2011 saw A LOT of movement within the digital media and interactive marketing realm.  The mobile app space is literally exploding and the portability of media through gadgets and new products from the ‘big boys’ has become a sea of formats everyone is racing to accomodate.  The conference kickoff was a big success and we’re looking forward to an even better (and bigger) event in 2012… or “v201.2″ as we’ve been calling it. 

Anyway, back to the ‘predictions’.  With all the changes and advancements over the past few years, you can expect these areas of interactive media to grow and become a bigger ‘beckoning’ for your time and budgets…

Video

Video has had a strong presence since the high-speed penetration finally hit the critical masses about 7 years ago.  But with new technology available in targeting, mobile consumption on the fly, and the essence of cheaper production tactics, video will continue to take center stage for attention.  2012 marketing and audience strategies in digital channels should all include some form of video production whether it be ad units or full feature webisodes.  Video is an “attention getter”, it ‘engages’ your customer more than any other format of media and will continue to do so.  Take advantage of the trending tools available to track, deploy and develop video because they will get attention.  Be sure to pay attention to your branded components and overall impact the video has on your customers.  Put yourself in their shoes and make sure it’s not received as “hoakey” or a poor grade production.  There are a lot of videos posted that simply don’t have the professional treatments, yielding an unwanted reaction from your audience.  Take your time, use the professional resources out there and make sure your video work exemplifies your brand quality and service levels.

Mobile Apps

I used to just say “mobile”, but now that over half of consumers today have smarfphones, I’m narrowing it down specifically to mobile apps.  Over 3 billion downloads are expected in 2012 and the market just keeps getting larger and larger.  2010 introduced “studios” that create apps for a fairly decent price, but as we saw at Digital World Expo and even since – a number of tools are emerging allow for a “do-it-yourself” execution.  Therefore, companies with big budgets who might not use do-it-yourself tools, but should certainly see the competitive app developer landscape bring creation costs down.  Independent workers and smaller companies can expect services where they can enter the app market for a small fee. 

The apps I retain on my device are full of utility.  I only keep the ones I use at least once per month.  Apps should be built with the mindset of how they can be used to manage day-to-day lives, unless they are entertainment only.  After all, games don’t help us manage our daily life, but they do give us a social/extracurricular activity outside of our workday which is often needed.  There will be another expolosion of apps out there, just like there was an explosion of websites back in ’99.  You may even see some of the worlds largest online publishers take a second seat to competitive app interfaces produced by companies leading the charge and taking over the mobile browsing time of users. 

Augmented Reality

With the recent holiday campaigns by Starbucks and other retailers, augmented reality will find its place amongst large marketing campaigns in 2012.  AR tools will be developed and allow even more insights into audience interaction and activity.  AR will also be used to initiate sales conversions more frequently and begin to enter the world more often through interfaces outside of mobile devices and computing.  Augmented Reality will no longer be a ‘novelty’.  Both today’s leading companies and independents will find the sweet spot in AR and how to apply it where it makes sense to drive more users and conversions.

Those are my 3 picks for emerging media in 2012.  No comment around ‘social media’ this year.  I think that 2011 saw that area come to fruition and most companies leading the charge have successfully integrated it into their regular operations rather than a promotional tool.  The trick will be to discover online social tools that will start bleeding audience away from the ones we are used to.  History suggests that as soon as a well-used platform starts to experience SPAM or comment stuffing, users will start looking elsewhere for their outlets.  We’ll see if any major shifts in platforms occur in 2012.  With technology and audience preferences changing so rapidly, I’m guessing we will.

Happy New Year!

If you look at job position discriptions today for Marketing Managers or Directors, you’ll find that companies are requiring online/interactive media experience.  It used to be a specialty but now that the web and other digital mediums are coming around full-scale, they are being included in required job skills by average marketing positions.  In addition, senior-level positions are requiring this background as well – or at least some management experience with digital applications.  For those of us used to educating strictly interactive marketing professionals, we are now faced with a new audience that either wants to learn or has to learn these channels and strategies.  This is the same group that dismissed online media for years and now it’s come around that they must learn the principles in order to stay marketable in today’s workforce.

