It's interesting the way that the perception of technology has radically shifted. Until a few years ago, technology was the driving force behind life simplification, resource optimisation and gadgetry. We all fell in love with technology - it saved us having to queue in banks, saved us money on travel and saved us from infinite boredom with newfound access to limitless entertainment and information at our fingertips. Then, almost without us realising it, technology got a whole lot more personal and we're falling in love with it all over again. Helped along by the overwhelming influence of the rapidly evolving Generation ME, a generation that takes it for granted that the self comes first.
Living in a technology dominated world, with social lives played out in public on the internet, some could say that Generation Me has been perpetuated by social networking and digital dialogue. It certainly is a major driver, but a challenging one for brands to master on mass scale , when Attention is the economic currency and demand far outstrips supply 10,000 to 1.
Once lambasted for its de-humanising qualities, technology has almost single-handedly fostered a mass culture of electronic communications and hyper-connectedness. Yet it's the technological developments that put the individual more and more at the control panel for their lives that we're really besotted with. The difference is that instead of trying to become part of the complex set of digital conversations, these technological initiatives draw attention and are conversation starters in their own right. Lot better odds - and it doesn't have to be complex - just centred around Me.
Take Grazia's Spring/Summer 09/10 FashionWeek photowall (http://grazia.ninemsn.com.au/rosemount-australian-fashion-week-photo-wall). Using silverlight technology, I have one view (high resolution), instantaneous access (no more than moments for upfront downloading time) to every one of the 780 outfits featured across every collection. You may say this isn't terribly Me focused? It is when I can choose to go in so close as to actually see the brandname on the side of a pair of sunglasses or the left ankle tatoo on one particular catwalk model. This is my magnifying glass to the fashion industry and I can engage as deep or as little as I like. Everything totally within my control.
XBox plays straight into the hearts and minds of Generation Me with it's soon to be released Project Natal motion controller in the XBox 360. What makes Project Natal so cool is you become the controls; an in-built camera tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice. You can move through menus by swiping your hands back and forth. There's facial and voice recognition that will automatically recognise and remember you. Xbox has realised that I am never more interested than when everything revolves around Me.
One of the strongest symbols of Generation Me has to be the mobile phone. Life totally revolves around Me and My mobile phone. I want to know who's calling before I decide to answer, I need to be contactable (online or onphone) at anytime of the day or night and I must be able to manage my life (social and otherwise) wherever I am, at any particular moment. The basic functionality of the online mobile phone is only just starting to gear up for the Me Generation. We are already starting to see a proliferation of Me-focused apps that make the world around us, more Me-Centric. One notable example is mobile phone music recognition Apps. Love the song you're hearing in the Bar at 11pm. Need to have it now. Just point your mobile towards the speaker .... it records a segment, then tells you the name of the song and artist and gives you a link so you can download it to your mobile....immediately. http://www.shazam.com/music/web/home.html
Mass marketers are just touching the tip of the iceberg of getting intune with the Me Generation; a generation that loves brands, widgets and marketing - despite all their protestations. Marketers (and agencies) are potentially becoming too single-mindedly focused on working out how to ride the wave of social networking and UGC. It must be noted that the only point of connectivity and digital dialogue for a brand, is if it shifts your bottom line. brand perception or market share. So get inside the heads of the Me Generation (and lets face it, they're anyone from 15-35yrs). Cut to the chase with these guys. Create products, technology and comms that are the antithesis of marketing. Me Gen are open to marketing, as long as it's real and comes from a place of genuine understanding of who they are and what turns them on. The key into this lucrative generation is to be totally and utterly Me-focused. It should feel like the generation themselves actually came up with the idea or the style. And technology, in whatever form, is one vehicle that they absolutely love and want to participate with.
