Terms of Engagement – Part 4.

Consumer loyalty – myth or magic?

The answer is yes.

Loyalty is not cheap and it’s not easy. You can’t fix it with a plastic card or frequent flyer miles. It’s not a set-up and leave strategy, however that seems to be what happens in many cases.

“You buy something, I give you something” is not loyalty; it’s a cold and calculated business transaction.

Loyalty is about relationship and the cumulative value provided by the relationship, it’s not one thing, it is not always material and it’s definitely not one size fits all. Successful “Love mark brands” such as Coca-Cola, earn media and customer loyalty by understanding these principles.

Online, digital and mobile technology makes it easier than ever to reach people with branded media messages but retaining positive attention is far more difficult. There is a fine line between interruption and generating interaction value that can be defined as opt-in customer permission.

Social media is the ultimate loyalty scheme. People opt-in, they provide personal details, they share photos, video, have fun, engage in conversations, opinions, information, and they return frequently. Their reward is participation, recognition, sharing and influence. In simple Social Anthropology terms, social media creates a loyalty platform that exposes “What defines us” as an individual, society or culture; it depicts our values, education and the human mechanics of game or role-playing.

Creating the magic in customer loyalty starts with making acquisition and participation convenient, easy and rewarding. Customers know that they are one of many ‘members’ but that does not stop them from expecting personally addressed communications and offers that are specific to their profile.

Preference profiling provides contextual relevancy. Using mobile and online communications as a data conductor allows fragmented customer profiles to be addressed in a highly targeted and personally relevant manner. This requires integration within the mobile channel rather than just integration of the mobile channel. By doing this we are able to serve different needs, rewards and information on products or services to uniquely identified customers.

The LEAD© loyalty strategy, developed by Brandscape focuses on four action orientated stages:
- Listen
- Engage
- Acquire
- Develop

The strategy identifies amongst other things, ‘behaviour breakers’ such as perceived value, multi sensory experiences, need-to-know information and services. Profiles are further mined to identify segmentation groups based on cost versus value, basic product need, dietary needs, health and lifestyle, social values such as Fair Trade, cause related and environmental issues.

Combining these profiling preferences with mobile and online communication creates a Third Dimension that extends the dialogue with the customer outside the retail store environment and into the customers’ social space.

When social dialogue is achieved, a trust has been formed and Trust is the cornerstone of successful customer loyalty and essential to the value proposition.

Terms of Engagement – Part 3.

Retail – the deer caught in the headlights

For the past 20 years, logistics and infrastructure have driven technology innovation. For the past 10 years, marketing and advertising have been creating awareness and interest in digital and mobile communication.

However, mainstream retail has predominantly avoided any real in-store customer connection technology outside of the traditional media comfort zone. This is about as shortsighted and safe as handling Nuclear waste with oven gloves, a beanie and a pair of sunglasses!

In a retail environment, connected technologies such as mobile devices, touchscreens and 2D mobile barcode scanners are the number one opportunity for retailers to add much more than just price-value propositions.

The retail environment is a regular consumer dwell time area and an opportunity to interact with people at a contextually deeper and more meaningful level. The opportunities are considerable, adding service value, transparency, nutritional information, convenience, promotions and rewards not to mention the customer loyalty spin-offs that this would generate.

The dilemma for most retailers is cost versus innovation. If online, digital and mobile is perceived as JUST marketing it will always be perceived as a COST.

To put this dilemma in context; look at the demise of the music and publishing industries. Procrastination is not a strategy.

In reality, these connected technologies should be an integrated part of the revenue generating business development investment model.

Mobile and online digital communication offer the flexibility of format, inter-connection, time, place and opportunity to build relationships that contextually connect with people. These relationships create richer, deeper and more meaningful value proposition that ultimately results in revenue generation.

Terms of Engagement – Part 2.

The New Rules of Engagement

First of all let’s dispel some myths about what defines a brand.

A brand is not an icon or logo, it’s not even a product.

So what is it?

A brand is based on an individual person’s gut feeling, because people are emotional, intuitive beings. Individuals, not companies, markets or even other people, define brands.

