Perspectives - 2006, Issue 1
Street Smarts
Focusing on the latest trends in brand marketing and communications
Straight to Podcast
Expect others – entertainers and the like – to follow British comedian Ricky Gervais who is staging his “radio comeback” by recording 12 weekly podcast shows that reside on the Web site of the Guardian newspaper. Gervais and Steve Merchant are co-creators of the popular TV shows “The Office” and “Extras.” They also ran a popular weekly show on XFM radio but decided to broadcast their new show via podcast. Explains Gervais: "I want to do a radio show where I can say what I want, when I want for as long as I want and that's free for anybody who can be bothered to listen anywhere in the world. So this is a show that is straight-to-podcast.”
The Trend in Trends
“Trend” blogs are erupting – and challenging the big trend firms and Web sites. The “cool trends” blogs are increasingly popular in the United Kingdom, where blogs like Campus Vibe Trendspotter and Catwalk City are fashion blogs with on-the-street photos of fashion trends. In Shanghai, it’s Shanghaiist, and in New York, it’s Curbed and Gawker. The big trend firms, on the other hand, tend to be secretive as they market their trend-watching skills. Will their blog rivals snare some of their business?
‘Personalized’ AI
That’s “personalized” artificial intelligence – and look for it to help you identify books, movies, apparel and gifts, perhaps, you want after you provide just a hint of your personal likes. Amazon.com already uses this type of software when you purchase a book or record and a list of “similar” books or CDs materializes like magic. Consider Pandora. It’s a kind of Internet radio station that plays music based on your taste. When you provide it with a favorite artist or song, the site computes a list of songs to play for you. As each song is played, the site solicits your reaction to it – and then further massages the list of songs depending on your reactions. The Music Genome Project created the site – and, of course, all the songs are for sale. This approach will undoubtedly catch on!
Experience ‘Experience stores’
So what have you been dying to experience? Hypnosis? Make-up instructions? Being a top model for a day? Perhaps an “experience store” can fulfill your dream. They’re cropping up. In Portugal, A Vida E Bela is turning experiences of a lifetime into a prospering business, reports the trend-watching Springwise newsletter. How does it work? The gift giver buys an experience card from A Vida E Bela. It resembles a personalized credit card and can be redeemed for an experience of the gift recipient’s choice, depending on the card’s value. The experiences are on the store’s Web site. The hypnosis will entrance you for $125 and up and the make-up instruction is available from $130.
Experience cards or vouchers can be bought as presents, but also make great promotional giveaways and incentives. A Vida E Bela is distributing pre-paid versions by the thousands daily, through incentive programs and nationwide promotions with partners like BP. Proving that the experience business is booming, the company is expanding to Spain and Brazil in 2006, and will even have its own TV show in Portugal. In the U.S., Signature Days and Experience Wish are vying for the estimated $200 million experience gifts market.
Serving the 'Super Aged'
As the population ages, marketers and researchers are discovering that the “super aged” – let’s say septuagenarians and up – represent a growing market. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher, for instance, has developed a computer-controlled artificial knee called the “Rheo Knee” that learns a person’s walking style over time and adjusts to short-term terrain changes. Royal Philips Electronics markets a talking defibrillator that offers loud suggestions for better chest-thumping action as it keeps track of a person’s vitals.
For the visually impaired, a system called Mukana developed by Paula Löppönen and Ville Tikka of Finland provides a wearable piece that includes a mobile phone, a wireless headset, a GPS module and voice-recognition software. Users can ask them to tell them their location, provide information on what route to take, and furnish the timetables of public transportation. And product designer Shane Kerwin of London has created a device that allows deaf people to "feel" music with their fingertips through an audio speaker. With Vibrato, a speaker is connected to five different finger pads. When music is played, it sends different vibrations to each of the finger pads, allowing the wearer to feel the difference between notes, rhythms and instrument combinations.
Yes, You May
Be on the cutting edge as a marketer by considering “permission-based marketing.” As new software applications will make it even easier for dismayed consumers to skip, delete or bypass unwanted ads such as spam and pop-ups, savvy marketers are going out of their way to get permission to deliver the right messages to the right people at the desired times and places.
The term “permission-based marketing” also applies to an opt-in system in which people sign up to receive messages about specific kinds of products from a middleman. This middleman firm doesn’t sell lists of addresses, but instead forwards information supplied by marketers to people on its list who say they want to receive it.