free - MediaCom

Transcription

free - MediaCom

Influences 2009
Published by
blink #1 2008
in cooperation with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
blink
hour
1
e
k
a
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m the
off froSSION
RECE
free = new paid
Free exchange between two parties?
Where’s the money in that?
Young and cool
consumers
Digital natives are on the go 44 hours – yes, 44 – a day. And
ethnic minority youth have the cool factor – as their numbers
increase and their buying power soars. Meet today’s youth.
In love with content
Contentrules.
Content
rules.Content
Content
is currency.
is currency.
Read
Read
about
about
branded content,
branded
content,how
how
Nokia
Nokia
sells
sells
phones
phones
with with
music, 66new
music,
newsocial
social
media
media
currencies
currencies
and and
why why
you
should
you
should
let consumers
let consumers
produce
produce
your ads.
your ads.
blink
In the current state of the world, it is dangerous to blink – in an instant, a country can
go bust, global warming can accelerate and your retirement fund can lose 20%.
The world can change in a blink of an eye – which is why we choose to name our
magazine blink.
We want to inspire you – to be a source of inspiration and knowledge. To give you an
in-depth look into what’s happening in our world. A look at what influences our lives,
businesses, economy, environment…
The partnership behind blink is MediaCom Nordic and the Copenhagen Institute for
Futures Studies. Together, we bring a vast knowledge about future trends that affect
us all. And we hope you will invest some time in blink.
In these days of concern about greenhouse gases, why have we used paper to
publish blink?
It takes time to read! As pointed out on page 43, paper publication is more environment-friendly, if the reader spends more than 10 minutes reading. And we believe it’s
more convenient to read the paper version of blink on the plane or in bed. But if you
prefer the screen – please visit blink.mediacom.com.
If you have ideas, questions, wishes, fears, concerns or just plain comments, please
let us know. We will publish blink again, soon, and are always looking for inspiration.
Please email editors Signe Wandler ([email protected]) or Gitte Larsen
([email protected]) with any input.
By the way, if you wonder why this first issue is not loaded with “Marketing in a Recession” stuff – and really miss it – please visit blink.mediacom.com, where you can
find a comprehensive collection of papers on how to act. We may also return to the
subject in early 2009.
If you have forgotten what a blink looks like go to: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Eye_
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Dear Reader,
Stronger relationships
The future of communication is about content. And trading. Not the usual trading – getting the best buy – but
trading content for time. Content becomes a currency,
and so does time. Actually this is how it’s always been,
but it has become even more extreme.
Consumers – or content users – are used to receiving high-quality content for free. On all platforms, in all
genres.
advertising. Not the old-school advertising model where
advertisers bought eyeballs through a newspaper or TV.
No, a new model where some create fantastic content,
while others find ways to get our attention and exchange
content for time – and that attention, time, and involvement is valuable if it’s linked or associated with brands.
Free is the new paid. In the old days, we bought a newspaper, subscribed to a magazine or paid license to the
state TV and radio. And editors made sure we received
the “right” content– every day.
The Internet and Google changed all that – free
information at our fingertips. Metro and other free
distributed dailies followed, then YouTube, Facebook
– and let us not forget advertiser-funded programming
and branded content. Advertisers and people are so
eager to tell us their story, they will pay us to spend
time with their story.
But it doesn’t end here. The next step of this development will be their paying us to spend time with brands.
The competition among brands is so intense that, unless
the brand has some extreme unique features or values,
the consumer becomes disloyal to the brand. So brands
give us so much added value in different currencies that
we become loyal to the brand plus the benefits.
This is not a new thing. Frequent flyer miles were
invented decades ago – but that concept has now entered
the mobile phone business with Nokia’s new music
included service and TDC Play in Denmark. They give
you free and unlimited downloads of music when you
buy their products or subscribe to their services.
So we get more of the stuff we used to pay for – for
free. That’s a threat to commercialism! But on the other
hand, this model will only work when based on one
of the most fundamental principles in commercialism:
hope the current economic turmoil will end this development will be disappointed. It will actually accelerate it.
Because we all will have to build stronger relationships
with our clients with less money – and by creating our
own content and managing our own, mainly digital,
channels, we become media independent.
Even this magazine is an example. We believe the