Does a brand have value?

You bet, …and how!

Even in today’s global economic climate Coca-Cola is in the top slot, estimated to be worth over $70 Billion, beating IBM, Microsoft, Google and General Electric.

What makes Coca-Cola so successful?

The answer is: they stopped looking in the mirror and started to look out the window. It was no longer a case of the powerful preaching to the grateful masses.

They fundamentally understood the need to add value to situations in peoples’ lives; they became value providers not just product providers by creating ‘member’ relationships and experiences not product features. Coca-Cola tapped into the customers’ social network life and added “happiness” as the core experience of their value offering and linked that to loyalty rewards.

The other significant realization was to view media not as a billboard but as a ‘chat-room’ where friends meet and talk about their experiences not the brand. Coca-Cola’s lightbulb moment was that people don’t talk about the brand just because they like the product; they talk about the brand because they like their friends more.

Coca-Cola’s success in digital and mobile communication is proof that peoples’ experiences last much longer than the lifespan of the product moment.

Media is becoming less about crafting a single message to be consumed by individuals and more about creating an environment for bringing people together.

This reinforces the notion that marketing and advertising needs to be based on conversation and value in relation to context. The big mistake many brands make is to merely view the technological opportunity that digital and mobile platforms offer as yet another media channel that pushes interruption, when in-fact the goal is to create not fill media space.

Mobile and online digital technologies are tools, albeit a very powerful tools. They have the ability to make consumer behaviour forecasting a measurable science rather than an intuition, providing insights that brands can depend on and not something they are forced to gamble with.

In consumer marketing terms, we live in a crowded, noisy, fast-paced world where today’s main currencies are time and attention and brands that abuse them will suffer. By being able to forecast consumer behaviour trends we are able to understand what people are interested in and work back from there to address shifting trends.

Terms of Engagement – Part 1.

Innovate or Die

Many retailers and brands are still punch drunk from the stellar ascendancy of digital and mobile social media networks and the abrupt power shift in favour of the consumer that this produced.

It is an undeniable proof; that a brand looses its way when it looses touch with its customers. The control shifts …faster than a speeding bullet; to quote Superman’s PR agent.

The rapid advancement of digital communication technologies has two stories. On the one hand, businesses have internalized new technologies to enhance efficiencies, stock control and employee management that ultimately seek to drive profitability. The other story reflects how retailers have seemingly ignored the customers’ adoption of new technologies. The rapid development of interactive mobile phone technology has added multiple layers of ‘value’ in consumers’ lives and has changed their behaviour leaving many retailers out of touch with their customers.

The mistake that many brands have made is to ignore or limit the relevance and impact of technologies such as mobile websites, 2D barcodes and location based check-in services that their customers are actively using.

One of the most profound advances in mobile functionality has been the opening up of the mobile web and its use with mobile applications.

Just under 30% of the 2 billion global internet connections are via mobile browsers and in the past year alone mobile web traffic has tripled.

More people are accessing the internet using mobile devices than ever before, especially in developing world economies and by December 2009 data traffic had exceeded voice calls by a factor of 10 to 1.

Five years ago the buzz was that Online Shopping would become the New Store Front and that the days of Bricks and Mortar stores were numbered. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are social beings, we need to interact with the real world, have experiences, get tactile and this is where mobile devices play their starring role. The only obstacle to this is the retailer.

In this series of articles we will explore some of the social anthropologic issues and technologies that are influencing customer behavior and exposing retailer brand failings.

Digisapiens of the Thumbtribe.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the 3 day (Wednesday, Thursday Friday) WTF10 Media Conference in Cape Town last week and was struck by the enthusiasm and passion of the delegates not to mention the 40 speakers.

Social Media, Poverty Alleviation, Education, Health, Mobile Web, Recruitment, Location Based Services and Mobile Consumer Enterprise were some of the subjects discussed and debated. It was awesome!

But it left me with mixed feelings. Here I was with many globally well-known and passionate people evangelizing about the power of mobile communication and interaction and yet our industry is still very much under utilized by the mainstream Ad Agencies and their clients.

