Blog

Consumer Happiness will become increasingly important to brands and marketers; why Meaningful Brands is becoming ever more relevant by the day

Recognition by the government that GDP isn’t a true measure of our culture, citizenship and happiness came to the fore late in 2010 with David Cameron’s call for a new way to measure our nation’s wellbeing. This lead to an initiative in 2011 for the ONS to start to measure wellbeing through surveying the UK about how it feels. The results will be published later this year.

Happiness as a subject is getting increasing traction, with increasing numbers of movements and initiatives designed to support, foster and grow our happiness. Action for Happiness is a great example which gives several credos for leading a happier life (check it out here: http://www.actionforhappiness.org/). These are remarkably similar to evidence put forward by the Future Foundation (published today in Brand Republic) that shows people are happiest “when they work hard, build skills, organise accomplishment into their lives, help others, eat well, take exercise and develop self reliance”.

The article in Brand Republic also points to living in a post materialistic society where possession accumulation is seen as destructive indulgence. While we are far from this being an everyday reality; our recent Meaningful Intentions at Christmas research highlighted a move away from festive ideals of excess and abundance traditionally associated with that time of year to a more considered an d restrained approach to indulgence and gifting.

While our aspirations are still welded to capitalist ideals (apparently more money is still top of our agenda); measures such as personal fulfilment and learning more have seen massive increases in priority among the nation. The Future Foundation says “Tapping into consumers’ need to be creative, knowledgeable and critically recognised as such will provide powerful opportunities for emotional engagement”.

These findings resonate strongly with Meaningful Brands for a Sustainable Future; which demonstrates that brands which generate positive outcomes (on a variety of personal and collective measures) are far more likely to enjoy greater brand attachment and success than those who do not.

Herein lies great opportunity for those brands able to provide the means for people to be happier, more creative, more knowledgeable and ultimately more successful. In the world of infinite data in which we now live this should be easy for those brands willing to listen, make sense of and adapt to consumer needs.  For long term brand survival it’s essential.
To read the article in Brand Republic click here: http://www.brandrepublic.com/research/1110599/being-happy-2012/

There has been some fantastic coverage of our latest research on Meaningful intentions and bheaviour this Christmas. It is great to see so much interest.

While Christmas is definitely one of the most meaningul occasions of the year, it is traditionally associated with excess and over abundance. We wanted to know how the recession has impacted people’s behaviour at this time of year and what ths might mean for retailers who look to Christmas to meet targets and drive growth.

Despite spending less this year, Christmas is no less meaningful. The amount of effort and consideration put in is high, supporting a generosity of spirit, if not of wallet. This leads us to the idea that there is opportunity for businesses to develop products and gifts that create more fulfilling experiences and support bond creation rather than over-consumption.

Here is one such article covering the research: http://adage.com/article/global-news/men-frugal-u-k-holiday-shoppers/231615/

This nifty app from the OECD allows you to play around with self defined levels of importance in various factors of wellbeing. If you’re after work life balance, health and education, don’t move to Turkey. http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

‘For fifty years we’ve aimed relentlessly at higher incomes. But despite being much wealthier, we’re no happier than we were five decades ago. At the same time we’ve seen an increase in wider social issues, including a worrying rise in anxiety and depression in young people. It’s time for a positive change in what we mean by progress’. (Actionforhappiness.org)

Not my words, but I couldn’t have put it better. Action for Happiness is a growing movement designed specifically to give people the tools for happier lives. It’s worth checking out http://www.actionforhappiness.org/ for some easy and readily usable tips for a happier life. (It’s also worth following them on facebook)

What we are witnessing is a very real and growing desire to change how we perceive and symbolise success. Wealth, income and GDP do not correlate to happiness and as such we need to find new ways to create and measure it. It is firmly on the government’s radar (The Wellbeing index being the prime example) and it is increasingly on other people’s agenda too.