There's never been a better time to get personal!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
MATCH made
Making a connection with someone and then getting them to buy me a drink, let alone get a date is clearly no small feat, given my current single state. Can't just sit around the house and do nothing. Time to formulate a plan. Fortuitiously, I've also been mulling over a parrallel dilemna of brands coping to make connections in an increasingly complex, digitalised and fractured world... so I get to knock off two birds with one stone with this investigation.
Firstly, I need to optimise the laws of probability and go where the most lads are hanging out. It's a game of odds as there are a LOT of other single girls after a limited number of single lads. Not just any location, but one where I can actually connect or interact with potential prospects - looking from afar may get me motivated but certainly isn't going to get me a date. Brands have historically managed their matchmaking from afar, advertising on the catwalk of life, but rarely getting up close enough to be able to anything other than create Desire and Want. Great attributes but you can't cuddle them at night. Hanging out at an interactively engaged, highest traffic location is just plain common sense - fast tracking the entire matchmaking process and ultimately a lot more cost effective (than say Speed dating, singles cooking classes or Business Round Table (that helpful suggestion came from my Father)
Digital portals are the new black in media-led matchmaking - where audiences are aggregated en masse around an interactive experience and brands can reach out and touch prospects... not in a seedy way, of course.
But interactive and volume environment alone does not make matchmaking heaven. Volume connections can be made, but it takes alot of trial and error to get to the value connection. Certainly if my dabbling in online dating is anything to go by. One date involved a chap who's photo was hot, credentials impeccable and personality perfect... but reality told a different story. He lied about his entrepreneurial background, was a emergency exit light-bulb changer and one step away from penitentiary life. It's an odds game that takes a lot of patience. Brands, you go forth equally blindfolded when you let any part of your media mix be just a numbers game. Relevancy adds huge value and focus to a campaign- offline and online.
Strong relevancy connections are made in an enivronment where interests, profile or levels of engagement are most likely to correlate with yours. Now I'm no spring chicken (as pointed out by our Commercial Director the other day in a meeting), so every encounter counts (much like every ad dollar spent). The closer the alignment to me and my interests, then the higher propensity for engaging in decent conversation and maybe even the start of a little lovin'. It's basic rules of engagement.
Now having established the best volume, interactively engaged and relevancy environment. ... then it's time for the creative to do its magic . Or in my case, by putting myself in the right environment for finding love (well a date will suffice) and I've optimised the odds. Then it's up to me to Attract, turn that into potential Interest, hopefully ignite some Desire and then Activate the right chap into action. Successful matchmaking is a magical mix of both premium environment (that ticks all the boxes) and cut-through creative. One without the other doesn't do it
It's not exactly Beatles lyrics, but it works. Will keep you posted to prove it!
Firstly, I need to optimise the laws of probability and go where the most lads are hanging out. It's a game of odds as there are a LOT of other single girls after a limited number of single lads. Not just any location, but one where I can actually connect or interact with potential prospects - looking from afar may get me motivated but certainly isn't going to get me a date. Brands have historically managed their matchmaking from afar, advertising on the catwalk of life, but rarely getting up close enough to be able to anything other than create Desire and Want. Great attributes but you can't cuddle them at night. Hanging out at an interactively engaged, highest traffic location is just plain common sense - fast tracking the entire matchmaking process and ultimately a lot more cost effective (than say Speed dating, singles cooking classes or Business Round Table (that helpful suggestion came from my Father)
Digital portals are the new black in media-led matchmaking - where audiences are aggregated en masse around an interactive experience and brands can reach out and touch prospects... not in a seedy way, of course.
But interactive and volume environment alone does not make matchmaking heaven. Volume connections can be made, but it takes alot of trial and error to get to the value connection. Certainly if my dabbling in online dating is anything to go by. One date involved a chap who's photo was hot, credentials impeccable and personality perfect... but reality told a different story. He lied about his entrepreneurial background, was a emergency exit light-bulb changer and one step away from penitentiary life. It's an odds game that takes a lot of patience. Brands, you go forth equally blindfolded when you let any part of your media mix be just a numbers game. Relevancy adds huge value and focus to a campaign- offline and online.