Why is this?

Is it because of fear, loathing or understanding, or some other insecurity?

With 4 billion mobile subscribers world-wide you would imagine that the powers that be would be enthusiastically tapping in to this considerable market. There is a lot of hype and conversation going on around the mobile eco-system but not much budget although some do better than others.

There seems to be a fuzziness between agencyland and the real world about how best to create mobile strategies. Globally, the MMA is doing a great job in helping to redress the situation with its education and training courses and I am delighted to be a part of the MMA Education and Training Executive in South Africa.

As Marketers, the first thing we need to understand is that the mobile device is a tool, albeit a very powerful tool but it’s still just a tool. We also need to understand that a mobile strategy is not about being accessible through an application on an iPhone, it’s about helping people to connect to other people and stuff in the real world.

“Geotility” or place and time, are the keys to utility and relevance in context with the users mobile experience. That’s the “REAL” value and this should be the core focus of any mobile strategy.

A recent MSRI research showed that 78% of mobile users say they like Location Based Services on their mobile devices and this confirms the power of the service in driving store and venue traffic.

The survey indicates mobile users are very receptive and responsive to contextually relevant information and offers that leads to growth in usage with continued exposure.

The “check-in” culture is growing off the back of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to name but two of the myriad of social network providers. But virtually connecting is only half of the experience, the other half needs to relate to the real or physical world. It’s the “What’s Next?” syndrome.

Participation, utility and reward are the three key components to engaging with consumers on their mobile devices. We are naturally social beings, we seek out experiences, fun and value from our interactions and as such brands can gain mindshare if they are participants rather than preachers. People don’t talk about brands because they necessarily like your brand, they talk about brands because they like their friends.

Successful retail and entertainment brands will be those that are able to engage, participate, interact and touch the deeper needs of their audiences, meeting individual expectations in a way that embraces personalization, recognition, value, convenience and trust.

The successful outcome will create an opt-in community through integrated mobile communication and rewards that optimizes cross channel media and audience participation.

About Gordon Parkin:

Passionate, driven creative thinker-doer and mobile evangelist. Founder of Brandscape Marketing Pty Ltd a company focused on creating and implementing audience engagement experiences across the mobile and digital eco-system. By studying people and understanding the way they interact with their mobile and digital world we have been able to help our clients lead and innovate. The results have been consumer experiences that are dynamic, intelligent, fun and rewarding that redefine how brands connect with their audiences. We live to help our clients create the future.

Customer service without frontiers

It’s a rare thing in an age of corpratocracy to come across a company that will go out of it’s way (6000 miles!) to REALLY mean what they say when they talk about customer service. My expectations were exceeded, and then some, when I challenged Zappos.com, an online shopping site based in the USA.

Zappos original idea was to create an online destination that offered the absolute best selection in shoes and over the past 9 years this has expanded into clothing and accessories. What makes Zappos stand out from the myriads of companies that offer similar products is their dedication to customer service and I don’t mean the ‘cheesy ‘ sort; you know, the ones who mention your name in every sentence and end up with “have a nice day!”.

So what was my challenge and how was it met?

I was reading an interview with Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, in which he was telling the story of how Zappos started and at the end of the interview he states:

“Oh, actually one more thing, if any of your readers want a copy of our culture book we’re happy to send that out for free. It’s a physical book, so just send an email with your physical mailing address to CEO@Zappos.com.”

So I thought, right Tony, I’ll send you an email with my details and let’s just see what happens. I didn’t have to wait long. 24 hours later I had a return email from Jessica at Zappos (she describes herself as a member of Tony’s Team – Operation Tony Clone). The email was friendly and fun and more to the point, told me to expect my Zappos book in a few days. Ok, I’ve still to receive the book but this was a good start and to be honest, not what I had come to expect from online shopping sites.

