Digital Trends2011A Brief Forecast

The smartphone wars, the consolidation of location services, the fight for our devices, Apple vs Adobe, Google web domination, HTML5 to the limelight ... or the birth of the iPad?

A year goes fast in our busy digital world.

The word digital is starting to lose its face value and being taken out of an isolated context, it is becoming an integral part of what we produce and interact with.

As the perception of audiences between the two worlds of physical and digital become blended into a single one, so are campaigns and ways to communicate with consummers. The language used by us on behalf of brands, is becoming more of a friendly whisper, rather than an agressive shout.

This document, brings some thoughts and trends that have been going on and are certain to make an impact in 2011.

How will we remember 2010?

News don’t break anymore, they tweet

Brian Solis - Media Expert

Established to be Social Platform of choice, virtually every single brand online has a Facebook page. The world’s biggest gaming platform and currently has over 500m users.

Power of Facebook

Smarter AppsI am here: Geo-Location

With the Flash/ Non-Flash debate instigated by Apple on its devices, HTML5 became for many, the solution to a new way to create dynamic content using open-source methods and it’s on the rise.

Twitter has become the place for immediate, as it happens, news. It is a place for self broadcasting,

from celebrities to bedroom geeks, if you say, others listen - including laywers who may sue for it.

We saw the iPad make a huge impact in the way we access media, a fundamental change that will

affect forever the way we interact with newspapers and magazines. Tablets are back to stay.

Apps have evolved. From gimmick to utility, to shopping basket. Apps are to become the

spring board to which we access mobile content, the next phase will be your TV.

Virtually every single piece of data and stats were converted into an infographic - from how many people are consuming social media, to the evolution of the Apple mouse.

It turns out that not only we want to tell people what we are doing, but also where we are doing it. Geo-location is the fastest growing trend and represents ideal grounds for brands to captivate audiences.

This is HTML5

Laptop becomes handheld

Year of infographics

Public speaking on Twitter

640K ought to be enough for anybody

Bill Gates - Microsoft Chairman, 1981

We will see technology providers creating platforms where our liked items, videos, bookmarks and all our digital life preferences saved in the cloud: Creating real ‘branded’ hubs. Google will expand further online and perhaps even offline, with Facebook increasing its reach by partnering up with other solutions to reafirm its firm grip on the web.

What in 2011

2010 has been a year when technology manufactures and providers have aimed to develop ubiquitous platforms: Apple, with its devices, operating system and services, Google and its host of online solutions, Microsoft’s windows platform and Sony, banking big on gaming. These brands want to own all touchpoints of user experience and are creating multiple entry eco-systems to allow people to keep up to date with their digital life.

Defragmentation

Consolidation of platforms

Larry Page - Google

Give people exactly what they need when they ask for it

We will see retailers and real state owners tie in partnerships with content providers to deliver to their customers a richer visit and hence increase dwell time. People want their digital life with them, and by creating closed content delivery, suddenly that shop trip will become a far more rewarding and engaging experience.

What in 2011

Associating a brand with content has always been the age old marketing strategy: think of those early tv commercials back in the 50's and 60's.In an ever increasing mobile world, where devices and laptop computers are at one with people, brands are now using proprietary physical spaces to tap into people's media consumption habits.

Brands as Media Owners

The niche content providers

Jim Stengel - Marketing ChiefProcter and Gamble

It's kind of the oldest form of marketing -word of mouth-

with the newest form of technology

We will see a large number of campaigns and promotions around locations, tied to events, festivals, promotional initiatives and geo-targeted elements as mobile phones will know physical conditions around users. It will also allow for convenience led purchases as well as the accumulation of visits and points with relevance built in.

What in 2011

Check in for rewards is taking off in a major way. Geo-commerce is here now, location based promotions are springing up all over the place. FourSquare pioneered the trend, but the uptake of the technology by Facebook, tapped into an already captive audience: being somewhere and tell the world about it.

Right place at the right time

The Geo-Reward

William Gibson - writer

The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it

Experiential marketing targeted at social mobile shoppers with personalised content will be the killer strategy for retailers. Shops will enable couponing, product tagging, save for later and point collection on the go. Near Field Communication on mobile will allow for easy payment and habits driven shopping, geo-targeting will set shoppers and retailers free, creating a new era in loyalty schemes and rewarding frequency.

What in 2011

Devices have made a huge impact in people’s shopping habits, the store has come to customers and is with them whereever they are. Social commerce is enpowering that trend via recommendation marketing and branded apps, facilitating methods in which we can complete transactions. The physical shopping basket has become engaging interactive tools.