While observing this trend, I also noticed that many conferences today were still catering to ‘advanced’ strategies, not really the best point for someone to jump in without knowing anything.  Yet with media technology emerging so quickly today, it’s literally impossible to stay on top of it all as it is.

Since first noticing this, I started putting together a curriculum for both advanced and beginning strategic education around digital media.  The result is a new conference, catering to both groups of understanding with a little more flavor than the run-of-the-mill conferences that exist today.  Digital World Expo will be held in Las Vegas on September 25th – 27th at the Mirage Events Center.  I’ve involved a number of thought leaders and professionals to help with feedback and innovative ideas to make it a show like none other.  The conference holds over 30 class topics with over 60 sessions, sporting an exhibit hall as well as special events.  The timing is intentional as well.  We looked at dates out there and decided that late September was perfect because for most companies, it’s the middle of their planning ‘season’ for next year’s advertising plans.  Not only will attendees get much-needed education around the fundamentals and advanced subject matter, they’ll also find opportunities for their company’s marketing strategies and objectives for 2012. 

You can find more information at www.digitalworldexpo.com and I urge everyone who is looking for a new experience with hands-on training in digital media channels to attend.  We are coupling entertainment with education and after living and working in Las Vegas for over 16 years, I guarantee the best resources are being utilized to compose an unforgettable experience.  The exhibit hall is free to attend and the full-access pass is priced to be affordable for small to mid-sized business as well.  This is where I’ll be dedicating all my time and passion towards as it is my firm belief that education will spark innovation and can only contribute to the next-generation of advertising, branding, communications and marketing.

My regular writings will now be posted on the conference Web site so be sure to check in to see what the latest is.  See you there!

On the surface, good for them!  But in the back of my mind I recollect a few other recent acquisitions that seemed to go nowhere….  AdMob’s acquistion by Google.  Quattro Wireless’ acquisition by Apple.  Etc Etc.  I’ve worked with a lot of these companies before their acquisition and was happy to have them as a resource.  But it seems when the bigger players come onboard, these newly formed business units don’t get very much further.  It’s almost as if the acquisition happens just to make the headlines, then nothing.  The companies come in, dismantle the organizations and define their next steps.  But the “next steps” never really happen.  This is a tremendous injustice to us digital advertisers as it pretty much “removes” these service providers and audience resources from being real contenders in our media planning. 

I can only hope in Dapper’s case that Yahoo! allows their original vision and execution of technology to move forward as it is certainly on the right track.  I think that those in charge of the acquisition and assimilation of companies into their own culture often forget and lose sight of what attracted them to purchase in the first place.  Perhaps this will be a better deal, given that it’s focused around a tool that provides a fantastic option for online marketers looking to refine their message for each individual user.  Good luck guys!

While mobile marketing is still new territory (for the US anyway), there are a lot of questions and definitions that need answering and explanation.  I felt I outlined the components to this channel fairly well in my book, but some of the industry’s leading experts have really divulged a comprehensive view of mobile marketing and its various elements.  MobileStorm is one of the leading companies in my local marketplace as well as the rest of the world.  They recently came out with a whitepaper focused on mobile marketing which clearly outlines everything for those entering the space.  Not only does this report provide an excellent summary, the report also gives critical insight into the future developments of mobile marketing channels.

I can’t recommend this enough to today’s digital marketer’s and advertising professionals.  They’ve been gracious enough to provide a link exclusively for Emerging Marketer upon request.  Download the file and print it out.  You’ll want to hand this out to your staff, peers and associates.

Which leads us to landing page optimization.  I’ve attended too many meetings where advertisers and agencies always “talk” about dynamic landing page optimization but never pull the trigger.  For some reason, whether you are using a provider or not, this simple yet important practice always gets brushed under the rug.  Perhaps it’s because most online marketers don’t know html or php.  Or perhaps there’s a thorn-in-the-side disconnect between advertisers and IT/Web Development.  Whatever the reason, landing page optimization has mostly been forgone by the largest companies out there, only to be practiced by the freelancing, affiliate who benefits immensely by this practice.

For those of you who have always thought this was a great idea, but never found anyone to spearhead it, it’s time to step up.  Here’s a tool that is simple to use on a basic level and if nothing else, will get you more experience with landing page optimization and build toward bigger and better things.