These guys are serious about customer service. They give their employees three months training in all aspects of customer service. This does not mean that they all end up sounding like pre-programmed robots, it just gives them the confidence to be themselves and deal with any customer needs in a way that exceeds expectations. Tony doesn’t employ ‘staff’ he’s built a ‘family’ and to do this he makes sure he gets the right people by telling new members that he will give them $2000 to leave the company at any time during the three month training. This way he guarantees that nobody is simply working at Zappos for a pay cheque. (smart and generous).

Zappos is a Billion Dollar plus business run by an inspired CEO and a team of believers who walk-the-talk and know, without doubt, that success is about building a reputation through communication and a great product offering. Reputation is today’s currency. 86% of young adults don’t trust brands to deliver on their promises but in this case I think they could count on Zappos.

In September of last year, Tony locked himself in a cabin at Lake Tahoe (not a bad place to be locked away as long as it’s not with Kathy Bates). He was working on a book titled “Delivering Happiness” (not “Misery”, sorry Kathy!) that’s due to be published on June 7, you can pre-order it from Amazon.com. I’m hoping he’ll send me a signed copy to keep up the momentum he’s built with me. (Tony, if you read this, I’m Scottish by birth and I don’t do subtle.)

What are you going to do next?

Facebook reached 350 million users by the end of 2009 and there seems to be no stopping this massive ‘talk-shop’ as they race to 500 million+ by the end of 2010.

South Africa accounts for 3 million of the current 350 million, which may be small in comparison to Europe and the USA but what is interesting and certain to be a game-changer is the fact that the majority of these users are interacting via their mobile phones.

So why is mobile a game-changer?

Mobile is the ultimate proximity or location based personal communication channel that is rarely ignored. It’s no longer just a talk-text device, it does more or less what a PC can do and sometimes more. Further to the technology capabilities is the fact that our mobile phones are our constant companions; as the old American Express Ad once said, …we “don’t leave home without it” and if we do you can bet that you’ll go back and get it …pronto.

Ok, so all of that you already know but what’s next?

The reality is that we use our mobile phones to connect with our friends and the best way to reach all our friends quickly and cheaply on our mobile is to post a comment or invite on our social network profiles.

We are not naturally house-bound and as human beings we are action orientated, we go out, we meet friends in real life we interact in a tactile manner and we share live experiences all of which are not possible on a PC although the comments and photos of our experiences usually end up there on Facebook or Twitter or any number of the hundreds of social media sites.

What really changes the game is how the mobile phone can change the way we give our friends ‘gifts’. At present we post virtual gifts with comments – a rose, a drink or even cuddly toys but what if we could send a tangible value? This is where the excitement starts not just for Facebook Friends, but also for brands.

Mobile vouchers aren’t new and there are many variations in the market but it is very fragmented and many solutions are simply generic gif file images for discounts.

Globally, Japan has always been at the bleeding edge of mobile communication and innovation such as the use of NFC for mobile vouchers and payments but this is a closed technology society where what works there has little chance of seeing global adoption for at least 5 to 10 years.

In South Africa Brandscape’s BrandNet platform has developed stage one of a globally scalable integrated voucher and ticketing Geo-location based server ‘Bank’ based on 2D codes. The system integrates with online social media platforms, Out-of-Home digital media and mobile phones to deliver “Send12.me” a value add service for brands and users based on Geo-location relevancy.

If Twitter is all about answering that simple question, “What are you doing now?” then BrandNet “Send12.me” location-based services are all about answering the more intriguing question of, “What are you going to do next?”

The “Send12.me” application will include a ‘check-in’ functionality that will allow users to ‘check-in’ by location to access information, brand vouchers and comments left by recent visitors. Connected friends can even send users a drink or gift by accessing the mobile or online application, selecting the venue where their friend is located, making an m-payment that sends the 2D voucher to the mobile phone that is then redeemed at the venue.

In the context of social business, it’s not hard to see how this will be a ‘game-changer’ in the integration of marketing and operations that will come about when friends and reward each other with free and paid for brand incentives that are relevant to locations.

Back to Reality, if you’re rich or famous.

