I
want to focus my first real post on the most important macro trend affecting
the industry; one that impacts everything else that I’ll be talking about over
the coming months.
That
trend is of course technological progression, and the resulting shift in the
nature of consumers’ interactions with brands. The nature of the value exchange
between brands and consumers has gone from extremely simplistic – product or
service for money – to something much more sophisticated in a Web 2.0 world.
In
a socialised environment, where transparency is expected and knowledge is
infinite, brands now target forms of engagement, advocacy and recommendation as
a success metric in this new value exchange, while consumers want to receive
either functionality or entertainment, or both, across multiple platforms.
Bob
Greenberg, the Founder, Chairman, CEO & CCO of R/GA, told me in New York a few weeks ago
that, “the relationship a consumer has with a brand has to be informational,
wrapped in some kind of utility, and tied to community. Whether it is
entertaining or not is secondary.”
“The
work that we have done with Nike,” Greenberg continues, “demonstrates how a
client that wraps its organisational structure around the consumer can deliver
work that brings genuine utility and value to the consumer, across multiple
platforms, and links to a social network.”
Greenberg
cites the Nike ID work, which has moved on from the mass customisation of
personalised trainers to a Nike ID Team Kit Builder, currently being developed
by R/GA London, in which people can design every element of their personal or
team sports kit online or in-store.
Greenberg also mentions the Nike Ballers Network, in which players or teams use a
Facebook app to pick up basketball games. This app has proved to be hugely useful
to high school coaches in the US, who have limited resources, and ties into the
online, mobile and indeed print channels in which the players are tuned into
throughout their daily lives, bringing them tangible value everyday.
These
ideas, as well as the hugely successful Nike+ work, demonstrate precisely how
Nike have set a benchmark for marketing within the Web 2.0 environment, where
brands need to shift their mindset from being broadcasters to facilitators if
they are to deliver sustained success.
The
next phase of technological progression will be Web 3.0. This is the
development of a contextual, intelligent, semantic web that exists in the cloud
and, as Greenberg told me, “will be totally synchronised across all 5 screens,
to the extent that the distinction between TV, PC, Mobile, Cinema and Dynamic
Signage will become extinct. This phase will take some years to become a
reality but it will happen.”
The
work that R/GA have done in developing Nokia viNe, which I am proud to say that
I worked on as part of IPG Team Nokia, is an idea that truly pushes the
boundaries of technology towards the Web 3.0 era.
By linking informational and
entertaining content with context, immediacy and your personal community, the
very definition of social networking is infused with a multi-dimensionality
that can only exist when your digital and physical life is totally synchronised, and
the power of GPS and mobile devices are harnessed to the full.
Incidentally,
Creative Review have just announced that Nokia viNe is one of the chosen
projects in their Annual Best in Book – see the article and an explanatory
video at http://tinyurl.com/cjmydo or
sign up at http://vine.nokia.com/
As
I said at the start, I’ve started with this very broad overview of how
technology is fundamentally changing the value exchange between brands and
consumers, because it is this unstoppable force that is driving every other
seismic shift within the industry. The recession is simply a catalyst that is
forcing change to happen faster and more painfully.
This
really is a topline overview of the topic, and there’s plenty more to discuss,
but I’m aware that this is already a very long post so I will keep my powder
dry for another day.
Would
love to hear your thoughts.
