More balls please

More crystal ball gazing, this time from the guys at trendwatching.com, and looking a little further in the future BT's Innovation Timeline.

Tags: trends, future, bt

Does Dove Drop The Ball On Survey

Amelia Torode points out that Dove's latest campaign missses a trick. The campaign encourages consumers to fill in a survey: "Real women know best when it comes to beauty care. So good or bad we really want to hear what real women have to say." However it resorts to banal questions like "Dove makes me feel more confident to reveal my underarms. Agree/Disagree".

This is annoying that they missed a trick on this one. With innovative research techniques like Imagini's visual based work they could have done something more interesting that actually lives the brand of consumer champion and real-ness.

Surely they would have enough insight from the vast commentary they get on campaignforrealbeauty.com. This smacks of marketing size 12s stomping in.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Social Regulation

Brands including Masterfoods and Pepsico have started to pull back from targeting kids online. In a recent article in NMA I commented that this has major cash implication for the industry that has particular affinity for youth and that was anticipating a windfall. Though not short of a bod or two this could become a trend that could potentially extend from food to other areas.

Another point I raised but that didn't make the article was the web's ability to self regulate. From Kryptonite and Dell to Hummer consumers have not be shy about pointing out corporate hypocrisy or malpractise. Companies need to self regulate before people force them to.

Media Agencies Pass The Buck

In a recent article a number of prominent media agencies slammed the larger portals for not doing enough to push the medium. Media agencies are hardly renowned for their innovative and creative thinking so there is quite alot of "the lady doth protest too much, methinks".

As I mention in the artile the onus is not on any one single company in the communications mix but media, creative and clients as well as consumers need to all work together, dont worry no group hugs involved.

I have always found that given a compelling strategic reason all involved, but especially media owners are more than willing to think outside traditional formats. Ogilvy's Cisco livecast with the FT.com as an example for one.

R/GA and Bob Greenberg

Some interesting musings from the founder of AdAge's Agency of the Year and much lauded as the big thing:

Bob Greenberg on web 2.0’s impact: “If web 2.0 represents community and social collaboration on a grand scale, then in many ways we’ve simply gone back to the web 0.0 future”.

R/GA Earns 'Adweek' AOY Kudos: “The nature of storytelling is changing in a world shifting from analog to digital media.”

Branding in 3-D (pdf): "Message, time, place must align to really reach consumers"

Ad 2.0 (video): "Nightly Business Report"

Redefining Relevance (pdf).

Though their site talks about engagement neutrality yet they only operate in the digital channel, err surely something wrong with this picture.

Martin Sorrell On The Media Industry

Martin Sorrel on MediaWeek.tv, a series of web chats from Media Week in association with Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. The Webchats feature some of the highest-profile names in media from Andy Duncan – CEO of Channel 4 to Fru Hazlitt, CEO of Virgin Radio. They discuss the big issues of the day: from the future of traditional media channels in an increasingly convergent and digital world, to the evolving role of media agencies in the modern client mix.

Crystal Ball Gazing

What's going to happen in 2007? What will be the impact of convergence? How will the net neutrality debate be resolved? What will be the impact of social computing? Will I still have a job?

Vincent Thome found: Predictions 2007 from Deloitte, three reports onoutlining the critical trends that will influence the global TMT market in 2007. A couple of other reports for the year ahead:

Future Media Trends from the Future Exploration Network.

Breakthrough Ideas for 2007 by Harvard Business Review.



Any more for any more?

A Global Planning Brain

Russel Davis has launched a new tool for the planning community, in the form of a Plannersphere wiki. A great idea along with his coffee mornings and the account planning school of the web. Ogilvy have also been investigating wikis as an ongoing working tool.

Mobile Codes Are Coming

Generate your own QR codes - this one will point you back to this blog .

There are huge implications and opportunities for marketers and QR codes and Shot Codes. These codes are 2D matrix widely seen on posters and billboards, they provide anyone with a cell phone immediate access to everything from information on consumer prize campaigns to addresses and maps for retail outlets. The latest 3D implementations QR codes are capable of storing up to 1.8 Mb of data, including video.

Mike Fiorella from Japan Marketing News points to this article that says that "fast food brands are now printing these codes on sandwich wrappers. One quick scan and you're instantaneously provided with nutritional and/or ingredient information. As you'd expect, QR codes increasingly appear on packaged goods too."

QR & Shot Codes are already in use by Coke, Ping, EMAP, Swisscom, Rossignol and by 234 a major european music distributor.

Most of the cell phones in Japan now come pre-installed with appropriate software and are supported by several major handset manufacturers like Motorola, Nokia, Sharp, Toshiba & Sony. Though you can download QR readers or ShotCode readers online or through WAP sites.

The latest rumoured technology from Fujitsu is the FPcode - similar to QR & Shot codes but rather than looking like a black smudge, the code is invisibly printed onto the image in the advert itself.