My rule of thumb for what inspires me to write a blog post, just like what triggered awareness of change when I was an analyst, is when some sentence or quote sticks with me for more than a millisecond. That happened to me a few weeks back when I saw a tweet quoting Jonathan Nelson, CEO of Omnicom Digital, saying that "TV has stopped evolving. The Internet of Things will replace it." Not able to visualize what he meant, I chatted with him about the statement. What he said and what he meant were different than what I expected. Here are a few points that he was making with that statement:
- Device innovation is slowing. The evolution of screen-based devices, from TVs to even mobile phones, is reaching a natural maximum. New features and functions are being tucked into these pocket-sized and wall-mounted devices, but the most recent innovations – 3D, 4K, retina displays, touchscreens – are amazing advances, but they don’t fully accelerate the functionality of these electronics.
- Internet of things proliferates. Things connected to the internet – thermostats, key locks, cars, and coffee makers – will all be revolutionized by the advances made in chip an screen design that allows more devices to use what was device innovation to change the functionality of everything from cars to diapers to ice cubes.
- The challenge for marketers will further shift from ads to experience. Future screens will be small, functional and task specific, not large and roomy like a flat screen or full size tablet. The new Audi dashboard or Tesla’s iPad-like controls could easily carry messages for food, gas or other retail in the near future. The creative challenge to make an ad or message fit the context of these screens will make addressable TV advertising complexity seem simplistic in short order.
This call to action will take traditional advertising-driven companies into very new airspace. The tag line and the 30-second spot will still exist for sure, but retention of the brand by consumers will come from direct engagement with products that delivers value beyond a core category. Think smart cars vs. traditional cars, smart watches vs. traditional time pieces, and smart weight trackers vs. traditional scales. With that in mind, marketers need to take the following actions in 2015 to prep for CES 2016.
- Personify the product. What gazillions of kitty videos and thousands of Nests and Nespresso machines have shown us is that a product with a personality matters. Its not a panacea, but when a consumer interacts with a product they need to get a brand experience that bonds them. That doesn’t mean rampant anthropomorphism, but it does mean that everything from instruction guides to packaging strategies needs to fit into the brand story.
- Invest in audience-specific messaging. Ads will still run, and brands will still have to move pallets of goods from that. But getting the story in front of the right audience, not just in line with a type of content, will require more ad production to make it real.
- Attach unexpected adjacent services to the core product. Tide’s dry cleaners,
Apple ’s Siri, and the Johnnie Walker Blue Label’s “smart bottle”, all add to the core offering with something that provides unique differentiated value. I recently got my folks to start using Fitbits, because I wanted to make sure I knew they were moving everyday and could see that from our connected Fitbit accounts.
Writer's Note: since starting to write this, Adobe used their Summit to announce their connection to the Internet of Things. Just when you thought you could mature your social, mobile and local digital marketing efforts, here is another shiny new object to engage your budgets.
