Michele Donati on Why Open Beats Closed in Modern Media Planning

A conversation with Michele Donati, EVP, Chief of Futures of Horizon, on why Horizon is betting on an open ecosystem—Horizon OS and its labs—to bring best-in-class partners together, accelerate innovation, and drive smarter media investment across the full planning-to-optimization workflow. Highlights: Horizon OS decoded: why “open beats closed” for speed, flexibility, and partner-powered innovation How Horizon Futures maps 65+ subcultures into actionable brand and audience strategy The new live-event playbook: real-time hype → social reverb → cultural afterglow Where LLMs actually change insight workflows (without replacing the human layer) Why labs matter: de-risked experimentation for clients who want innovation without chaos