TED Talks: Advertising

Bitcoin.Sweat.Tide. Meet the future of branded currency.

Paul Kemp-Robertson

Speaker:  Paul Kemp-Robertson/Advertising Expert

Paul Kemp-Robertson is the Editorial Director of Contagious Communications, which he cofounded with Gee Thomson in 2004. Contagious Communications is a multi-arm advertising resource that runs the quarterly magazine Contagious, an app that showcases videos of innovative marketing case studies and various other online resources.

Paul Kemp-Robertson has previously served as editor of shots and Worldwide Director of Creative Resources at Leo Burnett Chicago. He lives in St. Albans, Hertfordshire.

Presentation date: June 2013

Date viewed: January 27, 2015

Summary of the talk: 

Bitcoin is the new emerging global currency in which consumer trust is shifting.

Interesting thing(s) I learned from the talk:

Bitcoin is a completely unregulated currency managed by the network and offers privacy and anonymity when used as payment currency. Bitcoin is a crypto-currency or synthetic currency. Bitcoins are a completely digital currency that was created by a computer. 

The Bitcoin Matrix

Technology is disrupting our concept of money by allowing us to make purchases without physically handling cash (fiat money). Many consumers are asking whether or not governments should be in charge of printing and circulating money.

Bitcoin has been branded as the safe and private means of exchange between buyers and sellers. Many consumers are shifting towards bitcoin as a viable alternative to traditional money. Amazon now accepts bitcoin as a means of payment on its kindle tablet platform.

Online Payments

Evaluation of the presenter:

This speaker is clearly an expert in the field of advertising. He has a deep understanding of consumer habits and how branding effects a consumer’s buying habits.

Evaluation of the talk:

This talk was extremely informative and allowed me to contemplate how the monetary system is evolving. Perhaps in my lifetime there will be a shift from fiat currency to a completely digital currency like bitcoin. I think that Paul Kemp-Robertson is on to something that could drastically change global society as we know it. 

If countries or nation states lose control of their power to regulate the money supply then the question must be asked; who will control the money supply? How will this impact national identities, trade, and banking? Will there be one universal global currency? I believe that a single global currency may be able to do what hundreds of wars could not do; make us all one.  

One World, One People, One Voice