Trend report: Tech dichotomy creates hunger for both virtual and real world experiences

Technology will be embedded into everyday objects, smartphones will become as much a part of our identity as our fingerprints and retail will venture beyond bricks and clicks in 2013 – a reality that consumers will both reject and embrace, JWT forecasts.

In its eighth annual trends report, the marcomms agency predicts that the rapid advance of technology will see it embedded into everyday life more pervasively, creating infinite avenues for personalisation while also creating opportunities for brands to connect in more human ways.

“In our forecast of trends for the near future, new technology continues to take centre stage, as we see major shifts tied to warp-speed developments in mobile, social and data technologies,” says Ann Mack, director of trendspotting for JWT.

“Many of our trends reflect how businesses are driving, leveraging or counteracting technology’s omnipresence in our lives, and how consumers are responding to its pull.”

JWT expects everyday objects, from eyeglasses to socks to bikes, to become smart helping us to measure, navigate and augment the world. At the same time, the smartphone will become a “de facto fingerprint” as it evolves into a wallet, keys, health consultant and more, to become a reflection of our identity all in one place.

The explosion of data that will result from this pervasive digitisation will afford brands the opportunity to proactively personalise offers and communications more precisely, the report says. “As we generate more data than ever and as data analysis gets more sophisticated, brands will be able to predict what a customer needs or wants. Predictive personalisation will result in very precise offers and communications.”

But what technology gives people with one hand, it takes with the other – creating another opportunity for brands to give something real world experiences back. The theme of de-teching from last year’s report has been expanded upon to encompass a need for sensory stimulation, as people’s lives become more virtual. Brands will look for more ways to ramp up stimuli, to create more poignant products and experiences, the report predicts.

Ten trends have been identified by the trendwatcher, with some of the other key shifts being:

  • Everything is retail: Shopping is shifting from an activity that takes place in physical stores or online to a value exchange that can play out in multiple new and novel ways. Since almost anything can be a retail channel, thanks largely to mobile technology, brands must get increasingly creative in where and how they sell their goods.
  • Peer power: As the peer-to-peer marketplace expands in size and scope – moving beyond goods to a wide range of services – it will increasingly upend major industries from hospitality and education to tourism and transportation. For example, peer-to-peer lodging companies, such as Airbnb, Wimdu and 9flats, are challenging traditional hotels by enabling consumers to host travelers in a wide variety of often unique and affordable accommodations, from couches to rooms to full homes.
  • Going public in private: In an era when living publicly is becoming the default, people are coming up with creative ways to carve out private spaces in their lives. Rather than rejecting today’s ubiquitous social media and sharing tools outright, we’re reaping all the benefits of maintaining a vibrant digital identity while gradually defining and managing a new notion of privacy for the 21st century.
  • Play as a competitive advantage: Adults will increasingly adopt for themselves the revitalised idea that kids should have plenty of unstructured play to balance out today’s plethora of organized and tech-based activities. There will be a growing realisation that unstructured time begets more imagination, creativity and innovation – all competitive advantages. For example, Spacious, a recently formed organisation in Washington, D.C., champions the idea of adult play and has sponsored events such as an ‘adult recess’ that included pie-throwing and games of Twister.

The report also predicts that as stress gets more widely recognised as a serious and costly issue, governments and brands will ramp up efforts to prevent or reduce it. It puts a spotlight on health, with two separate trends examining the rising awareness around the impact of stress and happiness on well-being and how businesses are addressing it, in recognition of the fact that happiness and health go hand in hand.

JWT’s ‘10 Trends for 2013’ is the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted throughout the year across more than two dozen markets.

 

Top10 ways marketers are using the second screen

The ‘second screen’ is quickly becoming a golden marketing opportunity, as consumers increasingly multi-task while watching TV with their smartphone or tablet. Using it to complement the TV experience is becoming increasingly common as live events or telecasts engage their audiences in ‘social TV’ and advertisers attempt to capitalise on a ‘media multiplier’ effect in real time by referring viewers from TVC to the device in their hands.

This profileration of screens is creating intriguing new possibilities for TV broadcasters and marketers alike, JWTIntelligence writes in this top 10 taken from the agency’s trend briefing. JWT’s report was compiled from research conducted throughout the first half of the year, and supplemented by interviews with experts from Shazam, TVexchanger.com, MIT and Participant Television.

