“Advertising both follows and leads to change.” – Andrew Solomon, The New Yorker
There is an effective trend I’m seeing in emerging media and digital storytelling that not only can “lead to change” in society, but builds buzz for the brand at the center. This branded content approach is one that shows situations that “provoke controversy.”
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In thinking about strong companies that are using emerging media to their full potential, several come to mind, but Amazon always tops the list. Amazon relies on interactive opportunities to not only build awareness, but also create relationships and expand loyalty. Why are they so successful? Why do they succeed when others don’t? Why can’t regular brick and mortar companies have such an impact?
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“I’d like to believe that trends are always for the best and push everybody in the industry to step forward and make even better products. For instance, responsive web design started as a trend and in a short time it has become a necessary part of the design process.” – Claudio Guglieri, art director at B-Reel, NYC.
What do you do when a product design change alienates a key ethnic group?
Toyota faced this challenge with the 2012 Toyota Camry redesign. The Asian American audience had always considered the Camry a “smart buy”. A 2009 Polk report states “manufacturer’s reputation and quality is the number one purchase driver among Asian Americans.” With the slick new body style, the Camry was no longer attractive to this audience. It didn’t seem as durable or high quality as the previous model. In short, it was too sexy. Even though Asian Americans are only 5-6% of the population, they represent the highest percentage of Toyota sales. This was a big problem, and Toyota needed to win this market back.
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“The potential with digital marketing seems to truly be bound
only by the creativity of those who wield the tools.”
(Strasser, 2014)
Emerging Media, or “Immersive Media” as I like to call it, enables a 360-degree surround sound of the consumer with messages that effortlessly connect and engage. The emerging media toolbox is comprised of individual digital tactics such as websites, banner ads, blogs, eblasts, search, social media and mobile marketing. But by adding a little creativity and imagination, we can use these to build a fully immersive experience with the brand.
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To better understand the future of Google Glass, I recently interviewed Dave Lorenzini, a pioneer in geospatial and augmented reality industries. In 2000, he helped to start Keyhole.com, which was the first global 3D visualization system online. Today it is known as Google Earth and serves over a billion users worldwide. Now, as the founder of The Glassware Foundry, he helps companies create software for Smart Glasses such as Google Glass and prepare for “this revolutionary new way to look at the world.” Continue Reading
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
This year at CES 2014, LG joined the wristband sensor craze with the launch of LifeBand Touch. LifeBand Touch is not only a smart watch but an activity tracker as well. It sports a sophisticated design that does it all. In addition, the corresponding Heart Rate Earphones measure your heartbeat, something lacking from other popular wrist trackers.
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Nice branding video to humanize this some what geeky wearable tech, but it will need to do more than just let me video my travel.
“Uncommon success requires uncommon thinking”
– Rob O’Keefe (O’Keefe, 2007)
Jose Alberto Duenas, vice president for cereal marketing in the United States at Kellogg, said in a 2010 New York Times article, “If you want to make a connection, you have to give consumers a chance to take part of the spotlight. Authenticity is what we’re looking for” (Newman, 2010). To create connection, marketers need to think above the literal product features and benefits when creating commercials. This means not actually showing the product “or if they do, it’s incidental at best” (Menick, 2014). This means using storytelling to affect an emotion. This means letting consumers be the heroes in the journey.
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Copyright 2014 - Kristi Hansen
