Marshall McLuhan, who coined the visionary observation "The Medium is the Message", explained it by commenting: “This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of our-selves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of our-selves, or by any new technology.”

McLuhan also wrote: “As the unity of the modern world becomes increasingly a technological rather than a social affair, the techniques of the arts provide the most valuable means of insight into the real direction of our own collective purposes.”

And finally: “Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be.”

WHEN THESE REMARKS were first published over forty years ago, they were surrealistic and unsettling. Today they’re simply documentary truths. We’re clearly living in an age where image has become substance, where technology shapes our perceptions and collective purpose, and where brand is a primary driving force in society. This is not encouraging.

The world has been fused by technology, not so much politically, socially, ideologically or intellectually but in relation to what we consume and how we perceive things on a macro-scale. The modern world is, indeed, increasingly a technological rather than social affair. The products we buy, the way we entertain ourselves and the lifestyles we choose or aspire to have been shaped by media technologies. As media expands globally and penetrates even the most remote societies, the resulting unity – if that’s what we want to call it – forces a kind of progressive over-simplification of communications into reductive, easy-to-digest packages which we have come to call brands.

For an entrepreneur – that is someone who transforms a creative idea into an expanding enterprise – brand-building is essential. However, there is a very real danger in all the focus on the branding process that the entrepreneur or organisation confuses hype with content, style with substance.

At the end of the day substance is what matters. It is, of course, necessary to get the word out, to deliver the message to your audience about whatever it is you’re offering but if you don’t have a good product or service that people want to use then it doesn’t matter what you do; you will not have sustained success.

One thing is very clear: media and communications technology have had a dramatic impact on human perceptions. Advertising has transformed the pace and style of many other media, particularly moving images. All you have to do is look at an old news broadcast or an old movie and you will see how slow and pedestrian everything seems. The intense, accelerated pace of television advertising has exerted a powerful influence on the way the audience processes information and images. Time is now compressed. Films and television today are written, shot and edited at a much faster pace. The eye of the audience is acclimatized to an unprecedented speed and visual complexity.

And now the power of advertising has been supplanted by the interactive power of New Media, Digital Communications, Seamless Mobility. There are those who say that traditional advertising, which depends upon a passive audience, is already dead. Technology has changed perceptions again.

At the same time, the understanding of media as an educational or informational tool has changed. A quarter century ago in developing countries media was used either as a form of collective mind-control or propaganda or as “an educational tool”. You had endless hours of talking heads or cultural performances captured by a static camera. The entertainment factor was almost totally absent. What has changed is that media throughout the developing world is finally catching up to the media in developing societies in the recognition that the presentation of information, ideas, education or diversion, must engage the audience, that is, must use the medium itself in an engaging way. The information and ideas must be clear and fluently expressed, education must attract the learner and diversion must amuse the audience. What was diverting and entertaining a half century ago may not be diverting and entertaining today whereas knowledge, information and ideas may have an abiding place in our lives. I’m all for brand-building. I’m all for the development and diversification of media. But content must prevail. Media and technology should provide the message delivery system for content. When the medium truly becomes the message, we’re in trouble.