1. Leveraging the small screen during big live events

Big annual events like the Super Bowl and the Grammys have been garnering more viewers and buzz as social media and second screens create a digital watercooler. Brands are catching the attention of viewers whose attention is split between screens in various ways.

Coca-Cola created commercials featuring its animated polar bears for this year’s Super Bowl, then extended the idea into a second screen ‘Polar Bowl’: Two bear viewers (one rooting for the Giants, another for the Patriots) reacted to the game, the halftime show and the commercials in near-real time. The bears also commented via @CocaCola on Twitter. While the brand had planned for 300,000 concurrent live stream viewers, more than double that number had the stream open by the third quarter, with viewership growing as more people mentioned the Polar Bowl on Facebook and Twitter.

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2. Incentivising ad engagement

Mobile apps open up opportunities to reward TV viewers for watching commercials or second-screen branded messaging – incentives range from freebies and coupons to relevant content like recipes – and even lead them right into an opportunity to purchase.

Unilever’s Dove Men+Care used Viggle, the app that rewards users for watching TV shows, during the NBA’s ‘March Madness’. When viewers checked in to broadcasts of the college basketball games, they were directed to a Dove Men+Care landing page that offered extra Viggle points for watching Dove’s ‘Journey to Comfort’ videos, featuring three basketball legends. The landing page included live tournament stats and an Amazon ecommerce link.


 

3. Gamifying TV ads

Another way to incentivise viewers to not only keep watching ads but more actively engage with them is by adding second-screen gaming elements that are either fun for their own sake or tied into contests and sweepstakes.

In 2011, Coca-Cola created Chok, an app for the Hong Kong market that turned users’ phones into a mechanism for collecting virtual bottle caps. When signaled by the music in a Coca-Cola TV commercial, the app opened and synced to the ad, then prompted consumers to shake the phone (‘chok’ is Cantonese for this action). Using the device’s accelerometer, the app measured the vigor of the motion and doled out bottle caps accordingly. These could be used to enter an instant drawing for prizes big and small, including digital goods like mobile games. Within 15 hours of launch, Chok became the number one free app.

 

4. Bridging a campaign’s TV and digital elements

Instead of simply asking interested or intrigued viewers to visit a microsite or Facebook page after seeing a TV commercial, marketers can use second-screen apps like Shazam to quickly link consumers with a campaign’s online elements and provide simple ways to share their enthusiasm via social media.

A 2011 Australian campaign for this Unilever ice cream brand was themed around the Enigma bear mascot helping consumers to “reveal their soft side”; the microsite let Australians send a personalized message via the bear to ‘someone special’. Shazaming the TV spot led viewers directly to a mobile version of that site.

 

5. Syncing ecommerce with TV content

Simultaneous watching and shopping, with instant gratification for consumers and measurable results for brands, is an old idea that never quite came to fruition beyond home shopping networks. New technology looks to be changing that. While the second screen isn’t vital here, mobile apps offer an easy route to purchase. This could be through a TV spot that syncs to e-commerce options on mobile devices or by using the second screen to surface info on how to buy in-show products.

Watch With eBay, the US app lets users ‘shop your favorite shows’. You input your zip code and cable provider to set it up, then enter the channel number in order to see live auctions linked to what’s on-screen. In theory, the app brings up products related to the TV content: a basketball jersey during March Madness, a Jessica Simpson brand T-shirt during the show Fashion Star. In practice, however, it turns up just as many unrelated items (Ringer, for example, summoned a bounty of ringer T-shirts; Fox’s Bones turned up unaffiliated Bones brand skateboard wheels). eBay ultimately aims to match up its listings with specific items viewers are seeing (or lookalikes) by accessing a product database that various shows would provide. A secondary feature, ‘Shop Like a Star’, allows app users to choose from among an actor’s favorite eBay categories, with purchases benefiting the celeb’s favorite charity.


 

6. Sponsoring second-screen extras

By either partnering with existing tools like Shazam or piggy-backing off custom TV show apps, brands can sponsor novel second-screen experiences for fans.

The US version of The X Factor, which airs on Fox, added a synchronised Xtra Factor mobile app last September that’s ‘presented by’ Verizon. Fans can rate performances, interact with other viewers and access bonus content such as song lyrics. Consumers with a Verizon Android handset can vote for their favorite contestants as often as they want, see backstage goings-on via Verizon Live View and watch episode highlights.


