In the ongoing quest to reach consumers where they are – and where their eyeballs are looking and ears are listening – companies might consider the following advertising developments. Our list of advertising trends to watch for in 2013 includes, like most lists of this nature, technological advances, but some old-school, non-screen-based methods are also growing in popularity.
MULTI-SCREEN VIEWING
The use of devices while watching TV is rapidly expanding, as recent Nielsen data shows.
Nearly 40 percent of Americans now use a tablet or smartphone at least once a day while they’re watching TV, and 80 percent do so at least once a month, Nielsen says. Moreover, 22 percent of smartphone users and 45 percent of tablet users reported shopping while watching TV and 15 and 26 percent, respectively, said they looked up product information related to an ad they saw on TV.
What does that mean for brands? The potential to partner with broadcasters to offer related material opens up targeted advertising opportunities.
It also provides an answer to the remote control and the mute button. If before consumers changed the channel to avoid ads or simply silenced them, leaving them unreachable, now advertisers can look to get in their good graces online.
HASHTAGGING
Building support for a brand or product through Twitter hashtags is growing in popularity; companies say it’s a way to get people talking about them. To see what we mean, check out this Super Bowl 2011 ad from Audi.
[youtube id=”QSLo-FiPyr8″ width=”600″ height=”350″]Using the hashtag #ProgressIs started a conversation that continues today. As Audi’s senior social media manager Andy White told Adweek, that’s exactly what they were looking for.
“The Super Bowl is [about] conversation and engaging in naturally forming dialogues that arise from a thought starter, which in our case was the hashtag on the spot…” White said. “This is a social event, and viewers are being social.”
While the chances that you’ll advertise on the Super Bowl are slim, Audi’s logic could apply to anyone watching any TV program in 2013. And for businesses that may be thinking, well, we’re not big enough – Audi can start a global conversation, not us – smaller companies can still get their name out there by joining a larger, hashtag-specific conversation.
DIRECT MAIL
As fewer people read the newspaper small businesses are taking a second look at an old favorite for reaching people at home – direct mail, which may have a better shot at finding clients and customers than businesses realize.
According to a U.S. Postal Service study, 81 percent of households read or scan the advertising mail they receive, notes the Direct Marketing Association, which also claims that “more than 75% of recent campaigns used direct mail…”
Whatever the numbers, some companies are increasing the chances of their direct mail pieces being noticed. For example these direct mail advertisements ship flat but expand into interactive 3D toys or tools: the cardboard record player and record (yes, it’s functional) featured above, which promotes sound design and production company GGRP, and, sent out by the World Wildlife Fund, a candle meant to encourage “Earth Hour.”
AUGMENTED REALITY
Augmented reality allows smartphone users to point their phones’ cameras at certain objects such as coffee cups (such as Starbucks has done) or print ads themselves, and these objects launch a video on the smartphone.
This recent Net-A-Porter campaign, for example, triggered video content when smartphones were pointed at clothing items within a store window display.
[youtube id=”dTk_9pmqspE” width=”600″ height=”350″]Augmented reality is still a new concept, but in its newness it grabs attention.
“AR doesn’t only appeal to the millennial generation,” explains BusinessInsider.com. “The out-of-this-world, space-age effect engages just about everyone from children to grandparents, which explains why ABI Research estimates the market for augmented reality in the US will reach $350 million in 2014. That’s up from only $6 million in 2008.”