Pocket shopping

Mobile Device & Mcommerce

Mike Bloxham - Director of Insight and Research Ball State University

TV is most primitive screen we have; this will change in next 2-3 years.

Shop the show: The new frontier of advertising, enabling us to tag and shop as we get entertained. Video content will be created for cross channel broadcast with user experience based on intuitive decisions on audio visual stimuli. Integration with social media and content sharing tools will create whole interactive audiences with custom TV schedules. Suddenly, the living room is a much bigger place.

What in 2011

Apple has been trying, but the launch of Google TV seems to finally be the first step towards the inevitable merger between PC and TV. An app based system allowing us to extend our digital lifestyle to our favourite box. Video will take a pivotal role in the way we interact with content - people will make decisions whilst watching.

TV & Video set free

Interactive video

- John F. Kennedy

Ask not what your twitter can do for you,

ask what you can do for your twitter.

Sharing will go beyond digital: people will be able to associate 'likes' and 'tips' to places, services, and anything they come in contact with - people will be able to tag and know what they want to know. It will be a real virtual forum based on multi-media that can be associated with particular elements. Hotpot by Google is already here and this trend will sky rocket - it will be the time to leave a digital footprint.

What in 2011

Everything we like we tell our friends about. Like and Share are the biggest drivers in participation marketing: social media is the new market place with influencers and recommendations pushing sales. Facebook and Twitter are the game changers are the current dominant forces: It is said that by 2012 every campaign will have to have a Facebook presence, whereas it has been claiming news don’t break anymore, they tweet.

Everyone knows

Sharing Explosion

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower

Steve Jobs - Apple CEO

Shop windows and displays will be motion sensor driven, dynamic, interactive and allow people to synch up devices, get info and set their preferences for personalised browsing. Mobile engagement in retail will see the settling of brands in their mobiles, with the evolution of the app model, devices will be the conduit and enabler: elevating retail to a level which fits around people’s spending and media consumption habits.

What in 2011

As the boundaries of physical and digital get blurred, shoppers expect similar retail experiences through devices and visits. Digitisation of retail spaces has already begun to create a platform for engagement: trying products virtually, sharing with friends via social media, experiencing the brand through audio visual stimuli and getting rewarded for interacting.

Digital Retail-tainment

From rack to click

Eric Ward - Marketing Consultant

No matter how much you spend on it, a web site is invisible until somebody links to it

Online ads will break out of the banner formats and be an Intrinsic element in advertising, transcending the digital physical divide to create one narrative - taking on the new platform and trend of merging TV and PC with the advances of video. With the boom of mobile devices, advertising will be self adapting and optimisable to people’s tastes and preferences, considering geo-temporal conditions - enabling the art of whisper selling.

What in 2011

The banner ad made a major resurgence, thanks to Apple's successful introduction of innovative devices, advertisers had to get back to basics if they were to reach a very niche, but crucially influential audience. Platforms consolidation and accurate attribution is evolving to maximise users dwell time and optimise expenditure - enhancing advertising association with consumer purchase behaviour and media consumption habits.

I know you, I am your ad

Smarter Advertising

Alberto Giacometti -Sculptor

When you look at art made by other people, you see what you need to see in it.

People will be able to visualise products and have deeper interaction before they buy - in-store or at online. Content will be self-adaptable and optimisable according to individuals viewing and behavioural responses. Devices will be used to extend shopping experiences via visual cues, wherever people are. People’s features will be the linking factor, increasing participation byrecognising the user, offering relevant services and products.

What in 2011

With the Augmented Reality for eye candy sake days behind us, marketeers and advertisers are now using of this tool to deliver engaging content. Cameras can now read complex objects and even decipher emotions in people’s faces to trigger interactivity - this has changed how retail deliver experiences either in-store or online, making a connection with devices.

Beyond Augmented Reality

Movement Recognition

Google actually relies on our users to help with our marketing. We have a very high percentage of our users who often tell others about our search engine

Sergey Brin - Google Co-Founder

Isolated single channel activites will finally start their long waited graceful decline, and the integration of a multi-part campaign will be the norm. In the coming months we will see a great emphasis being placed on user journeys and narratives and how each piece or ‘episodes’ of a larger campaign takes the user through a storyline being told by the brand. Brand engagement is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

What in 2011

Deep integration between channels: It is not A to B: It is A, to B, C, D, E all the way to Z and back again, campaign and promotional bursts need to have a long term engagement - once the dialogue with people is open, brands will have to keep talking - levels of engagement have to be kept high across preferred channels of communication chosen by consummers.

I interact, therefore I am

Cross channel journeys

December 2010Written by Chris De Abreu@chrisdeabreu © 2010