 

7. Giving sports fans a game of their own

Sports programming is often cited as ‘low-hanging fruit’ when it comes to social TV and the second screen: Fans are especially interested in supplemental information and a group-viewing experience.

This Star Player app from Heineken, launched in 2011, provides a second-screen gaming experience for the soccer fan without distracting from what matters most: the match. The Star Player allows viewers of UEFA Champions League games to interact with the action in real time (and, with the latest update, in eight languages), syncing with the game clock when the match begins. Users then earn points by predicting game events such as goals and corner kick outcomes and by answering questions during periodic pop-up quizzes.
Players compete against friends, in a mini-league, and can also check their rank against all the app users. ‘Dwell time’ with the app has averaged 56 minutes.

 

8. Spurring social chatter with hashtags

Adding hashtags to ads, increasingly common practice over the past year, is one of the most basic ways to extend an ad beyond 30 seconds and one channel. An Accenture study conducted in March found that 18% of the US consumers surveyed had noticed a hashtag in an ad and that 7% had then searched for the hashtag on Twitter.

Audi was the only marketer to include a hashtag in a 2011 Super Bowl ad. For this year’s
Super Bowl, which featured an array of hashtags during the commercials, the automaker ran a spot promoting its daylight-simulating LED headlights. A group of young vampires partying outdoors at night is incinerated by an Audi’s bright lights; #SoLongVampires was the hashtag. Viewers who entered the hashtag in Google rather than Twitter saw an ad for Audi’s ‘Vampire Party’ on Facebook.


 

9. Enabling real-time interactivity

Letting viewers directly influence live big-screen content, beyond simple voting tools, is an intriguing concept that we’ll see broadcasters starting to experiment with (there’s great potential for game shows), along with marketers.

In late April, a trailer for the Ridley Scott film Prometheus featured the hashtag #areyouseeingthis. Nothing all that new about hashtags in ads. But these Sunday night viewers had added incentive to tweet: During the next commercial break, a 40-second spot showcased some of the tweets the first ad had elicited. At one point that evening, the hashtag was the number two trending topic in the UK.


Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox

 

10. Creating transmedia opportunities

Transmedia – the practice of arcing story worlds over various platforms, with each thread tailored to the platform it lives on – is becoming a bigger buzzword with the proliferation of second screens. These can serve as a key entry point for consumers seeking deep engagement, with different channels communicating different things. Watch for marketers to experiment with opportunities here. For instance, Shazam’s Evan Krauss says we’ll soon see ‘Shazamable’ movie ads that provide an ‘interactive panorama experience’ on the second screen, enabling viewers to feel they are walking through a scene in the film.

Red Bull sponsored a backcountry freestyle snowboarding competition that was ‘Shazamable’ when it aired on NBC in March. Shazam users could access point-of-view footage for several competitors, enabling them to see both the wide view on the big screen and the snowboarder’s own dizzying perspective on a second screen. Shazam also linked app users with related social media streams.

 

Trend report: Putting fun back in to brands is child’s play

Brands looking to engage with consumers on a deeper level could introduce unstructured ‘play’, similar to the light-hearted and exploratory play of children, to the lives of their customers according to JWT Intelligence.

Trend watchers at the global communications group argue that with society having become so automated and results-orientated, a bit of ‘child’s play’ can snap adults out of their structured lives and associate brands with feelings of joy, discovery and nostalgia.

In the report ‘Play as a Competitive Advantage’ JWT writes, “Injecting play into everyday life—doing things that bring joy, regardless of how closely these activities are aligned with an end goal—can help to foster discovery and exploration.”

“Marketers that speak to the value of play are tapping into an innate human desire. Brands can help people reimagine their world and become more active participants in it through play.”

Research conducted for the report found a strong desire to see unstructured play extend from childhood well into adulthood. Nine in ten American and British adults agreed that ‘play should not only be a part of children’s lives but adults’ lives, too’. The wistfulness and nostalgia attached to playing came through strongly for participants of the study, with 78% saying they wish they could recapture some of the imagination, fun and creativity of childhood and 74% saying they miss being able to play like a child with no rules, boundaries or restrictions.

In terms of putting this into practice, brands can help consumers see their day-to-day environment through a more playful lens or encourage people to dial down the constant stream of information, images and digital conversations so they can focus on real-world doing.

