The ability to intuitively ‘see’ what the future holds is a powerful skill, coveted by many business leaders as the ultimate game-changer and business advantage. But even having the clearest picture of where your market will be in five years is hardly monetizable TODAY. While this kind of long-range foresight may be the stuff of successful CEO autobiographies, it is little solace for the team that desperately needs an advantage (read as ‘new revenue stream’) NOW.

What successful forward-leaning businesses really need is the ability see just far enough into the future so that, while others still do not understand the value of what is to come, the vision is already real enough to be leveraged by those that do, IMMEDIATELY.

Simply put, while seeing five years into the future may be IMPRESSIVE, seeing ’10 seconds’ into the future is ACTIONABLE.

Several years ago, I heard a keynote address delivered by Rishad Tobaccowala, who was Chief Strategist for Publicis Groupe at the time. He shared that one of his main roles was to make sure that both the Publicis board members and the leaders of their operating companies were well informed and aligned with regard to the ‘direction’ of the industry.

Others in his role had long relied on building relationships with the MarTech ‘juggernauts’ whose companies had been stalwarts for decades and would clearly define the industry for years to come. The goal, according to this ‘the way it has always been done’ paradigm, usually involved developing mutually beneficial partnerships by structuring 5-year and 10-year plans and then course correcting as needed.

It became clear to Rashid — simply by looking over the collective shoulders of the on-the-ground teams at their computer monitors and quietly listening in on the watercooler chatter of the recently hired up-and-comers — that these juggernauts were barely on anyone’s radar anymore.

Even in the industry’s earliest days, Rishard realized that the known models of marketing management would no longer be able to keep up with the light speeds of digital media. No…there were newer and fresher companies, like Google and Facebook, that were destined to quickly inherent a healthy share of the digital marketing’s future.

Rather than sticking with the more conventional view, he went back to his staff and requested that they throw out any planning that involves more than one year. It simply made no sense to waste time and precious resources on pursuits and strategies that might never materialize.

The thing is…anyone can see into the future. It is super close. It is one second away, and…BOOM… there it is, the future. Many partners will promise to take you there, but, be careful or else you may find yourself placing your wager on building that perpetually promised flying car, or trying to create a fully realized immersive experience that allows you to play in the Superbowl from the POV of the star quarterback.

Don’t get me wrong. I am bullish on the flying car. We will get there eventually, and it will only happen if we keep the vision alive, but in a business environment driven by the realities of ‘What can you do for me today?’ and ‘How can I move the needle THIS quarter?” a vision for the distant future can only get you so far.

And yet, this does not mean that you abandon the futurist’s perspective.

Seeing 10 seconds into the future means understanding and leveraging those hidden secrets that are available right now, especially in the world of experiential marketing. Cutting edge executions in AR/VR/XR tech can literally make your brand come alive. They build new levels of realtime interaction between you and your audience, creating a user experience that make you or your brand truly look like George Jetson, today, while driving immediate ROI.

So rather than promising them the flying car in 5 or 10 years, you can give them the experience of piloting their own flying car TODAY — or give them a multi-camera angle streaming sports viewing experience that allow them to choose which stream will give them the best angle on every play, while giving them the ability to rewind and watch instant replays on their own command.

So what will it take for marketers to trade the far off future vision for the realities that may only be 10 seconds away? The answer is that they only need a partner who has already seen the ‘future that is now,’ a partner that can act as a trusted Sherpa — ready to guide them up the mountain that is standing right in front of them — rather than preparing them for the distant adventure.

Able to see ’10 seconds into the future,’ the Digital Wheel of Fortune (DWOF) team leverages its experience, network and vision to help advertisers harness the power of tomorrow’s technology, TODAY — delivering the world of experiential marketing and expanded reality as the differentiator that can break through in today’s chaotic landscape.