As we begin to look forward to 2013 and attempt to lay out effective marketing strategies and initiatives for our respective brands and clients (between tryptophan naps and candy cane binges), there are a variety of opinions on how the consumer landscape will shape up next year. One interesting topic of conversation that I recently stumbled upon comes from the U.K. and asks a very simple, pointed question to brand marketers: “How will you keep the conversation alive in 2013?” The empty13 blog frames the topic in question nicely by pointing out that 2012 was a year in which a large collection of national and international events took place both in the United States and abroad. We had a hotly debated national election in America, the glitz and glamour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in the U.K., and the 2012 Summer Olympics that had the entire world engaged for over two weeks during July/August. What is important to note about these national events is the fact that they created an opportunity for shared conversation among individuals, and allowed brands to capitalize on those conversations by aligning their goods or services appropriately with those same events.
As Marcus Fischer recently noted in Ad Age Digital:
“As with face-to-face interaction, it is hard to strike up a conversation if you have nothing in common. Brands, like people, typically use shared and familiar topics to strike up conversations.
Face-to-face: “Some weather we’re having, huh?”
Brand: “Great Olympics we’re having, huh?”
To take it a step further, it is probably fair to assume that day-to-day water cooler conversations during the Olympics may have gone something like this:
Employee 1: “Did you see the 200 meter dash last night?”
Employee 2: “Absolutely. Did you catch the Nike commercial featuring Usain Bolt during the race?”
Capitalizing on these so-called “shared agendas” is not a new tactic for brand marketers, but the key point that the empty13 blog makes, in my opinion, is that a lack of shared agendas may actually be a good thing for brands in 2013. Piggyback advertising on events such as the Olympics provide more of a short-term value for consumers, and try to hone in on a particular level of excitement or engagement, however brief. 2013 provides an opportunity for brand marketers to establish relationships with consumers that are more long term in nature, while providing real value to the consumer by listening to their needs.
So what does this mean in a digital context? As brand marketers evaluate strategies for 2013 I suspect that the role of content and its influence on the consumer/brand relationship will continue to be a key topic. Producing good content can often be a struggle, in a traditional sense, for both clients and agencies. However, digital platforms allow both groups direct access to volumes of 1-to-1 data about consumer needs, desires, fears, purchasing habits, and levels of engagement. Using that data can give brands an added edge and allow them to create content that the consumer is much more likely to engage with based on their previously existing habits in the digital space. With a lack of shared conversations such as the Olympics available in 2013, brands that create meaningful content that provides real value to their target audiences will be poised to convert more consumers into customers, and customers into continued advocates for the brands themselves.