The report highlights a number of recent marketing campaigns that have specifically targeted putting some play back into the lives of adults. Puma ran a campaign called ‘After Hours Athlete’ encouraging people to get involved in pub games and other social indoor sports, Heineken created a pub rugby activation with mine goal posts and footballs for tables at pubs, and Cadbury created a spots vs stripes competition.

A writer on the topic of the ‘adultification’ of play, Austin Kleon, believes that in the future, economies won’t be driven by financial capital or even the more narrowly focused scientific capital, but by play capital as well. “I predict countries that take play seriously, not only nurturing it in education and the workforce but also formalising it as a national effort, will quickly rise in the world order,” Kleon writes. “This is not Twister in the boardroom. Rather it’s what Jeremy Levy, a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh, would call ‘a highly advanced form of play’.”

Some companies are also injecting play time for employees into their business models, such as Google with its 20% free time policy, hackathons in tech companies and games rooms at workplaces.

 

The Campaign Palace folds, merges with JWT

Prominent ad agency, The Campaign Palace, is to close its doors, with staff merging into sister company JWT’s operations and the respected Palace name being killed off by parent WPP.

JWT will take over operations of the agency from 1 July, moving existing Sydney staff into its office, and Melbourne staff into Y&R’s office, and taking over the Bayer, Panasonic, and Smartraveller accounts.

Australia New Zealand CEO of JWT, John Gutteridge, puts the merger down to a need more resources for the Palace’s operation. “This move is designed to give Palace clients and staff the benefit of added resources to continue to deliver the exceptional work and results that the Palace has long been renowned for.”

The Campaign Palace name will be discontinued at this stage but this may change in the future, Gutteridge says.

JWT Sydney’s Mark Harricks will continue to lead the creative team at JWT as executive creative director.

 

Cannes Round 1: JWT and Crispin Porter + Bogusky score first Grands Prix

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has held the first of four awards ceremonies to honour the winners of the Promo & Activation, PR and Direct Lions categories.

The Promo & Activation Grand Prix and the Direct Grand Prix were awarded to Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s ‘Small Business Gets an Official Day’ for American Express. In the PR category, JWT San Juan took home Puerto Rico’s first ever Grand Prix for ‘The Most Popular Song’ for Banco Popular de Puerto Rico.

Of the 2667 entries submitted in the Promo & Activation category, a 26% increase versus last year, 251 were shortlisted from which 86 were selected as winners by the international jury – 17 Gold, 26 Silver and 42 Bronze Lions were awarded alongside the Grand Prix. Australian agencies scored five gongs – see our coverage of Australia’s outing in the category here.

2357 entries were submitted into the Direct Lions category, an increase of 27% compared to 2011. 15 Gold, 25 Silver and 44 Bronze Lions were awarded, of which Aussie agencies bagged eight.

The PR category received 1130 entries, up 38% from last year. The jury shortlisted 134 and went on to award 20 Gold, 22 Silver and 26 Bronze Lions bringing the total number of winners in the category to 69. Australian agencies Whybin TBWA Tequila Sydney and Naked Communications won gold in the category, while several others also picked up gongs.

The prestigious Direct Agency of the Year award was won by Serviceplan Munich with Wieden+Kennedy Portland coming in second and DDB Brasil São Paulo taking third.

Delegates attending the Festival have so far witnessed keynote presentations from GroupM and Chinese social network Renren, publishers The Globe and The Mail, PARTY, Visa & TBWA and Cheil Worldwide.

This, the 59th annual Cannes, will unfold over the next five days in France, attracting over 11,000 industry peers.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s ‘Small Business Gets an Official Day’ for American Express:

JWT: Your mobile will do everything sooner than you think

The mobile phone will be a personal wellness device, controller of the home, wallet and personal identification device, according to a new report, and sooner than we think.

In the wake of the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month, JWT released a report outlining 15 ways in which mobile will change people’s lives.

The concept of the phone as an ‘everything hub’ came through strongly in the report, with it taking on greater importance in every aspect of people’s lives. The marketing communications group predicts that ‘mobile will disrupt it all, and earlier than we could have expected’ as the pace at which technology shapes the world speeds up exponentially.

According to planning director at JWT, Alex Pallete, online ubiquity is the catalyst for a new understanding of what mobile means, and will see adoption of new mobile uses at a far greater rate than any technology to go before it.

