The evolving media landscape has placed a lot of pressure on the industry to become more social, engaging and innovative in ways they are getting their messages in front of consumers. As a digital native, I often get asked whether or not I think that print is a dying medium. My answer to that particular question is always no. The reason for that is because although the way in which we consume print may physically change, the written word is still essential in terms of sharing thoughts, opinions, ideas and news. In the very near future, consumers will likely be picking up their tablets instead of newspapers to read articles from The New York Times, but it does not mean that print will no longer be an integral part of marketing campaigns. Marketing managers are constantly having to identify new, innovative ways to position their brands in ways that bridge traditional and digital media. Take a look at how AXA brought together a traditional print magazine with an Apple iAd in Belgium.
Media as Usual – May 7th May 7, 2010
- Microsoft unveils ‘KIN’ smart phones: Microsoft recently released two new phones, the KIN ONE and KIN TWO, that are designed for social networking and run on an independent operating system from Windows 7 and Windows Mobile OS. These phones are designed specifically for social networking, targeting teens and young adults. Homescreens combine newsfeeds from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. While teens don’t have as much purchasing power as other generations, social media usage in this way seems like bad news for advertisers. Users of social media on their phones use these sites for just that – SOCIAL purposes. I doubt many people will browse company fan pages from their devices. Particularly on Facebook, it’s increasingly important for companies to continually update their pages so that branded content becomes a part of the user’s newsfeed. Content delivered in this way is both free and considered less intrusive. It’ll be interesting to see how well these phones sell when they are made available later this year. (Frankly, the KIN ONE looks more like “my first phone” than an innovative new gadget…) One can’t blame Microsoft for jumping on the social/mobile bandwagon though. Smartphone traffic is rapidly increasing, but Windows hasn’t exactly been leading the way.
- Apple’s iAd Not Game-Changing, but Will Move Market: iPod, iPad…what’s next?…the iAd. As Steve Jobs so eloquently put it, “most…mobile advertising really sucks.” Apple is set to change this with the iAd, promising to deliver interactive ads that people might actually want to click on. Apple sells and hosts the ads which will utilize HTML rather than flash. These ads will be embedded within apps, where showing one ad every three minutes will mean an estimated 1 BILLION ad impressions per day on iPhones. Leave it to Apple to find a way to cut through the media clutter and finally make people pay attention to and even engage with ads.
