Is this the future of advertising?

(I would like to start off with an apology for a quiet few days from me on the blogging front. I have been knee deep in client projects and meetings – normal service will now resume! I’m sure I have posted somewhere before about taking the time to blog, so am following my own advice again.)

So after a quiet few days on the internet front for me, one of the first things I discovered in my reader, was this vision of augmented (hyper)reality, produced as part of a film project. It had completely passed me by until now so I wanted to share it with you.

This certainly presents a fairly cynical view of the future of technology and brands. I’m not sure if this was really the intention of the creator though he does claim it is more a critique of the present than a glimpse of the future, which is a fairly big giveaway as to how he views brand intrusion. Whichever way you look at it, it certainly throws up some interesting questions.

Where does one begin and the other end?

The question of where technology is heading and how much our daily lives will be dictated by the technology we use, as opposed to something we choose to add to enhance our lives, is certainly an important one. We can be in no doubt that technology is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives. The internet drops out and I feel like I’ve lost an arm, I lose my phone and I lose my whole social and professional circle. But what is starting to happen is that the medium itself is becoming less distinguishable. Convergence is in full swing and the days of a piece of technology having a singular function are long gone. Our TV viewing and online conversations are moving closer and closer together and mobile internet is just reaching the tipping point of its full potential.

So what does this mean for brands? The impact on advertising is clear and brands must think of increasingly original and unique ways to reach consumers and interrupt the usual pattern of behaviour. What’s going to prompt someone to go from one ad format to another? Plugging your Facebook page url at the end of an ad isn’t quite going to cut it.  But this change in technology is also impacting the marketing budgets. As devices moves closer together and the internet becomes a way of life, whether you have a TV ad, a billboard, a banner ad or email newsletter will matter less and less. Your advertising will need to be multi-message and consider the fact that the person you’re reaching, no matter where you’re reaching them, is only a click away (if that) from going online. This a  is a challenge, but a very exciting one. It changes the way that we think about advertising. Instead of it being a  way to reach your audience with your shiny campaign message, it becomes just one of the first steps in the journey a consumer will take with your brand.

An article in the NY Times today perfectly demonstrates the idea of a truly multi-media approach for brands. The article discusses the role that Twitter has played in the increase in TV ratings. The impact of Twitter and TV is clear, generating live conversations around a  programme or event, on an as-yet, largely separate device. The two haven’t quite come together in a way that works yet, but the potential is huge. According to the article, a recent Nielsen study found that one in seven people who were watching the Super Bowl or Olympics were going online at the same time. It won’t be long until the 2 devices – TV and computer – really come together in a way that changes the way we consume content forever. Brands then need to think how they can be flexible enough to support this through their marketing efforts, both paid and otherwise. Permeability is key, and in a very real sense too as brands will become something that we pass through in our day to day activity, as opposed to ambient noise.

What about the consumer?

So if we take this vision of the future as presented above, we also need to ask ourselves what this means for the consumer, as much as what it means for the brand. Will we mind this brand intrusion if it means we pay for less things? A free fridge that shows up different ads each day? Sure, we all like free stuff! Our ability to sell ourselves to brands has been demonstrated in the past, people will even tattoo themselves for a free lunch.

As much as social media has presented a great way for individuals to gain a voice and for brands to adapt to consumer needs rather than the other way around, this vision of the future is certainly worrying. The technology part is great, but the impact on our free thinking and ability to steer our own conversations is certainly a cause for concern. This is not to suggest that consumers are stupid and we’ll do whatever the ads tell us to, but with advertising all around us and guerilla marketers out in force, it can’t help but influence what we think about, if not the way we think about it. Everything is susceptible to advertising, even (gasp!) Twitter, according to their head of product management Anamitra Banerji. Whether, as consumers, we are comfortable with this is ultimately a moot point. The subscription model isn’t really taking off online yet, so intelligent advertising is the way forward.

As the internet is becoming a crowded marketplace for advertising  (how many banner ads do you think you see each day?) brands will start to look at other ways to get and keep our attention. Whether or not it will quite reach the scenario outlined above, it’s clear that they will be reaching us in ways we can’t even comprehend yet.