Below are some of the trends I think are going to be big players in 2011. I feel these are important to note for the year to come. They are some of the trends I would make sure I was fluent in for the year ahead:
Interactive Advertising
Marketers are really going all out to grab consumer’s attention. Today’s print media is no longer cutting it. The marketers are now turning to large-scale, interactive, viral video billboards to make sure they get noticed. Like I spoke about in earlier in my blog, interactivity and innovation are what to look out for in 2011. With the advancements in technology and the add-soaked world we live in, in is any surprise that this was what was on the cards?
Digital Retail and Mobile Applications
With the amount of consumers running to the internet to voice their opinions, the interactive shopping experience has never been more powerful! Within 2 minutes you can find out via your smart phone, real customer experiences with a product. Digital word of mouth beats any salesman’s pitch .
Secondly, with iPad, iphone and general applications taking on a life of their own, brands now have to differentiate themselves from other industry competitors to keep their momentum. The creation of interactive retail allows you to experience the store first hand, without ever leaving the coach.
Shockvertising
Whether a high class brand or a worldwide charity, brands have gone above and beyond to differentiate themselves to get attention. Brands aiming to create awareness and increase their business are utilising shock tactics like obscure, gruesome and overly odd sexual imagery. For example if we take my previous blog entry about “creative sexploitation” we can see that generic sex no longer sells and brands have had to up their game to get noticed.
Social Media Superiority
Businesses are incorporating YouTube, live streaming and Facebook to attract customers from every angle, social media has become the medium of choice by consumers who crave immediacy. Brands need to be aware of this and keep real time responses going to stay top of mind.
One could argue that the traditional means of marketing have been seized by technology, the key factor that was instrumental to its regicide being social media. The world has changed; in the past if you wanted to ingest vast amounts of media one was afflicted by marketing’s efforts of persuasion. But a social media revolution has emerged and trade media attempts are now falling on deaf ears.
Tweetonomics
To follow on from the Social Media trend, Twitter has become an incremental part of business success. Tweetonomics has flourished, more so than anyone expected. As long as Twitter continues to grow, so will the businesses that use it. With its growing membership and people becoming Twit-literate, there will be a surge of business opportunities for 2011, so it’s up to businesses to make sure they don’t get left behind.
Stealth Success
Whether it’s Starbucks disguising as an indie espresso bar or Absolute getting rid of its label, it’s quite clear that stealth marketing has taken on a life of its own. Consumers are turning away from big brand names and are directing there interest to the smaller more unique businesses. Mega-brands are getting the blame for the recession so smaller or newer businesses have an open door to capitalise on this new movement.
Crowd Sourcing
Consumer’s votes are now pushing a variety of products such as furniture, clothing and even quirky logo design. Furthermore, with this digital revolution the power is now more so than ever, is in the hands of the consumer. Their voice has never been louder; if you don’t listen to your consumer it can be detrimental to the business, as we all remember the GAP fiasco.
Brand Reversion
From the creation of adults sized playground to child-themed grown up ads, it seems that consumers are on a continual quest to satisfy their childhood nostalgia. With iconic figures targeting grownups and well as children, brands are really tapping into youth to keep business booming.
The MacDonald’s playground is a perfect example of this; the playground allowed grown-ups to forget about their deadlines, budgets and stresses of life and just revel in this incredible childhood arcadia. There was huge hype about this campaign online for the simple fact that adults really connect with communications that are able to reignite childhood memories.