Strong relevancy connections are made in an enivronment where interests, profile or levels of engagement are most likely to correlate with yours. Now I'm no spring chicken (as pointed out by our Commercial Director the other day in a meeting), so every encounter counts (much like every ad dollar spent). The closer the alignment to me and my interests, then the higher propensity for engaging in decent conversation and maybe even the start of a little lovin'. It's basic rules of engagement.
Now having established the best volume, interactively engaged and relevancy environment. ... then it's time for the creative to do its magic . Or in my case, by putting myself in the right environment for finding love (well a date will suffice) and I've optimised the odds. Then it's up to me to Attract, turn that into potential Interest, hopefully ignite some Desire and then Activate the right chap into action. Successful matchmaking is a magical mix of both premium environment (that ticks all the boxes) and cut-through creative. One without the other doesn't do it
It's not exactly Beatles lyrics, but it works. Will keep you posted to prove it!
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Audience haze; offline meets online
Every marketer worth his/her salt, knows that they need a really robust behavioural and attitudinal audience segmentation to provide insight and directional influence for product development, content and marketing efforts. But with the rise and rise of digital as a credible medium in the marketing mix - a major audience haze is starting to settle over us.
What is this haze you ask? There's been not a word of it in any of the marketing press or forums. Noticed or not, it will soon become the next big topic (my first 2009 prediction) of brands, media companies and agencies alike.
Digital mdia companies are becoming increasingly competent at segmenting their audience around internet and site usage/attitude and behaviours. With worldclass tools such as Atlas and Omniture at their disposal, they'd be crazy not to be! In tandem, brands have been extremely savvy at audience insight at segmentation for years. Bringing these two audience segmentations together, are generalised linkings of consumers' offline behaviour and attitudes to their online activities. But no online media company has yet managed to articular a tight and accurate link that cross-correlates specific consumer segments offline with specific site behavioural or lifestyle segments online. Notice how everyone's talking about their own audience? And somehow loosely link it to the brands - usually by the omnipresent Demographics.
This is the audience haze - a murky no-man's land. In order to rise above this haze and gain mainstream credibility alongside TV and print, the main digital media companies need to be the star marketers. Reverse the way they do their segmentations: Lead with their advertisers' audiences and then link them into their own. Once this starts, digital can genuinely start meaning more than just clicks and CPM's. It will sit proudly along side other mediums as brand platforms and builders.
What is this haze you ask? There's been not a word of it in any of the marketing press or forums. Noticed or not, it will soon become the next big topic (my first 2009 prediction) of brands, media companies and agencies alike.
Digital mdia companies are becoming increasingly competent at segmenting their audience around internet and site usage/attitude and behaviours. With worldclass tools such as Atlas and Omniture at their disposal, they'd be crazy not to be! In tandem, brands have been extremely savvy at audience insight at segmentation for years. Bringing these two audience segmentations together, are generalised linkings of consumers' offline behaviour and attitudes to their online activities. But no online media company has yet managed to articular a tight and accurate link that cross-correlates specific consumer segments offline with specific site behavioural or lifestyle segments online. Notice how everyone's talking about their own audience? And somehow loosely link it to the brands - usually by the omnipresent Demographics.
This is the audience haze - a murky no-man's land. In order to rise above this haze and gain mainstream credibility alongside TV and print, the main digital media companies need to be the star marketers. Reverse the way they do their segmentations: Lead with their advertisers' audiences and then link them into their own. Once this starts, digital can genuinely start meaning more than just clicks and CPM's. It will sit proudly along side other mediums as brand platforms and builders.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Branded Content - brands getting closer to consumers
Audiences have a voracious appetite for content and the internet has become the much sought-after melting pot housing it all. As appetites rapidly shift towards digital and interactive consumption, the traditional advertising model (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (AIDA)) is slowly starting to unravel into a more integrated, rather than disruptive, solution. One-way comms alone are no longer consistent with consumer engagement patterns – and as such, brands are realising the value of a more immersive, yet still mass-market advertising model. This means going beyond putting digital banners & buttons alongside offline advertising placements. In this day of market fragmentation and advertising overload, the brands that audiences are falling in love with (or staying in love with) are those that are adding real life and depth to their brand comms and audience touch-points.
