Digital State: How the Internet is Changing Everything

by Simon Pont

Simon Pont and his panel of experts examine and assess the digital impact on our world and consider its future implications. From new realities to transparency, the digital world is open source, instant access and with no more secrets. Digital State explores what this means for consumers and how they interact with businesses and the world around them. It also explores how businesses and brands can best evolve to prosper in a new era.

In a world where even the census and voting process is going digital and paperless and "digital" is redefining our democratic process, we need to be aware of just how those influences are shaping our world. With contributions from an international panel of experts such as Faris Yakob, Chief Innovation Officer at MDC Partners New York, and Mark Gent, SVP, Media & Research at 20th Century Fox International, Digital State gives us a groundbreaking analysis of brands and consumers in a brave new world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Simon Pont is a writer, commentator and brand-builder. His agency career includes being part of Saatchi & Saatchi and Naked Communications, the pioneers of Communications Planning. Hollywood movie studios, Icelandic investment banks, British chocolate bars and Middle Eastern airlines figure amongst his time on the inside of Adland.

He is the author of 'The Better Mousetrap: Brand Invention in a Media Democracy', and 'Remember to Breathe' (a novel).

Simon is currently at work on, 'Digital State: How the Internet is Changing Everything', scheduled for worldwide release June 2013, also through Kogan Page.

Reviews

[Nurliyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up from the bookstore while keeping in mind that I am reading this to understand digital media and the works of it. Didn't really look into it much before taking it to the cashier.

This is a light digital marketing book describing digital state briefly from many points of view. I like the way it was written and the idea of this book. Although this book was written in 2013, the digital state keeps on expanding even now and the theories and ideas remain relevant.

Now, I do not come from a solid marketing education background, so theories in this book, although not alien for me, have indeed provide connecting bridges to the fields I already know. And that, in one way or another is kind of insightful.

[Tony · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to get better at abandoning books like this more quickly. With a single author I can usually tell quite quickly that there's little point in continuing, but with collections like this I keep thinking that there must be someone coming up Real Soon Now with some insight, or something interesting to say.

Part of the problem, undoubtedly, is that I'm not the target audience. The book is very British attempt[1] not so much to join in the conversation about the impact of technology, but to re-rehearse it to the sort of people for whom the top item in a list of Five Uncomfortable Human Truths needs to be “Life is more important than brands”.

I was particularly disappointed by the chapters that stray out of the advertising/marketing sphere into areas where I have more first-hand knowledge. Christian Johnsen's “Stories into Action — How storytelling and digital platforms will make our world a better place” takes as its premise that great storytelling creates energy for change, and the internet provides a much needed platform for converting that into action. But the bulk of the chapter is given over to key examples (Obama's 2008 campaign, [his own] ThisPlace09, the Egypt Revolution of 2011, and Kony 2012), which at best fall short, and in some cases are primarily cautionary tales about how not to do things. The author acknowledges this at the end by claiming he's really only trying to lay out the beginnings of a framework for how these tools can be used — but in the process he ignores the large numbers of people who have already been doing so at a much deeper level.

This reflects my complaint generally about the whole book: there's very little in it that I haven't already encountered much better elsewhere.

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[1] and I mean that in the worst possible way

[Patricia Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is clever stuff. Insightful, intelligent, well-written, neatly edited. This is a collection of essays, from experts across advertising, marketing, legal, and finance. How has the Digital Revolution changed our view on the world, and changed how we now, and how we might behave in our world? It's one question, '"What is the digital state?", and many answers, wide-ranging and opinionated. For technophiles, social anthropologists, and WIRED readers, this is spot on. Highly recommended.

[Laura Makar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book to my sis if I won it and I did. Well written from what I seen. Shows the understanding of everything going on in the digital world. Good book. Love the way the front cover was done.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology by a number of advertisers and various other technology-users about what the "Digital State" is and how it affects us. It's an interesting read, but fairly light on the technical side of internet/connected discussion.

[Tulin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this in a Goodreads giveaway last week. I thought it was well written and an interesting read.