On the surface, re-marketing looks like a no-brainer for online marketers.  But as you dig deeper into cookie expiration dates, brand placement and view/click metrics you start to get a much more interesting picture.  Users that are re-marketed to are done so based on their behavior at a certain time.  Say, for instance, you are looking for a last-minute birthday present for your mom (as I typically am).  Several sites are visited with the purchase (conversion) taking place within a couple days.  How does this impact advertising expense?  A lot.

Right now, most network advertisers are paying a flat CPM for impressions that are retargeting users.  Many conversions are going to take place within a few days, yet the cost is the same for the duration of the campaign.  Ideally, the goal to optimize your efficiency in ROI would be to pay the premium cost for impressions early in the campaign, but reduce that cost as the cookies age.  You’ll see that the number of conversions drops dramatically over time which means that the cost should be less to bring those conversions about.

Dapper, who I’ve been following closely over the past couple years, came out with a study and presentation around this very issue.  It reiterates what many of us already know but breaks it down into a clean, simple overview.  Check it out here.  And “kudos” goes to the first online advertising network that reshapes their busienss model around “dynamic CPMs”.

Why, you ask?  Because it doesn’t take any knowledge or know-how to simply plug a game into an XBOX or Playstation and start playing.  PC gaming is much different in that it requires hardware and allows more room for cheat codes and tweeking.  Sometimes, you have to change your system processing attributes to even play them.  While this is much more difficult than pushing the “on” switch on an XBOX, it gets your kids more familiar with computing and attributes that will help them understand the technical side of systems used today.  I’ve already experienced their frustrations with slow downloads or configuration issues.  But the fact of the matter is that they are learning more in doing this than just plugging in a game and zoning out for hours.

It’s interesting how many parents think of the XBOX or Playstation (or WII, etc) as a babysitter.  Consuming their children’s time with hours of captivating attention.  As parents, we have the responsibility over what they watch and play.  Forget the rating systems – how are you, personally, making sure your kid’s time isn’t just a plug and chug of entertainment? 

That said, with proper parental monitoring and support, video game content should be monitored the same way as you monitor who your children befriend at school or other activities they choose to do.  But for us adult gamers – and believe me, we are “numerous”, I don’t feel their should be excessive restriction on the type of content video games include.  Just as movies are gauged toward different audiences, video games are the same. 

Recently Stan Lee reached out to the gaming community regarding support for controlled regulation.  I suggest everyone in the gaming community read this and participate to thwart attempts that will ultimately restrict the creative nature and progession of video game entertainment.  Check it out here.

Yes, the Virtual World environment has rules most marketers don’t understand.  Yes, when engaging in them you open your brand up to public opposition.  Yes, the users aren’t neccesarily your target demo.  But whether you acknowledge it right now or not, the Virtual World space continues to grow, just not highlighted by the media outlets that threw the premature spotlight on them a few years ago.  In 2001 I remember Second Life just getting up and running.  The drawback at the time was the connection speed and processor requirements to yield a smooth experience.  In 2007, There.com, Second Life and a handful of others were being touted as the “next big thing” in digital audience.  A slew of companies invested hundreds of thousands to have their virtual world presence.  The drawback wasn’t connectivity, it was understanding.  Virtual Worlds had a whole new set of rules of engagement that marketers weren’t prepared for.  Commercial applications were practically “shunned” by the inhabitants and the promise of audience began to dissapate.  Now there are nothing but “ghost towns” in Virtual Worlds where brands such as Pontiac, American Apparel and Coca-Cola once were.  So… does this mean the concept of leveraging Virtual Worlds will go away?  Absolutely not.

While we all continue working our other emerging channels of brand distribution, Virtual Worlds continue to grow.  I believe that as technology continues to advance and provide these worlds cross-platform, we’re going to see another round of “testing”.  But this time, concerns over connectivity are lifted, marketers are more versed in the social aspects of engagement media and the Virtual environment will possess more target demographics and audience size than ever before.  2001 was the startup.  2007 was the “hype” (ending in disaster).  Perhaps in a few years “Third Times a Charm”.