Newtown, PA — Well, it’s officially begun: 34 trend watchers* from the U.S. and Europe have weighed in with their picks for the top trends changing expectations (and brand opportunities) in 2015. Now a smaller team is digging into the details; finding clues, stories and data points that reveal the reach and potential of each trend. Starting in late October, we’ll publish four trend reports: Marketing, Healthcare, Digital and Consumer.
But, you, our favorite readers, get a sneak peek at a few, including this one:
Marketing Trend: Amuse Me, Dear Advertiser.
The golden rule of content marketing is coming to advertising: Make things people want instead of making people want things.
What do people want? Shakira, of course.
The most shared ad of all time was “The Force” for Volkswagen. You remember it – the cute kid in the Darth Vader costume who believed he was opening his dad’s car door with The Force, to promote the remote start feature on the new VW model. It was the most shared until the dark empire fell to yogurt.
Dannon bested the spot with trackvertising – that’s a spot that is both a music video and an ad. They launched an Activia spot, titled “La La La (Brazil 2014)” and featuring Shakira during the World Cup. At last count, it had been shared 5,409,192 times across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere (beating out “The Force” at 5,254,667 shares). The bigger spread is in the number of views. “The Force” earned 60 million. “La La La” is at over 345 million and counting.
Kia recently launched even more brand-centric trackvertising with Maroon 5’s single Animal and with Lady Gaga’s track Applause. H&M teamed up with Beyonce; Fiat with Arianna; and Evian with Rizzle Kicks.
Fine print gets fun
Every traveler is familiar with these words: “Now we request your full attention as the flight attendants demonstrate the safety features of this aircraft.” We know they’re required to do it, but the presentation that follows is so boring that even its could-save-your-life potential can’t make people tune in.
Delta decided to rethink that fine print and make the required safety demonstration fun. Not just for the sake of entertainment, but to really earn people’s attention. Their new in-flight videos include their charismatic president, triplets, a few comedians, and even a friendly alien we know as Alf.
More channels, more opportunities
The fracturing of original programming is creating even more opportunities for brands to develop advertainment. Platforms like Hulu offer brands much more than product placement — from becoming part of the story arc to taking the characters off set to develop brand-centered original programming.
* Each of these trend watchers and big thinkers has made their picks for 2015: Abigail Schmelzer, Alex Brock, Andrea Evans, Angela Cua, Azul Ceballos, Campbell Hooper, Charles DiSantis, Chelsea Bailey, Duncan Arbour, Eduardo Menendez, Fred Harrison, James Tomasino, Jeffrey Giermek, Joe DeSalvo, John Mucha, Joy Hart, Julie Valka, Kathryn Bernish-Fisher, Kevin Nalty, Leigh Householder, Luke Hubblethwaite, Matt Groom, Mike Martins, Nick Bartlett, Nicole Sordell, Pavithra Selvam, Richard Martin, Rick Summa, Sam Cannizzaro, Sarah Brown, Sayeed Anwar, Scott Raidel, Stephanie Jones, and Zach Gerber.
