Media changes, but discussing it does not

The coolest thing about the CEO Media Summit at The New York Times headquarters yesterday was that it was at the new New York Times building, still somewhat under construction. Still, while everything surrounding the panel was new, the panel itself, which has been held every year of Advertising Week was one of those that you feel probably wasn't that different last year, or the year before, or the year before that. This is not, by the way, the fault of any of the participants, or the moderator, Stuart Elliott. You could see that the people who run media agencies—the five panelists, as the name of the panel implies, all had CEO in their title—are an incredibly smart, astute bunch, but, as it is with all of us, there's a degree of confusion about how to structure things going forward that escapes even the industry's best minds. Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom Mediavest Group summed up the ever-shifting sands nicely, "Do consumers become our new clients and our clients become our new partners?" Good question. Now, if someone could just provide the answer. Picture via arcspace.com.