20/20 vision doesn’t cut it anymore, and mobile devices are advancing to give modern consumers 360 vision – and even the ability to see through a brand with x-ray vision. Now with a simple scan, the third eye that is the mobile device can show product attributes that aren’t printed on the label, information of corporate ownership to add new complexity to purchase decisions, more entertaining content and augmented reality surrounding the brand, and beyond. In this presentation, Momentum Worldwide's chief creative and innovation officer Jon Hamm will discuss the repercussions of the third eye and the elevated hand it puts in the hands of consumers – plus the moves marketers must make to prepare for this closer fusion of the digital and physical worlds.
Impact of technologyWhat it means for agencies and brandsWhat we are doing about it.
Since as far back as we can remember mankind has had an innate belief in another world, a “reality” that we cannot see yet believe exists alongside the reality we know. Most cultures share this belief A fourth dimension.
This belief has in many cultures gone hand in hand with the concept of a door or window into this world, which many people believe could be developed and trained to allow us to see this world. These people were referred to as gurus or seers and they were revered for their skill
Whilst this “skill” had historically been the preserve of the spiritually disciplined, in todays world this skill is available to all.
In today’s world it is technology that is giving us a 3rd eye into another dimension and satisfying our desire to see beyond the physical dimension.
Our technological eye reveals all. The quality of the chef in the kitchen, the amount you should pay for the car you want to buy, how the shirt you like was made, how far up the street the taxi is…(more examples)No longer the preserve of the guru and now in the hands of all of us.
But what does this all mean for brands and marketing. Clearly a lot and it’s only just beginning, remember this desire has always been with us. This is an itch we just can’t scratch. This use of technology to reveal the “hidden” is something that we expect to continue to accelerate.
For the purposes of today, I want to focus on one big area or consequence for brands and what it means an agency like Momentum. This is the closure of the gap between Say and Do. Put simply, whilst not everyone today uses technology to reveal the truth, the fact that they can changes the paradym.
In a world where I can get the reviews of people I trust – mums, dads, friends – before I purchase the baby food, no amount of brand pressure is going to persuade me otherwise. Brands need to understand this and not simply adopt a mobile, social strategy etc to accomadate this new model but truly understand that all their actions – the products they make, how they communicate and how they behave, will all contribute to how we judge and evaluate them, much more so than the power of their media spend.In this world actions speak much louder than words Our 3rd eye reveals truth.
At momentum we believe that every interaction a consumer has with a brand is an opportunity to deliver on the promise of the brand. We call this TOTAL BRAND EXPERIENCE.
Total brand experience is a strategic and creative vision for a brand that aligns all potential consumer interactions including communications, marketing, retail, product development and corporate actions to one holistic standard. The goal of total brand experience is to help brands fulfill their promise in everything they do rather than make new ones.
To achieve this we focus on 3 things: Authenticity PersonalizationCo-creation
For the purpose of today I want to focus on Co-creation and in particular for our belief that To create real value in this world brands must seamlessly integrate themselves in the lives of their consumers and co-create communications with them.
With our 3rd eye …There is little hesitation in knowing we operate in a cultural and technological world where consumers know everything about a brand, from who owns it, to where and how products are manufactured and sold. As a result of this, companies are now evaluated by much more than their products. We are in a world where a brand’s values and the emotions they evoke is material.
This presents marketers with an amazing opportunity as the most powerful way to persuade someone to your idea is by uniting the idea with an emotion. It’s indisputable that the best way to do that is by telling a compelling story.
But we need to recognize that it demands insight and skill to present an idea that packs enough emotional power. To do this we believe that need to move away from thinking about branded content and embrace true storytelling.
The difference? Stories rely on the intended audience to develop their own imagery and detail to complete and, most importantly, to co-create, whereas content does not. Content is primarily created in the internal mind of the content originator, with no heed to the mind or to the context of the audience.
"no tale can ever be told in its entirety" His reader-response theory “recognizes the reader as an active agent who imparts ‘real existence’ to the work and completes its meaning through interpretation.”
It’s this acceptance of the concept that we can not nor should not try to tell any story in its entirety and the subsequent embrace of the mind of the audience in co-creating our story that is the vital step that we need to make if we are to truly resonate emotionally with our audience.
The legendary Steve Frankfurt, who is credited with creating the line, “In space no one can hear you scream,” clearly understood the role of co-creation in telling stories. This line creates a world for the imagination to populate. It allows the audience to put themselves in the story and co-create their own sense of claustrophobia, fear and isolation. It was simple and comprehensible, yet gives clear direction and meaning. It captured the idea, the brand or in this case the movie, perfectly. Teasing us as to what the film would deliver and at the same time aligning perfectly the experience of it after. It is a story in its own right.
More recently: Intel’s campaign “The Beauty Inside,” a ”social movie” that centered on a guy named Alex who wakes up every day with a new face and body. Whilst there were many reason to applaud about this work, for me it was the central notion itself that drove its success, as the director Drake Doremus himself said, “The story was exciting to me--the idea of waking up in somebody else’s skin every day but being the same person on the inside… was some territory I was interested in exploring." This is equally true of the audience. This is a story we are all inherently interested in co-exploring, it is an idea that we can create in our own mind, we can place ourselves in the context of the story.
In conclusion,In a world where content is everywhere. Stories will become the real currency 3rd eye revealing truth is changing everything and most importantly changing the way we need to think about the work we create.