The first signs of life beyond the 30sec ad spot started many years ago, with the rise of brand storytelling through beautifully shot film work. Brands such as Guinness, Stella Artois and various major car manufacturers (Nissan, BMW, Volvo) have long been champions of this technique. More recently, the Chanel No. 5 / Baz Luhrman / Nicole Kidman (then Audrey Tautou) collaboration is an excellent example of modernising and romanticising a brand essence through exquisite brand storytelling. Some brands have even gone as far as producing brand-sponsored expensive short films, subtlety incorporating the brand for subliminal or association effect. These are often directed by famous directors for increased credibility or PR effect. Even Unilever - collectively one of the largest brand advertisers in the world - has embraced the lure of brand storytelling by launching a musical "produced by" Pot Noodle. The musical, which is very loosely based on Hamlet, features a scene in which a troupe of dancing factory workers pluck noodles from trees.
Advertising is now progressing a step further from brand storytelling into branded content. Highly successful sites such as Kellogg’s Map My Fitness (http://mapmyfitness.ninemsn.com.au) and Aussie sponsored, Your Home (http://money.ninemsn.com.au/yourhome) are providing consumers with highly engaging and interactive content, founded in core brand heartland and differentiation. Even with the rapid rise of UGC, audiences are still drawn to professionally produced editorial and content because of its credibility and usefulness. And interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be the same audience cynicism around branded content as brand storytelling or standard advertising. Compare the brand impact of the Cadbury drum-playing gorilla (highly entertaining, yet one-step removed from the audience) with that of http://insidenikerunning.nike.com, where the audience engage in a very personal and interactive way with Nike and its products. The movement is happening - branded content has the power to add depth and amplify brand connection and loyalty at an extremely tangible level. Now that’s a powerful connection point and a story worth telling!
Here’s some key ingredients for producing a feast of content that sells:
• Create first and foremost through the lens of your audience– agenda, style and tone must be led by them
• Provide information, tools and editorial that your audience would love or need – and aren’t getting anywhere else
• Keep branding and brand messages subtle – don’t over brand the page or turn it into an advertorial
• Have short, sharp content that is scan-able
• Provide good navigation to different content sections and/or CTA’s
• Audiences are highly visual – play to this
• Use strong titles and headings to pull consumers in
• Have deep linked content – this keeps audience engaged longer and highlights the depth of your content
• Be as timely and up-to-the-minute as possible – in the digital world, a week is a long time
• Provoke a discussion or dialogue
• Interactivity is compelling, but ensure it is led from audience insight
The first signs of life beyond the 30sec ad spot started many years ago, with the rise of brand storytelling through beautifully shot film work. Brands such as Guinness, Stella Artois and various major car manufacturers (Nissan, BMW, Volvo) have long been champions of this technique. More recently, the Chanel No. 5 / Baz Luhrman / Nicole Kidman (then Audrey Tautou) collaboration is an excellent example of modernising and romanticising a brand essence through exquisite brand storytelling. Some brands have even gone as far as producing brand-sponsored expensive short films, subtlety incorporating the brand for subliminal or association effect. These are often directed by famous directors for increased credibility or PR effect. Even Unilever - collectively one of the largest brand advertisers in the world - has embraced the lure of brand storytelling by launching a musical "produced by" Pot Noodle. The musical, which is very loosely based on Hamlet, features a scene in which a troupe of dancing factory workers pluck noodles from trees.
