If you're reading any agency blog, you're probably running into a whole mess of articles about tablets becoming the new normal, the fight for the living room media hub or smartphone adoption. All true facts, all "duh" facts, and all completely worthless to marketers. Heck, we're probably guilty of it too if you dig deep enough in our archive.
The truth is, that while the fragmentation of WHAT we're using to consume media may be exploding, the fact of the matter is that WHAT we're consuming has not changed.
We'll always be able to target users of various devices with paid advertising, but ultimately we need to engage and connect with content itself, a device and platform agnostic media vehicle.
Native advertising and product placement, sponsorships all touch on this, but moving forward, we think that the savvy brand marketers will become content creators in a way that we've not seen before. To insert your brand in the cultural conversation, we will need to create content that becomes that conversation, such as we saw with the New Era "Rivlas" campaign developed in conjunction with FunnyorDie.com. This was content that was developed in a way that traditional paid advertising could not match, and it was this content that was consumed across all devices and platforms.
We're going to hear a lot in the next few weeks about the PS4 and the XBox One, and with both how they will usher in a new way of consuming media within the home. While this is true, we should always be watching the adoption of new hardware with an eye towards what it's being used for, and how we can align with the content consumption, as opposed to just the device itself.