Take Bristol for example. Yes Bristol. Bristol wants to be a happy city. How brilliant is that. Happy City http://www.happycity.org.uk/is a small not for profit organisation which helps people and communities focus on happiness and how to increase it. Happy City exists to spread happiness. They talk about short wave happiness (like a bar of chocolate) and longwave happiness, which is about the quality of our relationships, the health of the environment and communities where people have a sense of belonging and purpose.

If you need convincing, take a look at this rather lovely story board http://www.happycity.org.uk/sites/default/files/happy_city_story_banner.pdf

This has borne out in our Meaningful Brands for Sustainable Futures research, which demonstrates that brands who actively generate positive outcomes (on both personal and collective levels) are more successful and enjoy greater brand attachment.

Research out today suggests that a majority UK internet users don’t want to engage with brands on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The report from TNS covers a number of markets across the world with the UK coming out as the most negative, at 61%, towards the idea of brands connecting with them in social networks.

http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-04A0B352BC1F43A49A27338D6BEDC006.aspx

On the flipside, 54% of people agreed with the fact that social networks are a good place to find out about products, while 47% will comment about a brand online.  So it’s not as though we only want limited interactions with brands in social networks, it’s just that it’s on our terms and when we want.

This research brings into stark focus the kinds of questions that brands need to ask of their own social media strategy and how they out to their customers in places like Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

• Are people already talking about my brand or product - if so what and where?

• Do you really understand how your audience use social networks?

• Is social media the right channel to engage with them?  Perhaps a closed community on your website would work better; email or search would be better

• Does your social media activity have a clear purpose that’s distinct from other digital touch points?

• What’s in it for people to bother to engage?  Are you being useful, entertaining or offering some kind of incentive? Be really honest with yourself.

Brands appearing in social media is a bit like your uncle showing up at your 18th birthday as the only adult; it’s a bit weird and you’d rather he wasn’t there unless, that is, he’s arrived with the band and he’s going you buy you drinks all night.

There’s already a tonne of mindless clutter out there on the web created by both brands and consumers; to avoid adding to the heap brands should think hard about why they want to engage through social media and how they are going to earn the right to exist there at all.  The brands that get it right will reap the rewards of consumers who are keen to interact, creating positive word of mouth through shared brand experiences, and a willing community to tap into for ideas, feedback, content and advocacy.

PS.  Look out for our thought piece on Google+ for brands which will be out in the next few days

Over the past few weeks there seems to have been an explosion of group buying member sites advertising their offering to the masses, which raises the question about what such market growth means for this newly evolving category. Proliferation is not always an indicator of success. Groupon (the name combines the words group and coupon) described by some as the fastest growing company ever and the subject of much discussion about rapidly changing retail and distribution models seemed to be big news. This was given greater credence by the acquisition offer from Google for $6bn (towards the end of 2010), which Groupon turned down, wishing to remain ‘independent’. If Google want to buy you, you must be a big deal (no pun intended). The emergence of commentary about Groupons rapidly declining success (such as this article ‘Groupon is a disaster’ http://www.linkedin.com/news?

actionBar=&articleID=859782203&ids=0VcjcTd3kNdzwIcP0OczwTejkUb3gOdjkQdPoRe2MTc38Odj0RdzwId3wNcP8VcPoU&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod-b-ttle-80&ut=28LYNEY7VlB4Y1 ) might have come as more of a surprise, had it not been for the multiple copy cats emerging. Such a rapidly evolving category means that share of market will inevitably decrease over a very short amount of time.
In recent weeks both kgb deals and Wowcher have run TV campaigns, both with a broad offering and neither demonstrating a specific USP. In addition to this, multiple other look-a-likes have emerged over the last year, many of them broad in offering (which implies the offers are not particularly high quality and from providers wanting to get rid of lower quality inventory) such as Wahanda, Telegraph Selected, Achica and Timeout Deals. The travel category, which ‘un-bundled’ over a decade ago has also been quick to use this method of driving demand for a surplus of supply with brands like Voyage Prive and Jet setter emerging as the strongest contenders.