Advertising is now progressing a step further from brand storytelling into branded content. Highly successful sites such as Kellogg’s Map My Fitness (http://mapmyfitness.ninemsn.com.au) and Aussie sponsored, Your Home (http://money.ninemsn.com.au/yourhome) are providing consumers with highly engaging and interactive content, founded in core brand heartland and differentiation. Even with the rapid rise of UGC, audiences are still drawn to professionally produced editorial and content because of its credibility and usefulness. And interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be the same audience cynicism around branded content as brand storytelling or standard advertising. Compare the brand impact of the Cadbury drum-playing gorilla (highly entertaining, yet one-step removed from the audience) with that of http://insidenikerunning.nike.com, where the audience engage in a very personal and interactive way with Nike and its products. The movement is happening - branded content has the power to add depth and amplify brand connection and loyalty at an extremely tangible level. Now that’s a powerful connection point and a story worth telling!
Here’s some key ingredients for producing a feast of content that sells:
• Create first and foremost through the lens of your audience– agenda, style and tone must be led by them
• Provide information, tools and editorial that your audience would love or need – and aren’t getting anywhere else
• Keep branding and brand messages subtle – don’t over brand the page or turn it into an advertorial
• Have short, sharp content that is scan-able
• Provide good navigation to different content sections and/or CTA’s
• Audiences are highly visual – play to this
• Use strong titles and headings to pull consumers in
• Have deep linked content – this keeps audience engaged longer and highlights the depth of your content
• Be as timely and up-to-the-minute as possible – in the digital world, a week is a long time
• Provoke a discussion or dialogue
• Interactivity is compelling, but ensure it is led from audience insight
Monday, August 11, 2008
Breaking through consumer inertia
How often do consumers feel like their brands are offering them new, fresh and highly exciting new beginnings? Beginnings that put a huge smile on their faces and make them delighted at the thought of spending more time with your brand.
Think about the times in your life that you've experienced a new beginning, big or small; be it a new job, new car, new outfit, new partner, new hairstyle, new holiday destination, new mobile phone or new home. Life felt exciting again, didn't it? You were buzzing inside. You wanted to share your excitement... even celebrate?
Now how often do you make your users feel like that?
We can't always be on the heightened level of excitement, but we DO need to experience it intermittently as we go through our lives... otherwise we'd get bored with the sameness of it all. It's a shame that we can all too easily forget that our brands are an intrinsic part of peoples' lives - and more often than not, are contributing to the sameness that fosters inertia. It time for a new revolution in marketing - one that gets consumers blood pumping, excitement levels jumping and useage rates going through the roof.
Agree? Then take a look at your planned sales promotions, tweaks to site navigational headers or bright new labels ... and ask yourself: is that an exciting enough new beginning? Does it get you excited at the very thought of executing it? Does it have the potential to blow your targets through the roof?
It's an old cliche, but it really does take as much energy to do something ordinary as it does to do something exceptional.
Bon courage
Think about the times in your life that you've experienced a new beginning, big or small; be it a new job, new car, new outfit, new partner, new hairstyle, new holiday destination, new mobile phone or new home. Life felt exciting again, didn't it? You were buzzing inside. You wanted to share your excitement... even celebrate?
Now how often do you make your users feel like that?
We can't always be on the heightened level of excitement, but we DO need to experience it intermittently as we go through our lives... otherwise we'd get bored with the sameness of it all. It's a shame that we can all too easily forget that our brands are an intrinsic part of peoples' lives - and more often than not, are contributing to the sameness that fosters inertia. It time for a new revolution in marketing - one that gets consumers blood pumping, excitement levels jumping and useage rates going through the roof.
Agree? Then take a look at your planned sales promotions, tweaks to site navigational headers or bright new labels ... and ask yourself: is that an exciting enough new beginning? Does it get you excited at the very thought of executing it? Does it have the potential to blow your targets through the roof?
It's an old cliche, but it really does take as much energy to do something ordinary as it does to do something exceptional.
Bon courage
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