There are one million fewer PCs being sold every day in 2011 because people are choosing to be connected to their favourite digital destinations and activities through mobile and tablet devices.
Smart mobiles are the new mobiles and their ubiquity is close at hand with almost half a billion handsets forecast to be in use around the world by the end of 2011. And market share is being fought over hard with Google Android, Nokia Symbian, Microsoft Windows and RIM Blackberry all set to have sizeable chunk of the market each rather than there being one outright winner.
Equally, the unsurpassed rise and popularity of touch tablet devices is extraordinary. In April 2010, there was just the one device, the Apple iPad launching to great fanfare but with a fair degree of scepticism too – remember the comments about why would people want a giant iPhone? At January’s Consumer Electronics Show, there were over 80 devices across a range of platforms announced with 50 of these launching this year and translating into an estimated 54 million unit sales globally in 2011.
So what does this mean for brands wanting to create consumer engagement and doing business in the digital space? How are people connecting to them, their services and one another through these devices? Several themes emerge for brands to consider which include:
1. Ubiquity of access
2. Collaboration and co-creation
3. Connecting digital to the real world
1. Ubiquity of Access
The rise of community based platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn as well as Apps play a large part in people’s changing behaviours and access points in digital. We all know the rise of Facebook’s popularity, but it isn’t just its basic features which are drawing people to spend on average half an hour a day within this world. The rise of social gaming, location based communication, social commerce and virtual currencies all mean people increasingly have compelling reasons to keep returning, engaging and transacting. It should also come as no surprise that the last medium teenagers think to use for communicating is email; their reflex when contacting friends is to Facebook them, that’s where they all are!
The challenge for brands is to ensure they have relevancy in their customers’ lives and daily interactions in this mutli-channel digital environment. Simply put the brand URL is not enough. From acquisition, transaction, retention to, maybe most importantly, recommendation, brands need to think about how all the content, features and functionality they have spend thousands or even millions of e-business and marketing dollars creating for their websites and offline activity translate, integrate and perform in this environment.
Online fashion giant ASOS has just launched its fully enabled Facebook commerce application, directly targeting its 450,000 fans in tangible recognition that not all its customers want to go its brand URL to transact. They have leveraged all the assets they created for their website, translated the same established brand experience in opening up another important distribution channel for their sales and eCRM.
At Fortune Cookie, we work with our clients to create annual engagement calendars: essentially this is an activity map across the customer lifecycle which shows the distribution of content, functionality and communications across all digital touchpoints to create a holistic customer centric brand presence. We can then ensure all the tracking and measurement is gathered consistently across all these channels so the intelligence and insight we gain allows us to build on genuine learnings, and to test and learn new things quickly.
Speed and flexibility are key – this is a space which yearns for small initiatives that can be launched quickly, tested and improved upon.
2. Collaboration and co-creation
The second theme which emerges is that of the parity of the relationship between the brand and the consumer. The days of brands living in a world where their identity, personality and behaviour are defined purely from one source (usually their advertising agency) and broadcast one way are well and truly over. Thanks to community based platforms, the street is very much two way. Brands now are shaped as much by what their customers say about them as by what they say about themselves. LinkedIn has recently launched a new version of its company pages, where LinkedIn professionals can personally recommend products and services which are then automatically highlighted to other professionals in their network. Given 78% of people trust and act upon a personal recommendation versus only 14% who respond to advertising in the same way, this presents an enormous opportunity for brands to embrace and put their brand, their products and services, firmly in the hands of their customers and empowering them to advocate on their behalf.
Pepsi now seek ideas and voting from the public on how they should operate their corporate social responsibility. Starbucks has actively changed its physical café experience because of the proactive sourcing of feedback through its digital channels and acting upon it. And insurance brand like Axa and Liberty Mutual are leveraging Apps and the new iAd format to engage with consumers to create a jointly owned brand expression.
Even luxury brands are looking to share the creation of their brand experiences: Louis Vuitton undertook a campaign exclusively on Four Square when it opened its new Maison store in London. Users could receive tips on their favourite locations in London and earn their very own Louis Vuitton insider badge which was positioned the user as being a ‘living Louis Vuitton icon’. Who would have predicted a luxury brand would be doing that a few years ago? And is it any surprise Four Square has seen a 4,000% increase in its subscriber base in the last six months?
3. Connecting to the real world
There can be a tendency from reading too much digital marketing press and indulging in digital future gazing to conclude that we will never have the need to have any kind of real physical interaction at all with anyone. But of course that’s not true. As human beings, we are by our very nature social creatures. What digital channels and communities do is replicate the physical relationships that are so important to us. What happens digitally is that these are collided and condensed in a way that is simply not possible in the real world. It means we can communicate and connect with friends, brands, services and utilities with a speed and ease which has never been possible before. So ensuring your brand is available at the right time, in the right (digital and physical) place has never been more important.
Mobile and touch based interaction can act as real connector between digital transaction and physical fulfillment. For example, if you’re hiring a car, you’ll most likely transact via an airline or hire car website to make the booking. But to retrieve your booking, upgrade your vehicle, plan your itinerary or extend your hire, having additional easy to reach and touch digital tools elevate the entire brand experience and bond customers to that brand much more firmly because of the ubiquity of access to relevant interactions. That’s exactly what we do for Europcar through the award winning applications we’ve built for their customers to use.
The Savoy offered tickets to its re-opening exclusively via Twitter, you could win a pair of Jimmy Choo trainers by checking in on FourSquare to find the latest location of the trainers and get there before they left. Starbucks’ 20 million Facebook fans around the world are regularly invited to participate in café based promotions and events. Every day brands are creating engagement by connecting the digital and physical worlds. The challenge for you is to consider: how do I achieve that for my brand?
If you want to explore options, you’re very welcome to drop in for a cup of tea!
This article originally appeared in Figaro Digital.