Today media agencies and media departments are wonderfully placed to deliver a richer understanding of consumer viewpoints, shopper intentions and cultural trends.

Each year I make it a point to attend MTV’s upfront presentation — and not because its party has the best headline acts. (Last year it was Bruno Mars, the year before it was Train.) MTV more than anyone else really “gets” millennials — the largest and most important consumer segment. The popularity of shows like “16 and Pregnant” and its “Teen Mom” followup helps us understand a generation that is embracing responsibility and social issues. MTV’s revival of “Beavis and Butthead” supports another trend we’re seeing among millennials: the popularizing of the 1990s as the hip decade.

TV of course has always been a barometer for popular culture. When “Friends” first the air in 1994, it offered a window into Gen X-ers at a time when they were exploring a new kind of tribal bonding. The quick popularity of “24″ showed a hardening of the public’s stance on security post9/11. And popular shows such as “Modern Family” and “Glee” include prominent portrayal of lead gay characters in interesting stories, indicating something of a coming out for Middle America.

Then last month, rather astoundingly, CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” surpassed Fox “American Idol” in the ratings. Yes, this could be a sign that the longtime ratings king is tiring, but perhaps it’s also a validation that geeks and technology have officially become cooler than chasing fame and fortune.

But it’s not just TV anymore.

At Mindshare we’re seeing a consumer movement toward a more visual culture brought on by technology and media. Smarter devices are prompting more occasions for people to create and consume visual content, while social media is encouraging that content to be shared on multiple platforms.

This is manifesting itself in text-based tweets’ giving way to photo and video tweets, Google+ hangouts that facilitate group video, the proliferation of infographics at news outlets, viral sharing of Photoshopped images and, most recently, the rise of Pinterest, the online pinboard for sharing images and video — and currently the fastest-growing social-media platform.

Consumers are compiling and sharing photos and video, like an earlier generation collected LPs and bumper stickers, as their version of defining and projecting their individual identity.

Insights derived from the way consumers use media can help drive more potent communications. The breakthrough advertising idea for Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” to use real, life-size models, involved a lot of exploratory work with consumers. But one supportive insight came from the media, when the planning team learned that 80% of women felt worse about themselves after reading a beauty magazine.

When Estee Lauder saw how Facebook profiles were becoming an important social currency for young women, the cosmetics marketer made digital photographs available at in-store makeup counters so that consumers could post them to their profile pages.

The opportunities for insights are beginning to seem endless. If you want to know when to advertise to vacation planners or wedding planners, then check out Google to understand the patterns of when and what people are searching.

Before you advertise in media, see what the media can tell you about how to advertise.

Antony Young

Norm Johnston

Google took a lot of heat last month when it announced its decision to incorporate personal data into its search results. The “Don’t Be Evil” people were vilified by commentators and competitors. But its move was just another step in a shift by many marketers toward more actively tracking and responding to consumers.

Amazon gives shoppers personalized recommendations. Nike lets runners customize their trainers via Nike ID. Coca-Cola has introduced Freestyle vending machines, which enable patrons to create their own beverage by mixing together existing Coke products and then sharing their favorite creations with their friends via Facebook.

Consumers are increasingly comfortable providing their information with companies they know will use it to help personalize their products and communications, or companies providing essential services such as insurance. According to a recent study in the U.K., 75% of consumers that have an existing relationship with a company are happy to share their information with it, while 62% would share their information with a company selling products or services they need.

At Mindshare we have a name for this accelerated data-driven and consumer-focused mentality:adaptive marketing. It’s an approach that enables marketers to truly tailor their activities in rapid and unparalleled ways to meet their customers’ interests and needs based on data. It’s not just about advertising, but adapting every part of the marketing mix as well as the product itself to connect more consumers with the brand, make it more relevant to everyone and deliver more benefits.

Why is this the most exciting development in marketing in decades?

Adaptive marketing allows you to create more personalized brands, thereby eliminating commoditization. Adaptive marketing rips apart the concept of “the consumer,” a label that marketers have used to conveniently aggregate a picture of who they are trying to sell to. It assumes a classic model of mass-production, mass-appeal products promoted in mass media. The problem with this model is that it speaks to the most basic of needs, resulting in lowest common denominator marketing. This drives brands towards commodification, resulting in downward pressure on pricing… every marketer’s doomsday scenario.

You can personalize your Kleenex box.

KLM lets you link your network with your seat.

Adaptive marketing looks to debunk that model. Personalizing a product to a customer increases its relevance and customer satisfaction, making it less likely they will want to switch brands.

Kleenex has introduced personalized packaging to great effect. M&M’s allow you to order customized candies. Dutch airline KLM has just introduced a service called “Meet & Seat” to help travelers decide who they might want to sit next to by linking your Facebook or LinkedIn profile to your flight. (Presumably, you could also use the service to decide who not to sit next to.)

Behavioral pricing is an interesting idea that’s being discussed where brands could differentiate pricing based on data collected. For example, consumers that “like” a brand could in theory conceivably be prepared to pay more. For prospects which have searched or visited a brand online, a marketer might be more willing to provide a bigger incentive to purchase.

Adaptive Marketing is about being more responsive to customers more quickly Communication is an essential part of the approach. Whirlpool responds individually to people complaints raised online about their appliances. Companies such as Starbucks and Apple for years have been crowdsourcing for new product and service ideas within communities on Twitter and Facebook.

Today’s media, technology and data provide the channels to facilitate adaptive marketing. In a way media has always been integral in steering marketing strategy. National broadcast TV helped broad branding and awareness drive advertising. Magazines create opportunities to segment the market and promote products to niche targets. The early days of the internet ushered in e-commerce marketing.

