Plugging UK AD: New Trends and Convergence

New Trends and Convergence

Posted in

In 2009, Nielsen predicted a list of the top possible Advertising trends for 2010. This list consisted of:

“Optimizing media convergence is a top priority. A better understanding of media convergence will manifest in order to deliver a better return on investment. The ability to accurately measure activity and link online ads to offline purchasing behavior will be critical.

New models emerge to take advantage of smartphones. Accurate mobile measurement will be required to stay head of the snowballing growth of that media platform.

More cross-media ad campaigns surface. The massive growth of online video games played and shared online leads the way for more successful interactive and cross-media advertising campaigns to appear. Growth in the adoption of this innovative advertising across screens and activities will increase.

Commercialization of social networking hubs increase. Social media will provide a new sales channel for establishing product awareness and commercializing brands to better support traditional advertising or text-based ads.

More interesting and interactive online ads appear. Increased use of more creative advertising and content models online such as video, attention-seeking page takeover ads and mechanisms for greater interactivity will drive the next era of Web development.”

Actually, these predictions are pretty accurate and online ads, social media, mobile apps and Internet are the key players this year. As Adweek states “Most marketers plan to up their online video ad spending in 2010”, which isn’t a minor decision at all.

Let’s Talk about Facts

Advertising and online platforms are shaping each other every single day. The content online is evolving really fast. For example, an internet company created a new type of internet ad called ‘hover ad’, which is located at the bottom of the browser and you have the options to ‘collapse’ it or expand it. This kind of banner is much more appealing and catchy; it is also more interactive. If you want, you can check it out online.

Talking about new ways to advertise on the web, Nikon launched a break ground campaign called The Nikon Virtual Touch Experience in order to promote a new camera. They are promoting the product by a Web app, which uses edge-detection technology, so as to give consumers a simulation of the touch-control capabilities for their online photo galleries by using their webcam and then being able to ‘touch’ and control their pictures on the screen. “The Nikon Virtual Touch Experience is a utility that uses a Webcam to let users move through photosets and resize images with gestures rather than their touch-pads or a mouse. Users can download the app at Nikon siteAshtonsCoolPix.com” (Adweek)

But things aren’t only changing online, they are also changing and adapting offline. Yes, I’m serious! Just look at what Los Angeles Times did on their front page! On March 5 this year, they adapted their print edition front page so as to look like their online home page. This means that a big ad was displayed on it and covered almost the whole page. The ad showed Johnny Deep’s Mad Hatter character on 3D. "We knew this was an unusual opportunity to stretch traditional boundaries and deliver an innovative ad unit designed to create buzz and further extend the film's brilliant marketing campaign," said John O'Loughlin, evp of advertising and chief revenue officer at the daily, a property of the Tribune Co.

Sometimes it is a Mix of Online and Offline Stuff and That’s Called CONVERGENCE!

Most theatres are going to install digital projection systems in order to show 3D movies… AND ADS! Keeping up with what’s going on in the film industry, advertisements have to catch up in order to get people’s attention. If you are about to watch a 3D movie, you need to have 3D ads about it and 3D ads of other products or services that are going to be shown during the trailers and ad time.

By the way, Avatar is trying to mix the 3D experience that consumers can get at the cinema with ‘everyday life’. WHAT? Yes, they are having a catchy exhibition at The Grove Mall in LA where people can walk into a big digital display with 3 screens that capture their images, make them look like Na’vi and, then, email them with information about where to buy the movie and other content. “The success of Avatar called for an eye-popping exhibition that would be as engaging as the film and is bound to not only attract attention but draw in shoppers and drive sales of the Avatar release,” said Jeff Cohen, managing partner for Inwindow Outdoor.

Why Aren’t You Talking about Social Media Here?

Patience! If you are interested in social media, you’ll love this bit. Adweek explains it better than I could do:

“Facebook's plan betrays an ambitious agenda for the company to take its deep trove of social data and spread it around the Web through a set of social plug-ins, which among other things will make its "Like" buttons ubiquitous and let sites customize user experiences. That information then gets fed back to Facebook and broadcast to the user's networks. By compiling a list of what interests and motivates people, Facebook could out-Google Google by building the most powerful "database of intentions," as author John Battelle termed it in 2005.

(…)

"This is as massive of a move as we've seen on the Internet in a long time," said Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media, a tech platform for brands on Facebook. "For the first time, we have the ability to think about how to optimize these viral loops for brands in much the same way as game developers have."

(…)

Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the first marketers to use Facebook's new tools. The company sees adding social features to Levi.com as a chance to overcome a challenge: e-commerce doesn't allow people to try on clothes and receive friends' opinions. (Technology can't yet let people try on virtual clothing.)

(…)

But with Open Graph, Levi's, which has tagged all items in its online store with Facebook "Like" buttons, can connect shoppers with friends. There's also a Friend's Store, where users can see what their friends and others like.

"We think it's going to change how people shop online, and make buying jeans more fun, dynamic and engaging," said Doug Sweeny, vp of brand marketing at Levi's.”

You can read the full article at their website.

Convergence is such a huge thing right now that there are even tutorials online about how to do advertising in this new era and there are also different opinions about it. I’m more about the positive perspective of it. Convergence gives you new tools and ways of reaching people with your message but others have new things to say. To read about convergence in a different way, check out this article.

Many times, it’s really useful to look at things from another perspective… that’s something that convergence gives you too, different perspectives…

Cheers!