Spotted at MIT Advertising Lab: “Gary Carter, president of creative networks at FremantleMedia that brought us American Idol and other blockbuster shows, delivered a very inspiring keynote at NATPE.” AdLab is presenting the keynote in parts, on video and in text. It’s has the rare combination of being both entertaining and informative, particularly for those interested in any form of media. For example:

If you speak at conferences, you will know that questions, like formats and technologies, come in and out of fashion. At the moment, there are three questions you get asked from the floor. The first of these is: ‘So what’s the next big thing?’ The second is: ‘Do you think people will want to watch television on a mobile phone?’ And the third is, ‘And who will want to pay?’

I am not going to answer any of these questions. I’m going straight for the big life or death question.

Is there life after the death of television? And if so, what does that life look like?

In case you haven’t realised already, I have to warn you that I have no particular qualifications for doing this. Not from a technological point of view, nor from a commercial point of view, and probably not from any point of view — but that what’s makes me a media executive.

I do have some limited qualifications for speaking from a creative point of view — first of all, I am creative — I’m pretty good at flower arranging, for example — and second of all, I am a Chief Creative Officer.

Part one talks about how there seem to be a lot more Chief Creative Officers than creativity, “old” technology is hard to distinguish from “new” technology, the television industry is panicking, and more. Hop over and take a look.

(Blockquote (c) Gary Carter 2006)