interactions in any space.
I think that’s what brands get wrong: they dive in too quickly and they don’t understand the authenticity required. So the right thing for brands to do is to find their entry points into the medium, start experimenting early, and work out how to build capability and authenticity.
How has the pandemic impacted what you do in your business?
In terms of the day-to-day logistics of working, there has been very little difference as we can all work from home. So, work has continued, pretty much unabated. For our clients, however, we’ve seen cuts in spend from those who have products, goods, and services that require people to be out and about in the real world. We’ve also seen a switch in the form of media. Whilst outdoor and cinema have fallen to the bottom, digital in all its forms have come surging to the fore as a way of reaching consumers for the first time. Overall, it’s been a shift in budget, format, and channel.
What is the best thing about your job?
Currently, the best thing about my job is that businesses have never been more interested in what comes next. Businesses are perturbed, scared, and excited about the future. In my role as Head of OMG Futures, they’re seeking opinions on what comes next and are open to suggestions about what they can do to prepare for that future.
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old-self?
I would say, “don’t box yourself in too early.”
If you have a passion or an interest and you’re worrying “how the heck would I ever make money from that?”, think about a broad entry point that doesn’t rule out that passion point. Then keep narrowing it down throughout your career until you get to a point where you are able to make money from the thing that you are passionate about.
Don’t limit your options too early. Play the long game about making money from what you’re good at. When I was a kid, everyone else had pictures of footballers on their walls, but I had pictures of robots, planets, and spaceships. I was always interested in the sci-fi and futuristic stuff. If you’d have said to me back then that you’ll be able to make money from being interested in the future one day, I don’t know if I’d have believed you!
By starting broad, you realise slowly within your industry there are areas that you might be able to bring that passion point to, to specialise, and sharpen up in.
What piece of technology from a sci-fi movie would you most like to have?
I’d like to have a time machine, but very specifically the one from the film The Time Machine! If you’ve ever seen the original film from the 60s when you pull the lever to go forwards or back in time, you don’t just appear in this different time zone, you can actually see the time speed past, almost like a fast forward button! I would love to go back in time from where I am now, through the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, or go in the other direction and see what’s exactly going to be on this spot in 100 years time, but see the progression from now up until that point.
What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading a book called Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, which is an absolute tome. 512 pages of extremely small type about the history of humans. The central thesis uses geography to disprove racism. It’s the place, not race, that dictates our characteristics today. It puts forward the idea that farming and the invention of agriculture is responsible for the differences in civilisations, not genetic inferiority or IQ differences. It’s absolutely watertight. It’s massive, but it’s a brilliantly exhaustive theory. I would recommend that people attempt to read it because it is the best summary of humanity that I’ve read to date.
What’s your tactic for surviving a zombie apocalypse?
Deep down, I’ve always been a bit of a secret prepper. I like the idea of having tools at my disposal for isolating and getting on with it in a zombie apocalypse!
I have a friend that lives in rural Ireland, and he’s sort of a Bear Grylls, Ray Mears, Ben Fogle kind of guy. He’s built his own house and he’s got a plot of land that’s miles from anywhere, so my plan would be to head to deserted Donegal and persuade him to let me live with him. In return, I’d do a bit of farming and do my turn on the sentry tower to shoot any marauding zombies. I think that would be my plan: shack up with someone who really knows what they’re doing!
XRLO: eXtended Reality Lowdown is brought to you by REWIND, an immersive design and innovation company. If you want to talk tech, ideas, and the future, get in touch here.
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