David Feldt, SVP and GM at Toronto-based Organic – a digital marketing agency with offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco – is back this year with his take on where the cybersphere is headed.
MiC: What are some of the lessons learned by the digital marketing industry over the past year?
We’ve witnessed a continuing trend of digitization over the past 10 years as technology and the Internet continue to fundamentally change and disrupt more and more industries. In 2008 we saw explosive growth in this trend. It’s been an incredibly innovation-filled year; we’ve seen a major proliferation of digital touchpoints beyond the web browser with huge growth in social media, digital out-of-home, digital point of sale and mobile smart phones.
One category-changing product that launched in 2008 embodies many of these trends – the iPhone. It taps into our human need to connect, share and collaborate anywhere and everywhere. Consumers across the globe have purchased 30+ million iPhones and downloaded 300 million+ applications, and developers have created 10,000+ applications in the iTunes App Store. It exemplifies the ‘app-lification’ of marketing and media.
Brands and marketers have rushed in to invest in widgets, applications and video as the media space continues to fragment and diversify. As more and more consumers have embraced these digital channels, marketers have shifted their marketing and advertising budgets from offline to online, from analog to digital.
Many of our old broadcast models for marketing and advertising are becoming less relevant. We’re now in the ‘conversation economy,’ where brands need to join the conversations that consumers are having and play less of a prescriptive role. Co-creation of experiences is the new paradigm.
MiCWhat’s coming up in digital marketing in 2009?
In a recessionary environment, typically the first thing to be cut is advertising. Although the overall advertising pie may be shrinking, we’ll see a continuation of the trend to digital. Digital marketing will get a larger share of the overall budgets. As this happens, measurement, ROI and digital engagement will increasingly become the key areas of focus.
Beyond the growth of online communities, social media and the conversation economy, here are a few growth areas we see for 2009 and beyond:
Location-based marketing – as mobile devices with built-in GPS proliferate, we will see acceleration in location-based marketing. This extends to interaction with digital signage as we recently did with one of our clients.
Augmented realities – We will see a blurring of lines between the real bricks-and-mortar world and the virtual world. Mobile devices will provide augmented relevant information, interaction and e-commerce opportunities for consumers.
MiCHow would you characterize the 2009 interactive landscape?
There is no doubt these are tough economic times, but I see interactive as one of the few bright spots in the economy.
