In a digital training course held by the
wonderfully insightful and charismatic Heather
Albrecht in Sydney last year, I enjoyed my first real delve into
digital marketing and its driving forces.
The key questions on everyone's lips are where is
it going, and how do we participate in a way that is going to drive the success
of our business? The "it" here of course refers to broader social and
media trends that are driving consumer choices; creating new contexts in which
we must interact in order to engage with potential consumers.
Reflecting on previous consumer trends reveals
four distinct phases or models of engagement:
1. Advertising led
2. Through-the-line integration
3. Media neutral (big idea)
4. Participation
It is this most recent 'participation' phase
which represents new models of engagement and is largely influenced by the
types of devices we are interacting with. Participation
branding is defined as:
"How
a brand engages and behaves with consumers across channels and over time to
earn their attention and participation
through motivating experiences.
How
consumers engage and behave with each other
across channels and over time to influence each other and create motivating brand stories."
In the training session, Heather identifies four
screens; represented by the television, laptop, iPad and iPhone. The specific
motivations and uses for each may vary but often media is also consumed across
each of these platforms, the new accompanying trend here of course being
mobile.
It is crucial to understand the technological
driving forces behind media consumption and shifting consumer habits, however,
it is also important to understand the social behavioural trends being formed
from these.