Of course direct-response agencies have preached some element of response-based marketing for years. But the coming availability of addressable TV, location-based and hyper-local media platforms, digital out-of-home and the multitude of tablet and mobile media devices is making adaptive marketing a universal brand marketing opportunity.

Becoming an adaptive marketer can require serious structural changes. The entire media process — budgeting, planning, buying, and optimizing — needs to become more fluid and “always-on” rather than static and sporadic. Brands need to develop a library of creative assets — images, calls-to-action, applications — that can instantly be deployed into advertising units when required.

Aggregating, then mining, buyer and audience data to allow personalized product development, marketing and messaging is the key to unlocking adaptive marketing gold. That’s going to be the next space race for marketers and their agencies. We hope you’re ready.

But the difference between attending CES and reading about it is like the difference between going to a football game and watching it on TV. Like a football game, actually, CES offers massive crowds, underwhelming food and good odds you’ll miss something from your limited perspective. All that said, however, nothing beats just being there.

The visibility and insight you garner from being up close to the players, sharing conversations with other knowledgeable spectators and the encounters outside the main event, in my mind, make this a “must attend” venue for marketers.

So why is CES a valuable event and what does it bring for marketers?

It’s a tech show, but really it’s about understanding how content will be consumed
CES 2012 really hammered home to me just how technology and media continue to intersect in new ways. Tablets, smartphones, notebooks, TVs and the odd internet-enabled fridge are portals to entertainment, media and social interactivity. Smart mobile devices are poised to become the lead media consumption platform sooner or later. With a truckload of smarter, interconnected, smaller and cheaper mobile devices being showcased at CES, consumers will expect content to be smarter, on the go and 24/7. This is disrupting the way marketers have to think about creating and distributing marketing content.

But consumers are also going to be seeking free content to make the most of their new devices’ capabilities. I predict this will be the biggest opportunity for marketers in 2012.

There’s value in getting wet
Across their busy work schedules, marketers have been accustomed to getting information in drips: The odd article off a news feed, a chance meeting or visit by a vendor, a one-off panel at a conference or a half-year agency update on the latest media trends. Information comes dribbling in like a leaky tap. But CES is like standing under a high-pressure shower head that immediately gets you totally soaked. That’s when you really start to immerse in the media world and think more about taking action instead of being a spectator.

Speed dating … CES style 
It’s what happens outside the exhibit halls that really adds value to the week. The likes of Facebook, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft and Twitter were all in attendance again this year, bringing their top execs to town. The clients that chose to attend the conference got to hear firsthand the latest offerings in a Silicon Valley-meets-upfronts-style event. I was impressed with AOL’s Huffpo HD, its venture into online social TV, a fresh alternative to a tired television model in need of updating. There were plenty of sidebar conversations that offered more individual and specific conversations for clients’ brands.

A chance to set New Year’s resolutions
Because CES takes place in early January, it gives marketers and agencies the opportunity to jointly engage in discussions at the start of a new year and lay down some resolutions. It’s a great platform to set some big goals about how you’re going to change and embrace the shifting landscape … a potential catalyst to make one or two big ideas happen.

I’ll see you again next year.

In my last article for Ad Age, I wrote about how new-media companies weresuccessfully employing very traditional media tactics to gain a larger share of ad spending.

I thought I’d flip that on its head this week, as the tech, media and marketing worlds converge at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

One could argue traditional media too have been too “traditional” in how they pitch themselves, making it too easy for advertisers and others to peg them to the past. Perhaps they’ve been doing themselves a disservice. What if we relooked at a medium such as radio, using the sizzle employed by the very best of Silicon Valley to promote this 90-year-old advertising medium?

Here’s what a sales pitch for radio could look like.

Let me introduce you to a groundbreaking media channel, a medium with the potential to rival Facebook as a new-media darling …

A powerful mobile medium
This medium is available on just about every mobile device, including those running Android and iPhone operating systems. It is accessible in 100% of today’s cars. This medium is a powerful channel to engage very desirable, hard-to-reach and mobile millennials. Its distribution also extends to out-of-home venues including retail outlets, fast-food restaurants, car dealerships and sports venues, making it a powerful medium at point of purchase.

Drives word of mouth
We can incorporate personalized brand messages to our audience to create buzz and word of mouth. We use the credibility of our celebrity announcers to drive the conversation around your brand, retail events and promotional offers. We also will generate consumer participation and engagement via brand-based competitions.

Hyper-local targeting
No need for wasteful national campaigns that can’t be customized based on your local retail-store distribution. Our medium gives you the flexibility to target at a hyper-local level. We can also deliver specific localized messaging.

Delivers across multiple platforms
We distribute across broadcast, online and mobile devices. Our medium is always on.

Provides scalable campaigns
Our advertiser promotions can deliver programs across literally millions of consumers in a short period of time. Our medium has a reach of nearly 300 million uniques in the U.S. across a month. That makes this medium bigger than Facebook.

A viable revenue model
We operate a free-content, ad-supported model that ensures high uptake and that our research confirms consumers prefer over a paid-subscription model. Advertiser units provide marketers with 100% control of the message. We also offer advertisers a branded content model. We will work with advertisers to deliver customized content that brands can be integrated with or associate with.

Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about radio … a unique mobile, hyper-local, multi-platform channel that delivers scalable brand marketing campaigns for advertisers.

Now doesn’t that make radio seem just a little more interesting!