We live in a socially connected world where Facebook and Twitter are ubiquitous, but the reality is that we are social ‘animals’ and need to physically interact with others in similar tribes, niche groups and communities.

This fact has been the driver for the new generation of hyperlocal, invitation only social networks that have been growing round the world.

If the first and second generations of social networking portals were about opening up the world, the third generation is about closing it again. Invitation only sites are proliferating everywhere, creating exclusive, gated virtual communities that exclude the masses and attract elite groups.

A Small World helped kick off the ‘invitation-only’ trend by restricting new membership to those invited by current members. ASW is a private online community that feeds on an existing international network of people who are connected by three degrees of separation. Members share similar backgrounds, interests and perspectives (and similar size bank accounts). The network offers tools and user generated content to help members manage their private, social and business lives. Membership to ASW is by invitation only. Members who meet certain criteria can invite a limited number of their friends to the network.

But sometimes an invitation just isn’t enough. Gaining entry into this new generation of private online world can involve an intimidating process of review, such as career-orientated sites doostang.com, where aspiring members and recent graduates must submit their resumes to be considered for acceptance. Doostang describes itself as a “career accelerator” and boasts that Bluechip employers hire 1 in 4 members; this still leaves 75% unemployed? Other sites are blatantly and proudly parochial and exclusive, such as aprivateclub.com, which is only for New Yorkers in-the-know and in-the-money.

If you’re a young, affluent Chinese guy or girl living in one of the large cities in China, and your picture was taken by one of the contracted paparazzi teams that now roam the clubs and malls, you’ll have heard of P1.cn. This is an exclusively naughty and niche members only, social network community. You were probably then identified by a friend or existing member and “tagged” as potential. The next thing you know, you’re hooked into the P1.cn social network world of exclusivity, affluence, showmanship and virtual catwalks.

In Europe decayenne.com offers invited members, online and real life meet and greet events and boast a membership that spans all the global oasis of the affluent.

Even Wall Street can commiserate the global financial meltdown with each other in the privacy of cyberspace at bankersavenue.com, (maybe it should have been named ‘wankersavenue’) a members-only portal for bankers who must be invited to join. The password being their secret bank account numbers in the Virgin Islands and Luxemburg, now that Switzerland has opted to show-and-tell.

So what does this say about society? We still live in a 7/84 world (7% of the population own 84% of the wealth) and the 90/10 rule is the new 80/20, where 90% of consumers are influenced by the other 10% in their purchasing behaviour.

These new, gated social network sites are manna from heaven for the Luxury brand advertisers and attract substantial revenue. The effectiveness of this new breed of social networks proves that we are not all on the same cloud and that instead of carrying several exclusive plastic cards in their wallets, the elite are now engaging on private networth-networks.

Connected Youth in the Townships

Money, or lack of it, may be the great divider when it comes to social standing but the mobile phone is the ultimate connector and has democratised a previously isolated segment of the population.

In South Africa over the past 5 years the number of active SIM cards has grown rapidly to over 50 million. This is a staggering number when one considers that the population of South Africa is 46 million. The fact is, that this figure does not relate to mobile phone handset ownership but to how the networks are accessed. The high cost of interconnection between one service provider and another has meant that many people, especially the youth, will own 3 or 4 SIM cards to avoid the charges and take advantage of network ‘specials’.

The range of handset makes and models used by Township youth would surprise many. They range from Sony Ericsson, Nokia to mid level Samsung and Motorola. Choice is made by cost versus functionality and not necessarily by brand.

The mobile phone is not only the primary communication device but it is an entertainment centre, social networking channel and the link to the online world of Google and Wikipedia. 19% use mobile instant messaging and 49% are regular social network users including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Where no PC or Laptop is available, mobile online browsing has become the major source of information research for school, college and university studies. Downloaded documents, photos, music and video are freely shared via Bluetooth as most handsets (96.8%) are Bluetooth enabled and the service is free.

The social and educational advantages are strikingly obvious and there are many initiatives that are addressing how to further utilise the platform to expand the user experience and value proposition.

