The sessions I am attending at #SMWNYC focus on measurement, the attention / intention tension / influence, video content, and the future.
It is a fairly broad range of topics. If I were pressed to provide a main theme to group them all it would be where technology and people meet. That is where marketing needs to be, and it better have its integration together.
Convergence of technology and everything
Internet of things, data big and small, devices, mobility, advertising, analysis and research, even communications -- we rely on technology to do more, hopefully to learn better and improve how we work and live.
Two reports that have crossed my desk recently will be useful to frame how the convergence of technology and everything is impacting end-user experiences and is critical for CMOs to address.
Foundation Capital published about MarTech and the Decade of the CMO# [h/t Scott Brinker]-- the VC predicts that marketing technology will grow by 10 times in the next 10 years.
Ashu Garg, general partner at Foundation Capital, describes four key changes that are affecting marketing:
- Infinite media channels contending for attention / time.
- Buyers are now in control — and they know it.
- Purchase behavior and process have shifted — the marketing funnel is less relevant.
- Buyers demand evidence to support brand propositions. Marketing fluff falls flat. The opposite of fluff is a decision (a proper use of the term strategy.)
Modeling the business impact of marketing investment is an imperative. Digital marketing, eCommerce, and customer experience management are the responsibility of CMOs according to Gartner.
This means marketers will be commanding higher budgets -- and that a greater portion of those budgets will be allocated to optimizing the efficacy of advertising and improving the relevance and value of content and experience.
Canvas8 just released their Outloook report for 2015# [h/t Taylor Davidson] -- the selection includes points of view on a number of end-user technology-driven and/or -impacted innovations:
Smart watches, retail beacons, mobile payments - digital innovations will continue to change how we live, shop and work. Rather than disrupting people’s behaviour, the smartest innovators will make the glittering possibilities of new technology feel familiar and everyday.
As you leaf through these 33 perspectives, we invite you to visit the library and explore each idea in more detail. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to keep you ahead of all the important shifts, across sectors, as they happen.
I am particularly interested in the innovations around food and drink, money, and home. Another area I follow closely is that of data big and small, which was the topic Taylor addressed and where I see money, lifestyle, and health converge.