The biggest issue is this. While there were one or two players, the deals offered felt bigger, better, more interesting. Behavioural economics tells us a lot about the value of perceived scarcity. The problem now is that there is a surplus of supply of group buying businesses, all offering similar deals, which means the deals aren’t scarce. The deals ‘onslaught’ will inevitably result in a ‘wear out’ of enthusiasm as inboxes fill up on a daily basis with what will increasingly be perceived as spam.

There is also the counter issue of increased supply of discounts ‘de-valuing’ the products or services involved. There is a very real risk of destroying value through over discounting, resulting in a reliance to drive volume. Those looking to such mechanisms to drive volume must approach with caution; careful management is required for it is unlikely to result in repeat custom without further incentive. This matters less for the travel discount sites but has huge implications for lower level retailers and service providers.

This isn’t the beginning of the end though. This is merely market contraction and an inevitable part of this new category’s evolution. The strongest players will emerge, and these players will have specific offerings and higher quality deals. Better product and better targeting. Adapt to grow. Simple really.

With so much having already been written, blogged and tweeted about the untimely death of Steve Jobs, there’s little left unsaid.  We simply wanted to acknowledge the passing of one of the modern world’s great achievers.  Not only did he create new markets such as the home PC and, more recently, the tablet; he also fundamentally redefined others like the MP3 and smartphone markets with the iPod and iPhone respectively.  Along the way he launched iTunes and in so doing ran a train through one of the most controlled commercial industries out there, namely the music business. Oh yes, and he also founded Pixar studios which pioneered feature length digital animation.  Pretty impressive for someone who dropped out of university and who passed away yesterday 56 years young!

The term visionary is absolutely applicable to him in that he was able to see what people wanted way before they knew it themselves.  He was also singularly motivated individual whose quotes about wealth, death, business and life in general are well known.  A favourite of ours come from a speech he gave a Stamford University commencement address in 2005:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

He personified this and he never settled.  So much of what we take for granted today can be tracked back to Steve Jobs and the company he founded; the way we interact with technology, how we consume media, the films we watch and the way we listen to music.  His impact has been profound and his legacy will surely endure.

After the success of their ‘Rapping Farmers’ campaign in 2010, Yeo Valley look set to make their come back with a follow-up ad set to hit the X Factor finals. This year, with a boy band flavour – apt, given the addition of Gary Barlow to the judging panel.
Will they match the success of their first outing? Cadbury’s were never able to match the ‘Drumming Gorilla’ with their follow-up ads! Let’s wait and see…

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/bulletin/mediapm/article/1097309/?DCMP=EMC-MediaPMBulletin

Amazon understands that the tablet market is somewhere between a smart phone and a laptop and should be priced accordingly. Most people would love to own an iPad (which is why it’s the prize for virtually every competition these days), but most of us cannot justify the price point at these austere times. At $199 it represents good value.
Amazon also understands that consumers don’t always want ‘bells and whistles’ and that they will rarely use and that most people use tablets to read stuff (news, books, features etc) either on the web or in apps, watch videos, play games and keep in touch with their social network. Amazon has an existing operation which enables it to secure the best possible deals from content providers. That power to get great deals is why books on Amazon are cheaper than on Apple’s iBooks service. If they can undercut competitors download costs it will play to the rational penny pinching consumer.
Amazon’s Fire is a real contender: cheap, robust-seeming and capable, it’s not a top-tier luxury product, but its content connection and cloud-based support make it an affordable choice for the mass market and will make a huge dent in the over-crowded tablet market when it reaches the UK.