It is my view that marketers have not adequately researched Township youth mobile communication and as such have ignored a key channel to reach this significant audience. The most common use of mobile marketing has been, and still is, SMS, where the communication is mass focused, premium rated and in general creatively lacklustre. It can be argued statistically that SMS is a successful marketing media but this is due to the fact that other mobile media has not been adequately explored or measured. SMS competitions are viewed with cynicism by the youth as many feel the cost of their entry is paying for the campaign and even generating revenue for the promoting brand. Much more can be done to generate a more positive brand experience and increase the value and impact of the brand communication.

Planning and adopting a mobile brand strategy requires insight and knowledge that few traditional agencies fully understand. Most are still fixated on mass marketing and do not appreciate the impact of the “small world phenomenon” in relation to mobile communication. Many strategy plans still refer to LSM (Living Standards Measurement) Groups. These are, in my view, almost redundant and we should be focusing on mindsets, niches, tribes and communities. If as marketers we want to communicate with an audience we should be addressing lifestyle interests, utility and relevance if we want to gain more than a seasonal spike in a sales graph. We need to clearly define our measurement criteria for success beyond ROI (Return on Investment) and include ROO (Return on Objective). By giving weight to ROO marketers will increase the consumer value proposition and gain more consumer ‘trust’ which is sadly lacking as reflected by the fact that 86% of 15 to 25 year old consumers do not trust brands.

Brand recall and stark sales figures do not automatically mean that consumers ‘trust’ a brand. Exceptions, such as Nike and Coca-Cola have embraced mobile marketing and are extremely conscious of meaningful, relevant consumer engagement that is rewarding and memorable. Both of these brands have created an environment of participation highlighted by the acknowledgement and use of CGC (Consumer-Generated-Content) that directly relates to how their brands are used by differing individuals, interest groups and communities. This has not only created trust but also developed valuable conversations that have produced new products and increased brand relevancy.

The core aspect of mobile communication is to converse in addition to encouraging (incentivising) sales uptake. Strategically this requires campaign awareness, brand communication channels, fulfilment and follow-through.

Traditional media channels still do a great job of creating brand awareness and one of the most effective in today’s economic climate is radio in combination with point of sale material that should almost certainly include digital screens where possible. Proximity marketing by promoter ‘Blitz Teams’ with wearable Bluetooth tags has proved to be highly effective in communicating the brand proposition and incentivising ‘pull-through’. Bluetooth is free and delivers multiple rich media brand communications to consumers’ mobile phones; think of it as a “digital handshake” that can slip the user an instant reward. The effectiveness of Bluetooth media is magnified when there is a human interface in the form of a promoter who is able to verbally engage the consumer and help where required adding further brand kudos. Mobile activations with promoters are not like handing out leaflets as multi media content is delivered to the consumer’s phone which will add reach and keep the brand front of mind for longer than dispensed print media. Adding an incentive to the multi media content in the form of a 2D barcode voucher is the next part of the conversation conversion. To redeem the instant win 2D barcode, consumers scan their phone voucher at a strategically situated portable “Brandpoint” unit where they will enter their mobile phone number before receiving their reward. An instant SMS is sent back to the entered number that thanks the recipient for interacting and includes a simple ‘click-through’ link to the brand Mobi site where the conversation can continue and further rewards can be gained that require ongoing brand interaction or pull back to the retail outlet. Think of the impact this would have at a Township Taxi Rank.

Brands can’t afford to have promoters activating 24/7 throughout a campaign in which case, integrated Bluetooth networks with digital screens or static Bluetooth enabled poster sites and Bluetooth units (TaxiTags) inside branded commuter taxis can be employed to effectively extend the communication reach. Utilising Bluetooth Networks, time sensitive content can be refreshed and updated remotely as the campaign progresses. It becomes a talking point that, using the small world phenomenon, grows the brand reach exponentially. In addition consumers engage with each other adding trust and relevance to the communication. Usually the first thing that one person tells another with this form of media is “it’s free! I didn’t have to send an SMS.”