“Many innovations that we may believe belong to the future are here already or even in our past,” Pallete says.

The ‘15 Ways Mobile Will Change Our Lives’ are taken from panels, keynotes and exhibitors from Mobile World Congress. Marketing has selected some key trends from the list to present below:

The smartphone as everything interface: The smartphone will become the key interface between connected devices and products and their users. Among other things, people will use the device to remotely control household appliances, interact with screens and automatically adjust car settings to their preferences.  All kinds of things, from cars to refrigerators and entire homes, are getting connected and, as more manufacturers embed WiFi, SIM cards and other technologies into more products, expect anything and everything to link in to the internet. More devices will also become connected to the cloud as key players like Microsoft, Google and Apple expand their product lines across devices creating a more unified experiences across platforms.

Mobile identity: The mobile device will become a summation of who we are all in one place. It will be packed with personal information and images we’ve accumulated over time and serve as our mobile wallet and keychain, enabled by secure and seamless technologies such as bluetooth and NFC (near field communication).

Friction-free purchasing: The smartphone will become a passkey to the retail experience. The integration of NFC in handsets will enable fast and easy mobile payments. And as e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailing integrate and overlap, shopping may entail simply snapping a photo or tapping a sensor, then collecting the order or having it immediately delivered.

Media multitasking: The mobile is becoming a complement to or distraction from most other types of media platforms and content. Consumers are hopping between screens (and the printed page), toying with their tablet or smartphone as they watch television, play video games, work on their computer and so on.

Access over ownership: With the proliferation of cloud-based services and Internet-enabled devices, consumers will shift from owning media to accessing it through subscriptions, however they want (via various connected devices) and wherever they want.

Hyper-personalization: Mobile devices will increasingly use the data they’re privy to – from purchases made to social interactions to location – to offer information tailored to the user. They will analyse past and current behaviour and activity to provide recommendations on where to go, what to do and what to buy.

The humanization of tech: As voice and gesture control become more common, our technology (mobile included) will adapt to us, rather than us adapting to it. Our digital experiences will become simpler and more user-friendly.

The mobile as a wellness device: Smartphones will help people lead healthier lives by providing information, recommendations and reminders based on data gathered through sensors embedded in users’ clothing (shoes, wristbands, etc.) or through other phone capabilities (motion detectors, cameras, etc.: Internet-enabled mobile devices are becoming important tools in broadening access to health care, diagnosing diseases and saving lives in crisis situations.

With the device becoming even more integral to our way of life, JWT offers the term ‘NoMoPhobia’ to refer to the fear being separated from your mobile device. With attachment to the device deepening as it evolves into an indispensable tool and becomes more closely linked to our identity, misplacing the mobile is expected to provoke real and even greater anxiety.

 

The consumer trends that will shape our world

It’s that time of year again – the time when every marketer and their dog looks to their crystal ball to light the way ahead. We all want to know what the world is going to be like so we can beat the competition to the punch, right?

Noteworthy trend watchers such as JWT Intelligence and trendwatching.com have released their trends for 2012, while local researchers are also chiming in with their own opinions on the state of play. Marketing has done the reading for you and cross tabulated the two to bring you a guide to the consumer trends most likely to shape the Australian marketing world next year.

 

The state of the our nation

Roy Morgan Research this week released its ‘State of the Nation Report’, which tracks the relative importance of the key issues facing Australians. The big mover over the past few months has been ‘government, political and human rights’ which has shot up to almost equal the economy as the most important issue.

Concern for the environment has plummeted in recent months as the economy and the country’s governance gained an increasing share of the focus.

The economy, of course, has been captivating our attention for quite a while now. According to Dr Rebecca Huntley, director of The Ipsos Mackay Report, the long running social trends study that tracks the ‘mood and mind’ of Australians, we remain in an altered emotional state of conservatism and caution due to a combination of negative political leaders and media, and the filtering down of global unease. JWT Intelligence describes the uneasy and frugal mindset as the ‘new normal’, predicting it will continue for many years.

This altered state prompts Huntley to predict that spending will continue to flow towards online and private label goods in response, and that experiences will be favoured over brands even more. However, brands that incorporate experiential elements in their offer, or engage consumers on their journey, stand to unlock spending.