While ‘Likes’ are not the be all and end all of measurement on Facebook; they are all too often used as a means of evaluation. Increasingly a number of ‘Likes’ are being written into campaign objectives without real understanding of what they mean. They are certainly a good indicator of how sticky a brand is; but they are a shallow form of advocacy and don’t really work as a measurement of earned media (i.e. people talking about a brand). So it is pleasing to hear of Facebook’s announcement today of the launch of ‘People Talking About’ metrics. People Talking About (its name may be different when it launches) will measure user initiated activity related to a page including things such as comments, shares, posts about content, mentions of a page, likes, check ins and comments about content and posts. This means that brands will be able to quantify how engaging and conversation stimulating their efforts on Facebook are. The new metrics (which will appear below ‘Likes’ on brand pages) will let users know how interesting a page’s content is and also ensure that brands try to make their pages as compelling as possible. This means that brands will be able to quantify not just reach of their pages but depth, something too often overlooked. It also means that those of us in communications planning can more readily observe what makes content more valuable and share-able, very useful for insight into what does and doesn’t work. There are limitations; for this metric won’t gauge sentiment - so it won’t differentiate positive from negative interaction and conversation but it is a step in the right direction in enabling brands to evolve and optimise their Facebook pages. 

The viral contrasts the scenes from a collection of nights out at a club and shows the film from the perspective of a character who is drunk and thinks that they are the image of charm personified and then (simultaneously if you roll your mouse over) from the perspective of an onlooker who sees you for the drooling incognito fool you are.  This is clever stuff but is it any better than what we already have with our TV ads showing ‘you wouldn’t end a night like this’ in the UK?  Actually we thought it was way better.  For a start this is being shared on platforms where people are already planning or sharing memories from their night out so it is closer to the point of connection with the act.  Because of that it strikes a much stronger chord emotionally.  We all know we look stupid when we are drunk but that such thoughts are so far distant from when the drunkenness actually happens that it rarely enters our mind when we are committing the act.  Emotional is much more powerful than rational here and some super sharp thinking has given this trail a much better emotional connection online than it would have ever got in the middle of Corrie on a Wednesday night. 

A favourite phrase of mine is ‘no more bricks and mortar’ which I use regularly in relation to brand interaction, engagement and commerce. I am interested in the rapidly changing retail and distribution models we are seeing emerge (along side media’s role and opportunity within this).

I stumbled across this yesterday: http://www.slideshare.net/jwtintelligence/social-commerce-july-2011-8535237

It is an interesting presentation from JWT and well worth taking the time to flick through. There are a few gems.........

Particular highlights:

Channel agnostic in the retail sense (not communications sense). We’re all familiar with the terms channel agnostic / media neutral but we need to start thinking about being retail channel agnostic.

FOMO / SoLoMo (not going to explain - that way you have to read it!)

Everyone knows ROPO (research online purchase offline). I’ve been arguing the big trend is in the other direction - researching in the real world and fulfilling transaction online rather than real world and this is supported here.

Social commerce’s role in addressing the paradox of choice.

There is a big point made about the blurring between the physical and virtual spheres, and so I’m signing off with a quote from Tom Hulme (IDEO London) “The line between distribution and marketing is fundamentally collapsing”

In recent months we’ve seen some innovative ways of using mobile to bring TV, Print and Outdoor campaigns to life. We think this is a great video for some inspiration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvEisDAsu8w. And check this link out for some innovative applications of the technology http://www.monuments.com/livingheadstone. Clearly technology is moving on at a breakneck pace but at the same time we are still seeing a lot of client interest in QR codes. Read more for our 7 Golden Rules on using QR Codes to intregrate channels together.

QR codes are great at giving people a shortcut to a mobile site or an application. However, there are also multiple possibilities for integrating with other features of a handset such as e-mail, calendars & maps. With that in mind I have put together a deck outlining some of these uses and some tips for best practice.

When using QR codes for your campaign follow these golden rules
1. When directing people to a site or content ensure that the content is optimised for mobile
2. Consider the level of smartphone penetration within your audience before you embark on a QR code campaign
3. Testing is key, all phones work differently, make sure that the campaign is tested across each handset type to ensure a smooth experience for each user
4. Make sure the content is worthwhile and the QR code isn’t added to the campaign just to be snazzy.  Relevance is key!
5. The more information embedded into the code, the heavier the QR code will be.  This can make them hard to read if your phone camera isn’t too hot
6. When adding to a print ad ensure that the QR code is always on the outside edge of the advert and away from the fold
7. Consider the location the codes will be visible in. Don’t use them on the Underground (no signal!), or in a place where it is hard to scan

Those lovely people at The Economist sent me a copy of this book.

