Infusing the Dreamscape
I turn to Dwell for inspiration, for new ideas to populate my dreamscape. So maybe the context made me more “prepared” to see deeply into this recent article in the magazine. On one level, it is a pretty prosaic story about the gadgets and software that connect the online and real world. But somehow, the idea that architecture and portable communication technologies are allowing us to interact with space and with each other in new ways struck me as profound.
Our EVP, Ron Ladouceur wrote about this emerging world in the Media Logic’s 2010 Retail Marketing Report:
But perhaps surprisingly to many social media advocates, the physical store remains critical to the brand experience. Apple, Bose and now Microsoft have moved into physical retail, while many brands, like Sephora, Bath and Body Works and Barnes & Noble maintain all but identical physical and online stores. With the (ironic) exception of Apple, these brands are using Facebook and other social media platforms and tools to make the online brand experience feel more real, and the real brand experience feel bigger.
It feels like the dust is settling and we can proceed with confidence in our discoveries over the past year. There are infinite possibilities for how brands can blend audience reach with an “experience,” or “happening” when they employ the right blend of social tools and physical space toward emotional crescendo. We have determined by trial and error and solid research that engagement is king. Personal mobile devices, location-based promos, and gadget/user relationships from yet to be invented technologies, all transform the marketing whole into something else entirely – each time a new follower, “Liker” or user infuses the conversation with their perspective.
From the Dwell article I mentioned, Martin Raymond, the strategy and insight co-director of The Future Laboratory captured the point well:
As pop-up has become the norm, and 3-D the default way a new generation expects to be entertained, all retail will have to appeal to the emotional, experiential, and creative aspects of consumers—–especially if they are to be lured away from the keyboard and back onto the shop floor. This will require a new commitment to retail design that truly woos and a ramping up of service that, until now, has been found in bars, exclusive clubs, and five-star luxury hotels.
Well said. And the cool thing is, you can really substitute “shop floor” with any tangible you can dream up – conventional, current, future or otherwise.
Raymond also issues a challenge to major retailers to revolutionize – not just how they build and design their stores, but how they architect their businesses. The age of social media demands that companies retool (read as “consider the consumer”) or die… Companies of all kinds need to incorporate the social world into how they do business to remain relevant and competitive.
Coca-Cola seems to feel the same way. Its Black Friday promotion enveloped all phases of a social promotion. Utilizing geo-location based deals to drive teens to physical stores (in this case, within a greater mall). “Coke will be aggressively promoting the initiative with online, print and mall signage to include giant elevator wrappers… CEO and founder Seth Priebatsch tells Mashable that Coke will also deploy mall street teams on Black Friday to educate shoppers on how to use SCVNGR and get them excited about the experience.”
To think up all this stuff and coordinate the many new demands of what has become a world of real-time marketing, agencies need to break free of old structures. Danielle Sacks’ recent article for Fast Company, “The Future of Advertising,” explains it all:
Creative teams … now need to behave more like improv actors – “story building” instead of storytelling – so they can respond in real time to an unpredictable audience. Marketing actually needs to be useful – “use-vertising” instead of advertising — which means that you must think more like a product developer than an entertainer. While campaigns once promised glossy anthemic concepts, perfected before being shipped off to the waiting client, digital is incremental, experimental, continually optimized – “perpetual beta” – and never, ever finished.
At Media Logic, the transformation Sacks’ describes is well underway. We’ve already worked through many of the challenges/changes that need to be addressed, which has driven us to invent new tools and processes (like Zeitgeist & Coffeesm) along the way. Let me tell you, this is about as excited as I have been, and I’ve been in this business a long time. I fully expect the possibilities presented by the integration of a brand’s owned media properties – its stores, emarketing lists, websites and social platforms – with earned and paid media opportunities, will infuse my dreamscape with new and fantastic possibilities for years to come.
