Welcome back to the future. In my part one of The Future Marketing series, I challenged you to see if you can survive the future of marketing. It won’t be “futuristic”, but it will be very different from the traditional methods used now.
In my last post I introduced you to Jessica, a 25-year-old professional working in the year 2020 who showed us how technology innovations will change marketing. In this post, I’m going to focus more on the marketing opportunities that complement the technology of the future, so we can see how channel marketing strategies will change. And how you’ll need to change to succeed.
Marketing opportunities will not change radically in ten years, but we will see new “layers”, or segmented, highly targeted opportunities join the mix. As technology enables convenience, marketers will simply have more choices. And these choices will increase the degree of sophistication required to optimize current and future marketing plans.
This foray into the near future is designed to help us better appreciate how to make strategic marketing decisions today. I also hope it will encourage you and surprise you in a way that fosters ideas about how you might increase your marketing effectiveness.
So let’s join Jessica again in the year 2020 as she starts her day:
6:20 A.M. – After snoozing through one alarm, Jessica grabs her Cloud Acquisition Device (CAD) and drops it into the cradle in the bathroom where she’ll listen to news, weather and sports while she gets ready for work. The CAD is her filter, pulling pre-set preferences for information that is tailored to Jessica. She’s also listening to and sometimes watching commercials because like most people, Jessica is willing to watch commercials in order to receive free content. There’s strong evidence that advertising as we know it will thrive in the future. A recent survey by Devicescape showed 68% of people are “OK viewing advertisements” if it means they don’t have to pay for the content: http://bit.ly/bT6lVU. Access the research here http://bit.ly/c4jPTk.
There are several businesses today that tier their content offerings, charging consumers for content that’s free of ads. Check out Pandora and Uber Twitter: http://bit.ly/cyC8fa (Pandora). http://bit.ly/bexZT2 (uber twitter). We’ll see a lot more of this with everyday, basic content as time progresses, so start organizing your product or service offerings now.
7:15 A.M. – Jessica grabs her CAD from her bedroom CAP and brings it into the kitchen where it wirelessly connects to the Cloud Acquisition Portal (CAP). Her mother calls her to remind her about her father’s upcoming birthday, and the CAD seamlessly transitions between news and the video chat session with her mother. Since all video is now web-enabled, Jessica will use the top online gift store to search a variety of gift options for her Dad. More about this when Jessica comes home tonight.
Online ads will be much more segmented, persuasive and entertaining. Interactive TV will be fully integrated so whatever we watch, the internet will be completely accessible. Take a look at this this ad from Coincident TV (CTV). It’s not a video or a website. It’s both! http://bit.ly/95PqHv. Ads will also be available via highly segmented channels so people can search ads to help refine their purchase choices. This won’t eliminate mass market advertising. It will simply provide a new, convenient means to enhance our purchase experience. Advertisers will also have better opportunities to buy ads in programs that are more targeted. As people accept and watch ads in programs to avoid paying to watch, segmentation opportunities will flourish. http://bit.ly/auJEQz
7:45 A.M. – Jessica jumps into her electric car and drives to work. Electric cars, and all the cottage industries that support them, will grow exponentially in the next decade. Popularity will increase electric car market penetration to 50% by 2020. Major, mass market product launches are happening this year: http://nyti.ms/9H2ffm.
8:15 A.M. - As she enters her office building, the international coffee chain using location-based services reminds her that she has 12 credits left. This is the only audio advertising reminder she has enabled Monday-Friday. Tailored location-based advertising will increase as consumers have more control over opt-in services. This doesn’t negate mass market ads because it will add a more personal and relevant layer of selling opportunities into the marketing mix. Check out how Shopalerts is doing it today: http://tcrn.ch/bP42ff.
9:30 A.M. – While doing research for a 10:00 A.M. client meeting, Jessica discovers the most recent and relevant contextual data available for her client’s products. Her options are organized by news articles, research, business strategies, trademarks and legal issues, competitive products, pricing and customer insight. Search results are no longer organized by “video, images, blogs, books and discussions” because these options exist within each result. Each option is organized chronologically, with search variable control.
- The future of contextual search: http://bit.ly/aCUjBZ
Noon – On her lunch break, Jessica scrolls through mobile ads she’s cached for future use. She’s opted into certain ads so she can save money on the things she likes. The cache app allows her to save ads she wants to save and retrieve when she is near the store. Mobile, location-based marketing will improve targeting for marketers and convenience for consumers: http://bit.ly/blNt2B
At the restaurant, Jessica grabs an impromptu candy bar at the counter because the restaurant sent her a text offer to add dessert and get 10% off. Several advertisers are currently using these tactics, which will become more ubiquitous in time: http://bit.ly/9cfaHU
2:30 P.M. Throughout the day, Jessica receives alerts about a variety of information according to her pre-approved preferences. These alerts represent highly targeted opportunities to reach consumers.
5:30 P.M. - A good friend calls Jessica and invites her to a social meet-up that night where live auditions are being broadcast for a popular reality TV show. Live video venues will several marketing opportunities that include print, banner, video, location-based services and promotions. Venues that attract large crowds will only increase in value as marketing tools.
- Streaming from live events: http://bit.ly/bsMjAs
6:30 P.M. - Jessica uses her CAD to buy admission and dinner while at the event.
8:00 P.M. - Once home, Jessica plugs in her CAD and settles down at the portable screen on her coffee table. Reclining on the couch, she enables her online persona, which accesses her profile that was previously created, including likes and dislikes for every category relevant to her. She accesses her personal assistant and shops for her Dad’s birthday present. It’s become much more acceptable to send gift texts with purchase codes that the person receiving the gift can use to buy their own gift. It’s easy and the gift-quality and relevance improves. See how giiv is delivering this service today: http://www.giiv.com/. Jessica’s search results offer a plethora of gift ideas for her father, easily purchased without any concerns about identity theft or creeps hacking her real identity. When public personas are required, avatars will represent us in profiles that keep us secure. See how Renkoo, mEgo, Zoolit and other companies are leading the way:http://bit.ly/btlihX. You need to adopt this personalized experience into your marketing plans if you have any hope of surviving the future.
11 P.M. - Once in bed, Jessica voice-enables her alarm and reads from her wireless reader, which drifts to sleep-mode after Jessica.
Most interesting is that all the technologies and opportunities discussed in this post are available today. In ten years, they’ll be common. Will you be a leader or a lagger? If you begin to experiment today with some of these new channels, you’ll not only succeed, but you’ll also be part of the next generation of marketing innovations.
About The B2Bblogger: Dan co-founded the Chicago public relations and search engine optimization firm, Vivid Ascent, to change the definition of integrated marketing. By placing Internet behavior at the center of how people buy, public relations, advertising, website design and social media become much more powerful.
Prior to Vivid Ascent Dan was the Global Director of Advertising for Accenture. He spent the first twelve years of his career at J. Walter Thompson and was President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) Chicago Chapter for five years. You can read more from Dan at Vivid Ascent’s PR, social media and SEO blog or follow him on Twitter @danielmobrien.