In short, it’s a tongue in cheek analysis of the British Middle Class, their tastes, what they aspire to and what defines the tribes that they fall into.

It’s one of the funniest books I have read in ages.

It’s pithy, witty and brilliantly observed.

The fun bit is seeing which one you fit into and which ones you enjoy mocking.

Do you belong to Jamie Oliver’s army? The Hornby Set? The Loft Wingers?

I recognise me and my family in a few of the tribes.

GQ sum it up nicely on the back cover “Indispensable…whether you’re middle class or pretending not to be.”

This is just genius. I love it. Just a great example of taking a phenomenal TV execution and bringing it to life with digital outdoor.

It’s Monday morning, it’s 7am and I’m leaving for work.

I open my front door and spot a delivery. A two-pack of Tropicana Orange Juice.

What a nice surprise, Direct marketing that I actually want.

I suppose this is just good targeting.

Using the Royal Mail as the media channel to get the “brand in hand”.

A nice start to the week.

As I walk to the station, I notice that not every road has been lucky enough to receive the delivery.

So good Mosaic targeting from Tropicana.

“Traditional” media is alive and well.

I also saw their San Francisco TV ad last night.

Multi-media, well timed, well scheduled.

Watch out Innocent, I might just buy some Tropicana now – after I’ve claimed the free litre with the coupon of course – and it’s on deal…

More new band discoveries, all thanks to Last FM…

1. Magic Pie: Freakshow

2. Magic Pie: What If…

3. Porcupine Tree: Anesthetize

4. Presto Ballet: You’re Alive

5. Presto Ballet: Thieves

6. Cardiacs: Is This The Life

7. Crippled Black Phoenix: We Forgotten Who We Are

8. Don Henley: The Boys Of Summer

9. Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms

10. Porcupine Tree: I Drive The Hearse

Lots of proggy and folky tunes (for a change). Discovered Magic Pie on Spotify late last week. Genius

1. Magic Pie: Change

2. Frank Turner: Reasons Not To Be An Idiot

3. Magic Pie: Without Knowing Why

4. Myles Kennedy: Hallelujah

5. Frank Turner: Try This At Home

6. Porcupine Tree: Futile

7. Porcupine Tree: The Sky Moves Sideways

8. Ozric Tentacles: Erpland (Live)

9. Ozric Tentacles: Jurassic Shift (Live)

10. Blackfield: Once

1. Blackfield: Once (Live in New York)

2. Dark Captain Light Captain: Questions (Hatchback Dub)

3. No-Man: Wherever There Is Light

4. Porcupine Tree: Orchidia

5. Blackfield: 1000 People (Live in New York)

6. Pendulum: The Fountain

7. Alter Bridge: Ghost of Days Gone By

8. Blackfield: Thank You (Live in New York)

9. Pendulum: Witchcraft

10. Jan Hammer: Miami Vice Theme

Facebook is an interesting beast. The gold rush a few years ago when many of us sought out friends of old from school or University, friends we hadn’t seen in twenty years or more, has resulted in an interesting phenomenon.

1. I like to hear what they are up to in their daily lives.

2. I have been sharing music, new and old with old school mates.

This behaviour makes sense when we think about how we go about our daily lives, but, in all likelihood, I will never actually see them again.

Is this a new form of friendship or just a more immediate broadcast version of the pen pals of old?

Another thought: what is the value of these friendships to us?

More thoughts to follow.

I wrote this last year. It was originally published in June 2009. Looking around, it’s as relevant now as it was then…

The Integration debate just won’t go away. Agencies, clients and media owners continually trumpet their definition of integration, how they are best placed to deliver it and why they should lead the process.  Although this topic has been debated for a number of years, there is still no universally accepted definition of what it is or how best to make it happen.

