Startups, tech behemoths and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs) giants are well entrenched in a poetic dance.
Here are a couple of examples that add some credibility to my lofty thought:
1. The Mobile Futures program started by Mondelez - Nine mobile-focused startups have been chosen to augment the marketing strategy for brands such at Trident, Chips Ahoy!, Stride, Oero, Halls and Sour Patch Kids.
2. Samsung's next generation smart fridge -This fridge basically takes care of itself ... and you in the process. It comes with an assortment of useful apps to help you manage your groceries and among other things, Samsung has partnered with Unilever to occasionally promote coupons for Unilever products through the fridge's interface.
What does this poetic dance mean for marketers?
A new kind of marketing innovation.
Technology has reached the point now where it can tell what is about to expire in your fridge. In other words, technology knows when you are at your most vulnerable ... from a marketing standpoint. It has even reached the stage where it can potentially deliver you a coupon at the precise moment at which you need it.
I have a feeling that technology may make consumers more passive about consuming marketing messages. This is simply because consumers will just allow technology to do the work for them. The days of looking through a coupon book will be long gone, coupons will appear in relevant places (such as your mobile phone), when you need them and not a moment sooner.
Marketer's have a chance to innovate here.
If consumer behaviour is evolving to the point where a piece of technology becomes almost like an extra appendage, marketers must then add value to consumers' lives through that appendage. Maybe innovation looks like delivering a relevant coupon when a consumer needs it most, or maybe its teaching children how to be entrepreneurs via a 'run your own Oreo cookie stand' app. Who knows.
As both a consumer and a marketer, I am very excited to see what new revolutions this poetic dance brings.
