In this edition of Truescope Talks, our CEO John Croll speaks to respected media, communications and technology industry leader, Thomas Vejlemand.
Thomas has spent 20 years in CEO roles at digital agencies and the last seven years as CEO for Infomedia and Opoint, with businesses in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia. He has recently been elected President of FIBEP, the world’s media intelligence association, a prestigious role and testament to Thomas’ experience, expertise and commitment to the media and communications industries.
Thomas shares with us the importance of organisations like FIBEP, what he hopes to achieve as President and the global future of media intelligence.
1. You have just been elected President of FIBEP – congratulations! Can you tell us about your position and the importance of FIBEP for the global communication industry?
Thank you! I have been on the board of FIBEP for two years and being selected as the President is an honour. A lot of exciting and hard work goes into what we do at FIBEP, and it’s fantastic to be able to work with great board members from media intelligence companies across the globe. I’m pleased we have such a diverse board with members from US, Singapore, South Africa, South America, Israel and Europe.
FIBEP is an important community for PR/communication, marketing and technology professionals to network and share best practices to develop the media intelligence industry. We discuss market changes and investments in technology, data science, analytics, product and design services, as well as competency development. The number one agenda though is to discuss our approach to media and licensing organisations to navigate copyright legislation and to secure access to content and data, which we know continues to be a topic of much interest across the globe.
2. You have an impressive history of managing several digital agencies and tech companies across the years. What is something you hope to achieve whilst President of FIBEP?
We want to strengthen the FIBEP community across continents and to attract new members. As part of this, we defined a global ecosystem for media intelligence, mapping stakeholders and networking partners for the future. We are organising competency forums for Copyright, Technology and AI, Market and Sales etc. to exchange in-depth experiences and to support innovation of the industry. We want to invite associated members into our network, like universities, R&D organisations, and other industry organisations. I also hope to work with the team to develop member services and benefits. Obviously COVID has, and continues to have, an impact - it’s a constraint but it’s also an opportunity to innovate as an organisation benefiting from digital platforms and services.
3. In early November we both virtually attended the 2021 FIBEP World Media Intelligence Congress. You spoke about media intelligence and growth in a regional and more demanding market. With the ever-changing landscape, where do you personally see the industry and also organisations like FIBEP in five years’ time?
The industry is changing. The traditional media monitoring and PR/distribution market is being commoditised by technology and SaaS pure players. At the same time, I believe there is a great opportunity for media monitoring and analysis combined with an advisory approach to measurement and distribution. Domain insight across industries and understanding of global mega trends are key to delivering more valuable services to clients. There is an unfolding market potential as well by addressing communication insights to other buying centres than just PR & communication. In turn, FIBEP needs to develop accordingly. The reason for being must be clear and relevant for a broader community in the future. This is why we defined the media intelligence ecosystem.
4. Infomedia and Opoint were recently nominated for eight different awards in the Association for Measurement and Evaluation Communication (AMEC)’s 2021 Awards which is an amazing achievement! What does this mean to you and how did you celebrate with your teams?
Winning an AMEC award is a great recognition. According to AMEC, it's about delivering exceptional work and it showcases the importance of research and measurement (media monitoring), and the capability of delivering PR and communication insights and analytics of high business value to our clients. It was a first for Infomedia to win Gold, and we were fortunate to score two this year. We celebrated across our Nordic operations digitally. It was fun, but not as fun as enjoying an AMEC conference in real life!
5. What are your top pieces of advice you would give yourself if you were just starting out in the industry?
1) The importance of media deals and clearing of copyright issues. There is not a lot of free lunch moving forward in our industry. Most media content, editorial and social, is going to be paid for.
2) To avoid commoditisation of your media monitoring you need to build on top value services.
3) Digitisation and the smart use of technology is key, in combination with great industry expertise and analytical/advisory competencies.
4) Media monitoring is increasingly becoming a global business - today, more companies and organisations have a need for a global outlook.
5) Execution is king.
6. Finally, when I can get over to Copenhagen, where is the first beer bar that we will stop off at?
I would suggest a traditional Danish lunch restaurant to enjoy a beer and a schnaps with one of our famous open sandwiches, with herrings as my favourite. If we make a good business deal, a trip to Noma or Geranium, the number one and two best restaurants in the world, should of course be considered 😊