In our increasingly complex world, delivering an effective communications plan is mandatory, but our industry is not naturally set up to deliver it; in fact, the marketing industry is more fragmented than ever. The separation of media and creative is only part of the problem – the increasingly complex media landscape has given birth to an expanding range of specialists whose expertise resides in an increasing number of knowledge silos. A case in point is digital media which has become a complex industry in its own right. Unfortunately for us, consumers don’t think in fragmented platforms; they build their perception of a brand by the total sum of their exposure – when, where and with whom they consume it and everything they see and hear about it.

A practical and forward looking solution to integration offered by agencies is to internally restructure, fusing traditional and new disciplines and skill sets into integrated teams.  This is a commendable step that will improve the degree of joined-up thinking in their work but it cannot help with structural issues at other agencies they may work with or help to resolve the significant challenges faced by many clients who often work within siloed structures, with fragmented budget ownership and objectives. Other integration debates have mainly centered on the stimulus or how we marry the “big communications idea” and relevant media channels. Some argue that integration should focus on the more fundamental challenge of response – understanding how the communications idea stirs consumers. Others argue that these debates have incorrectly focused on brand and channel integration rather than the ultimate ambition – brand and consumer integration.

All these definitions are valid opinions which are logical and often passionately argued, but not one of them provide a roadmap to actually deliver an integrated communications plan.

Put simply, successfully integrated communications deliver a coherent outcome – the target audience sees one campaign with elements that are clearly designed to work together.  Sometimes the activity may follow a common creative theme executed across different media channels, on other occasions different elements may bear little creative resemblance. Whatever form the activity takes, one thing is constant – a multi-discipline team working  together toward this common goal. Sounds simple, so why is it still the exception rather than the rule?

The structural issues are only part of the problem, we believe that successful integration is also a mental issue – we all need the right mindset to make it happen.

Although our industry has structural and political issues to overcome, it is crucial that we don’t forget the role of the consumer in the process. The engines of integration are not the architects of the plan but the consumer who pulls all the pieces together. Consumers are natural integrators; it is our remit to help them navigate between the different channels and elements of the communication and, in the best examples, allow them to co-create communication.

At MPG, we believe there are four key elements to delivering successful integrated communications:

Collaboration – a Client should assemble multi-skilled individuals they respect and who they perceive will add value. Insight is precious but inspiration is priceless.

Leadership – decision by committee is a recipe for failure. The client must appoint a lead to make final strategic decisions. Disagreement and debate is good, but someone has to make the final call.

Think big and act selflessly – Integration demands ego free idea sharing and collaboration. Inter-agency politics must be eradicated.  Every member of the integrated team is equal; no-one owns an idea. It is the teams responsibility to nurture the idea and deliver it is the most powerful and effective way.

Fair reward – Too many remuneration packages are commission based and linked to media spend, which can encourage biased media recommendations. All members of an integrated team should be paid fairly for their time.

With these elements in place, integration can and will happen. The current launch campaign for Magners Pear Cider that incorporated TV, out-of-home, radio sponsorship, online, mobile, e-crm and sampling was created, nurtured and delivered by a truly integrated team – MPG, Euro RSCG and Cake with the Client at the heart.

Perhaps we should be less obsessed about the Holy Grail of one “big idea” and spend more time delivering lots of brilliant pieces of communication to see which ones are embraced by consumers. We should strive to deliver ideas that inform and/or entertain consumers, creating things that people value rather than what we think they should value.

Consumers have always driven change, now they are turbo-charging it. Media channels from TV, press, outdoor, radio, DM have already evolved; even using these legacy terms is out-dated. TV is just a distribution channel for audio/video content and ‘audio’ is a more relevant than ‘radio’. The success of Last FM and Spotify show that consumers are more than happy to access their content from a multitude of places. Consumers are truly platform agnostic.

