New Ecosystems
We’re in a funny place right now.
Traditional advertising—television, print, and outdoor—seem to be holding on for most leading brands, and for specific industry verticals. Sure, newspapers are gutted, and radio is sliding, and many magazines are bleeding subscribers, but it’s not like companies aren’t doing Super Bowl ads anymore.
Websites, banners, and search marketing are so mainstream—and, in most cases, standardized—that they’re only remarkable by their absence. The online revolution, in that sense, is complete.
Social is even beginning to be relatively stable—Facebook is getting ready for their IPO, and Twitter continues to provide a megaphone for celebs, both the “traditional” Hollywood ones and the newer digerati. Both have plenty of ways for brands to engage through advertising, contests, and other venues. Sure, there are tons of startups, including some really interesting ones like Pintrest, but it’s not like brands are panicking about how to incorporate a whole new paradigm into their marketing.
Mobile is moving a lot faster, and more brands still need to catch up, but we know the general template here: target phones with specific mobile sites, and make sure your main site is tablet-friendly. QR codes, apps, location-based services are viable and known options.
Augmented reality remains niche, but it’s arguably moving towards much more general acceptance with applications like Google Goggles. It still takes a fairly hefty investment, and tolerance for “marketing on the edge” to engage with augmented reality, but it’s a real option for brands, especially toy and entertainment brands. As it becomes more mainstream, expect many more opportunities at all levels, from functional “this is how to change your printer cartridge” applications to broad-ranging, geolocated treasure hunts across real space.
Virtual worlds are quiet for now, mainly due to the small audience and large investment needed to really engage. This will change as virtuality moves into the browser and more people engage with it, but for the moment, it’s a small niche.
So why is this a strange space? Because, on the surface, marketing opportunities appear to be relatively stable. This is a fairly significant change from the panic of the first Web 1.0 days, or the upheaval centered around the first social marketing.
But under the surface, entirely new ecosystems are emerging—and, in many cases, brands aren’t taking complete advantage of them. We’ll look at some of these new ecosystems in upcoming posts.