Technology is another recurring theme that is impacting on our behaviour and it continues to change the way we work and live. The pervasiveness of constant connectedness is clearly impacting on how Australians spend their leisure time. Fewer are playing sports (23%, down from 32% in 1999) while more are using ‘a computer at home’ (81%, up from 48% in 1999)[1]. Time spent facing a screen will continue to grow, with a number of sources predicting a ‘screen culture’ that will see screens turn up in greater numbers and more places.

 

Six consumer trends that will affect your brand

1. Mobile brings it all together. The impact of the smartphone is becoming all-encompassing. According to TNS, a mobile device is used by 51% of (smartphone owning) Australians while watching TV, 58% to find a product in store, 55% to do live price comparisons in store and 42% after viewing an ad [2]. It is the glue that connects the dots between offline stimulus and online touch point. And it is quickly becoming a platform for closing the purchase cycle also, with mcommerce set to take off rapidly, capitalising on the ability to connect ads, location, deals and purchasing on one device.

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Video: When grocery chain Tesco wanted to expand their market share in South Korea, they put up billboards in subway stations with their range of products, accompanied by QR codes, that consumers could scan, buy and have delivered by the time they got home.

 

2. Selling the experience

With many prioritising experiences over goods, savvy brands are incorporating experience into their offer. Bricks and mortar retailers are also looking to enhance the customer experience, a necessity if they are to recover, says Huntley. Her research notes an undercurrent of antagonism towards local retailers around disappointing in-store experiences, particularly when compared to overseas.


Video: Many are turning to the smartphone to enhance the in-store experience. Macy’s ‘Backstage Pass’ initiative delivered celebrity tips via QR codes on tags to enhance the retail environment.

 

3. Screen culture

With the explosive proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and the ‘cloud’, 2012 will see more surfaces become screens, and more screens become interactive. This is opening up novel opportunities to inform, engage and motivate consumers. 2012 will see three technological currents converge: Screens will be even more ubiquitous, mobile, cheap and always on; Interactivity via touchscreens, tablets etc. will increase; And, the screen will become an interface to everything and anything that lies beyond via the mobile web and, increasingly and finally mainstream in 2012, ‘the cloud’ [3].


Video: Adidas Germany’s ‘adiVerse Virtual Footwear Wall’ identifies nearby consumers as male or female and provides product recommendations accordingly.

 

4. The future of deals

In 2012, not only will consumers continue to hunt for deals and discounts, but they will do so with relish, if not pride. Deals are now about more than just saving money: it’s the thrill, the pursuit, the control, and the perceived smartness, and thus a source of status too [3]. However, deals will have to take on new creativity and relevance to consumers, with large discounts losing their novelty and no longer considered out of the norm.

Pictured: Notikum is a real-time, location-based app for Singaporeans which enables users to find deals near them, organised into categories of ‘Shop’, ‘Eat’ and ‘Play’.

5. Authenticity gives way to ‘flawsome’

The desire for authenticity goes up a notch every year. It’s now reaching the point where consumers are drawn to brands that behave more humanly, including by exposing their flaws. According to JWT, a greater emphasis will be placed on reintroducing randomness, discovery, inspiration and different points of view into our worlds. Consumers will embrace brands that push the boundaries with frank, risqué or non-corporate products, services and campaigns.

Pictured: In July 2011, US-based fast food retailer Domino’s launched a month-long promotional campaign in New York. Hiring out a huge billboard space in Times Square, the brand live-streamed good and bad customer feedback via Twitter onto the digital hoarding.

6. Bottom of the developed world’s pyramid

Prolonged economic unrest in the developed world has created consumers that are permanently in a cost sensitive state. Frugality and thrift are now the norm, with spending unlikely to return to pre-bust levels anytime soon. JWT Intelligence predicts that marketers will find new opportunities in creating stripped down offerings, smaller sizes and otherwise more accessible products and services, such as is common in the developing world.

Pictured: In the US, Heinz has introduced a range of smaller-sized and less expensive products to boost sales in a sluggish economy, including a 10 ounce (284 grams) pouch of ketchup retailing for US$0.99.

 

A final thought to keep in mind is that, according to JWT, trends don’t occur in isolation. They tend to intersect and work in tandem with each other. If this is true, these trends suggest that in 2012 your brand needs to start acting more human, revealing its flaws while exciting your customers with randomness delivered with a relevant deal via an interactive touchscreen experience. Marketing magazine looks forward to hearing how you go about this.

