By Rachael Adler, CooperKatz for the ANA
This is a time of incredible change for marketing and advertising. The level of disruption that has occurred over the past ten years is amazing – cell phones, internet, mobile devices, etc.
Ballmer encourages people to embrace disruption. But what does that mean for marketers. Ballmer believes digital will turn the ad industry on its head, but it will be very beneficial for the industry. The evolution of media and advertising will shift toward digital through the use of powerful software technology.
Ballmer predicted that all media will be digital, delivered digitally, and created digitally within the next 10 year. This will force the forms of creative in media and advertising to be fundamentally different. Hardware and software will change the landscape completely – becoming very functional.
If you deliver messages in context, consumers will pay attention. This can be done through the use of a rich database of information and should be integrated into all communications. As soon as marketers assume everything is deliverd digitally all media and advertising will have to adapt.
Personal communication, blogging, authoring publications will not be viewed as separate from produced/traditional media. Ballmer predicts that all media will have:
- Interactivity
- A source of community
- New sources of information
- Targeting to consumers
- Commerce opportunity
- Digitial marketing
The connection between the home and the world will take place in the next 2-3 years. The future media environment will include the following:
- Consumer
- Agencies – role will change – counsel on markting mix and creative thinking will be focus. It might even expand because the things that can be done creatively will expand and the options and choices will grow
- Publisher – anyone who has interaction with consumer
- Marketers
What can software do to move the advertising industry to the digital world? Advertising is less automated that it should be – software will take marketing and measurement to the next level. The software will be able to help with the following:
- Changing media mix
- Direct marketing
- Brand building
- Web experience
Ballmer believes the destination Website is under-invested. Marketers need to look at corporate/brand website and use it as a place to tell a story.
Marketing Opportunities for the Future:
- What marketers will be able to buy through rich online software: Context, Demographics and Behavior - Ad Placement – personal choice or software to decide based on criteria? Fixed or Variable
- Pricing Rate Card Auction – more will be bought on auction through the use of good software
- Format: Text, Picture or Video
- Pay per: Impression, Click, or Action
- Form factors: PC, TV or Mobile
The platform and marketplace must adapt. Marketers will require innovative software to:
- Deliver relevant advertising
- Optimize revenue
- Marketplace/payment
- Customer intelligence
- Scale
- Provide an end-to-end experience.
What does this mean for online advertising?
- How do you get above the noise
- Integrative advertising
- Easy and cost effective
- No break in the flow
- Scratches the surface of what can happen today
Marketing spend will also move to software based. Rich software with rich tools will need to support publishers, marketers, agencies.
Ballmer then introduced Silverlight TV – a new browser add-on for video and content. It certainly wowed the crowd.
Microsoft’s role for the next generation of media and advertising will be investing in:
- Marketing platform
- Audience services – community, social connection
- Creative tools
- Partnership
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