A deep dive into digital marketing

No Passive Media

Posted by Chris under Advertising, Community, Mobile, Research, trends

Despite the title I don’t mean media in the strict sense but rather in the context that the consumer is/or can be interacting further with the brands we market. Or just maybe, I mean something even bigger.

For the past year we’ve been utilizing a customized version and experience of the Consumer Decision Journey (link the McKinsey’s white paper). Becoming a core to our context planning, that we’ve expanded further by segmenting the barriers that block someone from moving around the path (to purchase), and then adding the possible media touch points that could intersect at that moment.

Maybe not rocket science, but it’s been art and science, and highly successful for a number of clients and their business. Overlay it with our Institute of Decision Making: which brings (as described in Michael Fassnacht’s blog) “Behavioral Economics and Neuro-Science, or more scientific ways of understanding the impact and purpose of brands for the unconscious part of consumer’s minds and we’re ready for the next leap.”

No Passive Media, The ability to create systems that connect, that allow and plan for a next step with each touch point as a part of marketing.

Why now? Three things – Technology, Behavior and Content

Technology

Well on one side we have technology. Technology in which I can interact or take a next step (easily) with just about every media touch point out there.

We can think about this as one aspect of our 6.5 Seconds that Matter^SM, the brief window of opportunity we have to make our message count.

However let’s expand it, not only to reflect multiple touch points but also to create flow and a depth of story that no singe medium can sustain. In other words, a series of 6.5 moments or 6.5ⁿ

Technologies like:

Connected TV* – widgets and apps on your tv

Bar, QR codes and even symbols and logos - and the apps that support them –See them in print ads today

App’s like Sound Hound and Shazam – what’s that song on Glee

Search – Where a lot of our next step takes place

SMS – Get a coupon from OOH

Social media – it’s already there

Mobile – perhaps the nexus point of next step

The list of technologies go on, but I think you get my drift that technology is allowing us to take a next step; to engage if we want to.

Now I’m not going to argue if this is good or bad, time and how well we do it will tell.

Behavior

We’re seeing this connectedness/next steps with media with consumer behavior now, albeit perhaps with cobbled together technology. Is it everyone all the time? No and not yet, but that’s ok, it’s about scale across dedicated audiences.

Absolutely there are times you want to lean back (see * below) and we’ll take that into account. In fact it all has to start with consumer behavior and then using technology to support this

Content

This can be the copy, the status post, the visual story; all that and more. It’s the information that we create and curate, which ultimately is the expression of the brand. And to bring the idea of No Passive Media to life we have to think like content creators, but that’s for another post.

How we think about it:

Here’s the foundation, the output of which is Commercial Transmedia Ideas; Ideas or media that connect and creates a system and allows for a range of passive and active interactions with the brand.

Next generation Experience Planning

This goes beyond integration. McKinsey gets at this a little in their new white paper:  Beyond paid media: Marketing’s new vocabulary. But we’ll need to go farther beyond just integrating, we actually will need to do interaction decision planning: a what happens or can happen next planning that creates advertising and marketing that connects the dots and doesn’t just leave room but creates space for a next interaction.

Of course not everyone will want to always do this for ever interaction, sometimes I just want to switch off and have a lean back experience with my TV/magazine/book/website, etc. and that’s ok, it’s part of our planning!

Recap

Evolving technologies, core and changing behaviors and multi channel content give rise to commercial transmedia ideas. This in turn will let us recognize and bring to life work that has No Passive Media.

It’s the evolution of what we once called campaigns, then evolved into what some called platforms and what we now call systems. More on that later!

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*yes I know this one is the “farthest out” but I kind of consider a laptop / mobile phone interaction while you are watching TV the caveman version of this. Since there are TV’s and systems (Google TV for all it’s pluses and minuses) available now I’m counting it. And if the forecasts are right, mainstream over the next 12-18 months.