The industry has been slow to change and most agencies in town still remain structured for yesterday. At MPG we have restructured the Agency to position ourselves for now and the future, but this is just the first stage to achieving true integration. Integration is a philosophy and a culture.  We have invested in resources to deliver the full suite of services including sponsorship, branded content, mobile and brand partnership. With Artemis, we have a bespoke system to measure how different combinations of media and messages effect consumer behavior such as response or attitudinal shift. We are truly collaborative; all our people are empowered to think and do. We encourage debate and we share our learning. We nurture our talent to become rounded multimedia consultants, ready to craft integrated communications solutions that deliver our ultimate goal – engaging consumers to grow our clients businesses.

Make no mistake, integration is no longer a nice to do, it is now critical to success. But it is more than a seating plan – it’s a state of mind.

I spent last Thursday at the Media Playground conference put on by Mediatel. An interesting day where a variety of speakers from clients, media owners, agencies and ttech companies debated  how everything was changing fast but quite  a lot will stay the same and no one was really sure how the future media landscape would look.

Lots of useful tweeting on #mediaplaygound that captured the key points.

Mediatel also provided a handy iphone app to guide us through the day.

Some of the key points:

Mobile internet will surpass fixed line within 5 years (more like 3! Morgan Stanley predicts 2013)

2010 will not be the “Year of Mobile” This was mercifully dismissed early on

Value vs cost is a missed opportunity for the digital industry to market  and connect with consumers

The “new” GPS enabled location based advertising offers great potential (ever heard of a billboard?)

The COI believe “no one agency can deliver creativity, rigour and analysis”

The General Election although not the digital election some were expecting as it was defined by the TV debates but digital offered a lot to voters to help them decide with apps such as Who should you vote for” So bottom up digital rather than top down.

In these austere times, brands need to focus on owned and earned social media before ad campaigns

Lots of debate about the value of customer data and how media owners have given it away.  Should media owners erect privacy walls around their exclusive and valuable audiences?

We must always start with the audience not data, understand their motivations as people

Its all about insight and understanding people

The role of agencies is to help clients navigate the many technology solutions available

We need integration specialists (isn’t that what media agencies are for?)

TV is in rude health and is growing but viewing has changed.TV must exploit new revenue streams to keep it that way

TV will continue to be the centre for big social events

The TV and PC is unlikely to merge into one device as multi-media consumption is growing

We need to think about the opportunities with the 2nd and 3rd devices in the room

Think about the opportunities for personalisation

Leave the big box for TV

Consumers perceive instant “virtual” internet content has less valuable than tangible offline

The instant generation has never had to wait their turn

The customer base for web connected TV is already nearly as big as Sky in the UK through devices, games consoles etc

Google TV vs the EPG – who will win? A Big opportunity for TV navigation apps but probably not for everyone

TV consumption in five years? still in the living room for event TV but fragmented for personal consumption – so now too different from now

People are device agnostic. They just want it to be simple and work on-demand

Will Google bid for TV rights in the UK -premium sports?

So, lots of food for thought

I have a bit of a thing for crystal ball gazing then looking back to see how many of the predictions actually came to pass. Although hindsight is “tuppence a bucket” as my Great Uncle used to say and it’s easy to scoff at predictions that have proved to be wide of the mark but it is still a facinating window into our recent past.

My current favourite is a book called “E-media: How to Use Electronic Media for Effective Marketing Communications “ that was published in 2000 by the IPA. You can still buy it on Amazon for £29 although it is currently out of stock.

It’s a brilliant example of a snap-shot in time as it predicts how digital media will impact on marketing and consumer behaviour. Some of it misses the mark such as “The remarkable mini-disk recorders that let you record, then delete, then record again”. Remember when mini-disks were the future of portable mass storage? It’s easy to forget that the majority of disks weren’t re-writable back then and flash memory was in its infancy, but quite a bit of the book is bang on although the speed of convergence has proven slightly optimistic. It also under-estimates the gorwing importance of mobile and didn’t predict social networking.

Verdict: The web has had an undeniably huge impact on our lives and has totally transformed how we connect with each other, how we research and how we transact. The one big thing that this book didn’t predict was the rise of mobile as the increasingly popular third way to access content.

