CES 2012 has been a thrilling event, with over 2,700 companies, 140,000 visitors and 20,000 new products on display. The show once again proved to be a showcase for amazing advancements in television screens, including the LG 55-inch OLED TV packed with 3D and smart TV capabilities, providing significant value and quality to the consumer living room experience. Tablets and cell phones continue to proliferate, with the race on supporting operating systems being iOS, Android and Microsoft.
For the marketing and media professionals who attended the show, the proliferation of devices and increased bandwidth will require a focused effort to connect with today's consumer and consumers in the future. And it's time for a radical rethink of how to connect with these consumers.
Marketers need to understand key concepts as they move forward and prepare to be ready for this 24/7 connected world:
•Increased number of devices -- leading to more consumption of digital media
•Devices can assist you in your life and suggest things like where to eat, movies you might like to see, and services you might need, like an oil change.
•Devices can be the new control or connection to the other devices, content and social environment
•Second and third screens now matter
•Content synchronization and social connection needs to be considered in all consumer brand experiences
Understanding how to approach consumer experience development will mean redefining and remapping the echo-system of assets and hubs within these environments.
Assets developed will need to carefully balance "standard web ad definitions" with custom application capabilities available in the new app worlds.
HUBS, fixed reference points enabling a brand to be visible when a consumer is searching for it, is now well beyond a simple PC web site. Remapping and redefining hub definitions will be a key way forward for brands to win in this space. Owning or co-developing hubs will need to be carefully considered against available resources and longer term content needs.
Understanding how to connect it all together in a Paid, Owned and Earned world and purposefully mapping that plan within brand organizations will separate those brands that have lucky acts of marketing with consistent, long-term brilliant acts of consumer engagement.
The following is a check-list for brand marketers to help navigate this new, device proliferated world:
•What assets do you have that can run in these new devices? Do you have a budget set aside to test for these assets?
•What is your plan to develop hubs that connect to people when they are interacting within and between devices?
•Are you balancing standard versus custom development to ensure optimal use of your budget?
•Are all of your teams aligned and working together towards the longer-term plan?
CES 2012 enforced the view that it's time for a radical rethink of mapping our assets and hubs development roadmap.