Julian Agostini
Leaders not
followers
Julian Agostini, MD of Mash
Media, on having the foresight to
stay ahead of the curve
W
“If something
is at its most
popular, by
definition, it’s at
the start of its
own decline”
58 — June
hen out in the car with my young
nephew the other day, I asked him to put
something in the glove compartment. He knew
where that was in the car but then asked me why
is it called that? Sounds like the clue’s in the title
but, actually, it’s a fair question.
Having explained its origins and the fact that
driving gloves were still a legitimate if not regular
present up to and including the 1970s (I might
have even wrapped a pair for dad or an uncle and
been quite satisfied with my gift, back in the day),
I wondered if manufacturers of driving gloves
had foreseen their demise. It’s a tricky business
operating as a camp follower although, if you
choose the right camp, simple solutions can be
very rewarding…but for how long?
The fact that every car was fitted with a glove
compartment tells you what a good business
driving gloves would have been at one point. Yet
these have now become virtually obsolete and
here’s a few others that may have reasonably
thought they were set for generations to come
but instead have fallen off a cliff: Manufacturers
of postage stamps, cd holders and stackers
(remember those stylised shaped ones that all
trendies had in their houses for a while), video
tape or head cleaners etc.
We live in a world which seems to revolve
around our mobile phones. You can do everything
and anything on these devices. We’re told that
our whole life is our phone – there are many camp
followers that serve this market – but how long
before the mobile phone, itself, becomes defunct?
Not too long ago, a van driver was considered
an irritating nobody, if not a carbuncle on the
landscape of society; well, our road network, at
least. Now, some are millionaires…seriously. The
explosion of online shopping and companies like
Amazon have created huge opportunities for the
delivery van camp following community. You
can see how many franchises are offered online,
Amazon can’t recruit quickly enough and if you
can grab a contract, then all you need is to recruit
van drivers; you don’t even need to supply the
vans. Run 100 at a time and you’re a millionaire.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? Camp following can be a
very sweet and lucrative business, but the problem
is, you’re never in control and your business could
drop off a cliff without you having a say. So where
do exhibitions sit on this particular map? Are they
camp followers or the very camp themselves? You
could make an argument for both.
Certainly, the most successful and long running
exhibitions have to set themselves up as the camp,
the innovators, helping to create and shape the
industry it serves. That requires a foresight to stay
ahead of the curve, making sure you are always a
step ahead, which in turn will require some brave
and maybe irrational decisions. Sound familiar?
If something is at its most popular, by
definition, it’s at the start of its own decline.
Depressing in a way but that’s the challenge that
faces all organisers. Keeping it fresh and not
allowing success to become stale; the timing of
change is tricky but those that keep re-inventing
themselves will always keep their followers.
I’m currently in the midst of that quandary
right now. The EN Awards was much acclaimed
this year, so I’ve said to change it but I’m meeting
resistance…equally this column has more
following and feedback than ever and that’s why
I’m signing off. I will re-appear in a different guise
in the not too distant future, a la Ziggy Stardust
(in my dreams) but for now, thanks for reading.