 

 

[1] Findings from Roy Morgan Research, State of the Nation, November 2011.

[2] TNS, The Evolving Online Consumer, November 2011.

[3] Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide in 9 languages.

[4] JWT’s 10 Trends for 2012 report is the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted throughout 2011.

Name Me, iSnack 2.0, Cheesybite

Kraft have launched a rehashed version of the original ‘Name Me’ TVC from the campaign that gave us iSnack 2.0.

Name me has entered a renaming phase using the premise that “It’s Vegemite – but different”. The spot uses the original creative from July 2009, but replaces the Name Me bottle with a Cheesybite bottle.

The original crowdsourced name, iSnack 2.0, caused a considerable public backlash forcing Kraft to backpeddle and launch a poll allowing consumers to choose from six Kraft approved names.

Australia dominates international ad awards

Australian agencies collected eight out of 18 awards at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Mixx awards.

The agencies were all successful at the domestic awards and included Sapient Nitro, JWT Australia, ZenithOptimedia and Soap Creative.

Sapient Nitro’s ‘The Best Job in the World’ campaign continued its blockbuster run, taking the ‘Best in Show’ award, with the agency collecting gold in direct response, lead generation, social marketing, international and cross-media integration.

According to Paul Fisher, IAB Australia CEO, the resounding success of the Australian agencies proves that Australia has earned a place at the global table of influence in online advertising and is now punching well above its weight in the quality of digital media campaigns, creative and talent.

“The sophistication and effectiveness of their campaigns demonstrated that online offers brands newfound opportunities to build deeper, exclusive relationships with their customers,” explained Fisher.

Silk Touch campaign biggest for Kleenex in 14 years

Kimberly-Clark Australia has announced details of a marketing campaign to accompany the rolling out of its Kleenex Silk Touch tissues product.

Replacing the existing everyday Kleenex facial tissues, the Silk Touch tissues release will be supported with a $6 million integrated marketing campaign.

Created by local agency JWT, the Kleenex TVC uses different family members and likens the product to other soft items including make up brushes, marshmallows, soft linen, baby’s skin and the comforting feel of a hug.

Inspired by the wrapping artist Christo, and celebrating the 40th anniversary of his internationally famous ‘Little Bay’ wrapping, the ‘Kleenex Silk Touch Tissue Tree’ has been created by local artists Perso and Detch, it will be wrapped in hundreds of metres of silk and laden with tissue filled blossom for consumers to pick, in place for one week next to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Over 500 stores and 750 sampling sessions will appear in supermarkets from mid-May using a Kleenex Silk Touch tissue ‘shopping trolley’.

“Kleenex market share is currently at 54.1%, our highest since 2006, so this is an ideal time to introduce our Silk Touch tissues to the market,” said Valerie Moreno, marketing manager, Facial for Kimberly-Clark.

In it to win it at 2008 Caxton Awards

For those of hoping to put something shiny in the middle of the boardroom table, the judging of entries into the 2008 Caxton Awards for excellence in newspaper advertising is complete. The result? 74 finalists across 26 categories, with the number of entries up by 10 percent on last year.

Finalist nominations were hotly contested with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney securing 12 finalists, M&C Saatchi Sydney eight, Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand seven, Clemenger BBDO Adelaide six, BMF with five and JWT Sydney and The Campaign Palace with four nominations each.

A complete list of Caxton finalists can be viewed on the Caxton website www.thecaxtonawards.com.au if you want check to see if you made it through.

“The Caxton judging was friendly, well mannered and considered – which usually means either the work was rather average or that judges didn’t have any of their own work entered,” says chairman of judges Paul Catmur from Barnes, Catmur & Friends.

“(But) neither turned out to be the case and while there may not have been too many actual ‘balltearers’, we left the room with plenty of scratches around the scrotum – apart from Michelle Galluzzo from M&C. We saw some really nice ads and importantly, some really nice newspaper ads,” continues Catmur.

“International print award shows are judged by who got away with best scams so it was good to see some real work surface every now and again. I believe we have some really deserving Caxtons and a good spread of work to uphold the tradition of the awards.”

The winners of the prestigious event will be announced at the Caxton Weekend Seminar to be held at the Sea Temple Resort, Port Douglas, Qld, from 24-26 October. Places are filling fast, so to have an excuse to get to this networking opportunity/shameless junket, download and fax a delegate form from the Caxton website.