Using Bluetooth responsibly as a media channel is the key to a successful campaign. This is an ‘opt-in’ media and not a mass media blanket approach. It doesn’t work on lists of prospects, it interacts where it’s relevant and well received, therefore the brand can be assured that each contact is by choice and valued by the recipient.

The Code of Knowledge

Do we really need to know everything part 2.

Let me first help you understand the paradigm shift in the media environment over the past 50 years. This is important, as media is how we gain general knowledge and become informed.

It took radio 38 years to achieve a reach of 50 million people, it took TV 13 years to do the same, the Internet achieved a 50 million reach in 4 years, and the iPod took 3 years. Facebook reached 100 million people in less than 9 months.

Social media is no longer a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate and become informed. The concept of social networking has evolved and is radically changing the look and feel of online and mobile interaction. Not so long ago, you could count the number of social networks on one hand but now there are thousands.

People have become more socially active through the online and mobile ecosystems and personal presence is no longer the sole domain of rich and famous celebrities. Anyone with an Internet connection or 3G phone can connect and participate. There are now more than 200 million personal blogsites and the figure grows daily. 54% blog or Tweet daily, 25% of the search results for the world’s top 20 brands are links to consumer generated content, 34% of bloggers actively post opinions on products and brands. People now care more about how their social group ranks products and services than how Google ranks them.

One of the most successful consumer generated content sites is Wikipedia with over 13 million posted articles. In a recent report, The Encyclopaedia Britannica admitted that Wikipedia was more up-to-date and accurate.

The fact is, that we no longer search for news, the news finds us. Soon we will no longer search for products and services, they will contact us based on our browsing behaviour, online and mobile purchasing habits and most importantly, our permission.

Successful companies will begin to act more like ‘Party Planners’, aggregators and content providers than traditional advertisers and retailers.

With this in mind, how do brands and services gain permission, communicate and add value? The three technologies that are emerging as contenders are Bluetooth, RFID, and QR codes. Each of these platforms is a technology mutation that has found real relevance in the marketing strategies of progressive and future focused companies as consumer ‘handshakes’.

Bluetooth is the most prolific of the three and the one that has the lowest barrier to consumer entry and engagement. It is free to the user and provides multiple rich media content download.

RFID has not been widely introduced as the cost is still high and few mobile phones have the ability to read or interact with an RFID chip. However this does not mean that the technology will be bypassed, on the contrary, the application of RFID into the media and marketing ecosystem will happen.

QR codes (Quick Recognition) are extremely versatile. At present they are being used in conjunction with SMS, MMS, WAP and Bluetooth to deliver scanable vouchers, tickets and coupons with impressive results. But QR codes can also be used to provide online information links. This is done by a code being photographed using the mobile phone camera. Once the image is captured it accesses a handset resident application that has been previously downloaded by the user. The application ‘reads’ and deciphers the encrypted information, goes online and links the user to a WAP site where the information is displayed. At this point in time, QR codes are not widely used as a result of the differing handset resident applications. However if there were a universal application that could access all QR codes the adoption of this form of content delivery would increase.

There is a fourth technology that could be adapted and used to access online information using the ubiquitous mobile phone camera. At present the technology of scanning business cards is built in to several handsets. The application allows the user to photograph (scan) a business card and then inserts it into the user’s contact folder. This same technology could be used to photograph ‘tiny or bit URLs’, the online equivalent of an SMS short code number, this could then be saved in the handset’s bookmarks and accessed at anytime by the user.

For brands to stay relevant they will need to adopt and embrace both emerging technologies and shifting consumer behaviour. To succeed, brands will have to change their advertising focused marketing strategy and redefine themselves as the ‘Party Planner’, entertainment (Advertainment) and utility provider and publisher.

Consumer communication channels and expectations have changed dramatically, most notably in what is referred to as Generation ‘Y’ who now outnumber the Baby Boomers. Generation ‘Y’ expectations have more to do with added value social experiences than brand centric media that is seen as manufactured and generally mistrusted.

The challenge for brands is to meet their consumer expectations of participation, reward and added value in ways that acceptably commercialise and monetise online and mobile social media networks.