Digital marketing has moved beyond the screen.
Today I’ve published new research, Contextual Campaigns: Content, Context and Consumer Connections in a Post-Screen world.
The report, the result of some 20 interviews with senior digital executives at companies like Disney, GE, Nestlé, agencies and technology providers, looks at marketing, and at content marketing, in what some call the “phygital” world. Beacons, sensors, the Internet of Things. Content and consumer connections are everywhere and can permeate almost literally anything.
“The higher the investment, the higher the ROI,” says Disney’s Gunjan Bhow of camapigns that are geo-targeted, based on consumers’ purchase history, and carefully orchestrated with partners in theatrical exhibition and retailers like Walmart. These integrations and partnerships are incredibly complex, but incredibly rewarding. Consumers are will soon expect communications from brands that take into account not just “the right message to the right person at the right time,” but also the right place. Under teh right conditions (is it raining, for example?) and based on their own preferences.
For brand this can lead to richer and deeper customer relationships, increased sales, new lines of revenue and visibility into previously black-hole areas such as the distribution chain. It creates massive amounts of new and valuable data. Consumers, meanwhile, can benefit from better experiences that go beyond mere “personalization.”
My research looks at risks, rewards, case examples and first steps into the contextual journey. Read it, and if you enjoy it, please pass it along to colleagues. And please, let me hear your thoughts and experiences in this arena.