Extract 2: The net is a fad for anoraks

“Rupert Murdoch once dismissed the net as a fad for anoraks, on a par with CB radio, now admits it is proving much more consumer-friendly than they first thought.”

Verdict: Murdoch probably regrets some of his dismissive quotes over the years. He was right that anoraks love the web but now so does everyones else as it has so much to offer everyone. The expolision of free online news content across the web has showed that News Corps’ linear paid distribution business model is flawed. The Times and Sunday Times is currently loosing around £250,000 a day. To try and address this, at the end of June 2010, Murdoch will erect a paywall for the Times and Sunday Times charging £1 for 1 days access or £2 for a week. Current research indicates only 9% of consumers will be willing to pay.

Extract 3: A fast web experience

“What’s the difference bewtween the internet and digital television? One cable TV boss likes to ask conference audiences, the reply “None”. In other words, both systems turn words and pictures into computer data and squirt them into the home and onto the screen. And as the pace of convergence grows, allowing internet pages to be read clearly on computer screens it wont really matter what the phenomenon is called.”

Verdict: Before the spread of broadband, the web was a two dimensional often frustrating experience: no fast page loads, no video. Lots of squirting still happens, the big difference now is that we get to share content via our social networks.

Extract 4: “Everything will be downloaded on demand.”

Verdict: Cheap broadband made this a reality for the web and allowed TV and radio to finally offer reliable catch-up services. 9% or 3.7m Brits use BBC’s iPlayer for TV on demand and 16% or 6.9m use it for catch-up radio.

Extract 5: PC vs TV

What is still not clear is which screen will become the mass-market route to the profusion of e-mail,

e-commerce and e-information – the PC or the TV. The computer has a start, but almost every home has a TV”.

The lean-forward work centred nature of the computer sits uneasily with the lean back entertainment feel of the television. And so, the theory goes, some people will take the computer route into the digital arena and other enter it via the TV. Some of course, may do both.

Verdict: The TV has yet to make a dent in the dominance of the web as the home of e-mail, e-commerce and e-information although smartphones are rapidly changing the platform people prefer to use to access the web. Morgan Stanley predict that by 2013, more people will access the web from their mobile than their desktop. Will the majority ever want to access the internet through their TV? Research shows that many people are happy to watch TV whilst accessing the web on their laptop. Google TV and Apple TV will attempt to convince us that we should use their technology to access the web through our TVs effectively becoming the EPG. Google might want to knock out the TV networks but I think most people are happy keeping their TV and PC seperate even if the functionality exists in their TV to access the web. There are also legislative restrictions pretecting content that flies in the face of Google’s open model. TVs are also at least six feet away from the viewer which will make for a pretty miserible search experience for anyone without perfect eyesight.

Extract 6: Packaged vs open

The EPG managing choice, “this generation needs their packaging done for them, the next – my children- will not.”

Verdict: We appreciate editors to help us navigate the sheer volume of available content. Social search will change this as we will always value to opinion and recommendations of our friends. Kids appreciate packaging just like Adults do.

Extract 7: Online gaming

The next killer application will be computer games online. Just as the early computer market in the UK were hijacked by Atari and Nintendo consoles devoted only to games, so the next generation of Dreamscapes and the like will have modens build in, with pay as you go phone cards to get kids dialling up the mates to play Tomb Rader IV. Other cut-price, pared down computers will be produced purely for people to play games onlilne, with none of the spreadsheet programmes and CD-Rom drives that now seem to come as standard”.

Verdict: Gaming really came to life with broadband via PC, Xbox Live and PS3. Pay as you go phone cards didn’t survive the decade, neither did dial-up. The gaming industry is now bigger than Hollywood. World of Warcraft makes 250 million dollars a year. Again, mobile gaming has grown massively with the growth in penetration of smartphones using ever greater flash memory.

Extract 8: A sisemic change

In 1950, about 600,000 adults in the UK had access to a television set. By 1960 ,it was 25 million. I think we are looking at a change in this industry at least as dramatic as that which happened in the 1950s”.

Verdict: Absolutely