content is so appealing that you will spend time reading
it – even though you got it for free!
And we have just seen the beginning of this new trend
of Neo-commercialism. The media and advertisers that
Enjoy your first issue of blink!
Jonas Hemmingsen,
CEO, Mediacom Nordic Group
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Contents
Stronger relationships ............................................... 3
Introduction: Get influenced!...................................... 9
44 hours in a day....................................................... 13
Build an audience..................................................... 19
Content is King for Nokia! . ..................................... 24
The ethnic minority cool factor . ............................. 28
Six new social currencies for delivering content... 34
The green agenda..................................................... 39
Users will spread the word....................................... 45
The market of free ................................................... 51
M:files........................................................................ 57
Fancy O
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Resumé
INTRODUCTION: GET INFLUENCED......................... 9
By gitte larsen, cifs
You and your business are influenced by every possible
trend and driver of societal and economic developments.
Right now, your challenges are the “economy of free,”
“climate communication,” branded content, mobile marketing and new consumers (either the young multimedia
generation or ethnic minority youth). Every trend and
influence described in this issue of blink affects how you
should develop and market your organization and product. But these are not the only influences. The capitalist
economy is changing, too, and it is increasingly imperative that you rethink your business. Get influenced – and
gain influence over the future of your company.
m:files...................................................................... 57
Nordic countries are wired up; put the Real World to your
toolbox; recession marketing. And other snippets.
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Christian Johansen
BUILD AN AUDIENCE............................................... 19
By Signe Wandler, MediaCom
Branded Content is the future of marketing. So far,
we have had only a glimpse of what it may become.
However, in time, when we have more examples of success, advertisers and media outlets will feel confident
in the area, and will strive to create new opportunities
for marketing in the form of Branded Content. Branded
Content is a powerful marketing tool, because it relies on
high-quality content, and because it can build knowledge
and engage otherwise hard-to-reach audiences.
Case: TDC & Denmark’s Best Gamer
p 19
NORDICPHOT
OS
CO
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EK
ST
RÖ
PA Photos MATT CROSSICK
M
Nokia comes with music
p 24
The ethnic minority cool factor
p 28
The ethnic minority cool factor................. 28
By Sara Jönsson, CIFS
A new target group is emerging for Nordic product development and marketing sectors: “cool” ethnic consumers.
Having a different ethnic background and standing out
from others is becoming trendy. The new wave of advertising that puts immigrants in the spotlight particularly
illustrates this trend -- which is not just Nordic; it is global. There is money to be made from ethnic minorities,
whose numbers are growing while their buying power
soars. While an overlooked customer (and employee)
group in the past, they are attracting attention, especially
because of their cool factor. Read about some of the key
ethnic marketing concepts.
CONTENT IS KING FOR NOKIA!.............................. 24
By Flemming Wisler, Nxt
To date, the cell phone can claim to be the most important device of the 21st century. It has become an indispensable social navigator and best friend – a pocket-size
media platform that sets a whole new agenda. But cell
phone models increasingly have the same features – and
price. What can producers do in the battle for customers? Content is the weapon, with music at top of the
wish list. blink talked to Ruhne Fiala, Nokia’s Multimedia
Marketing Director, about the company’s new role as content provider.
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1881
USERS WILL SPREAD THE WORD.......................... 45
By Christian Vibe Norup, CIFS
More companies are waking up to the advantages
of consumer-generated advertisements. Consumergenerated ads make it easier to reach young men; they
are more authentic and credible; they have great distribution potential; they provide good insight into the consumer; they can help attract talented employees. Find
inspiration about how to work with user-generated ads
online, and get four examples of companies doing it.
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Case: 1881
OT
p 45
OS
LENA JOHA
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WORKBOOK STOCK
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Six new social currencies
p 34
SIX NEW SOCIAL CURRENCIES FOR
DELIVERING CONTENT............................................ 34
By Adam Morgan, eatbigfish
More than any other time in media history, brands face a
dilemma. Brands and brand owners struggle with social
and digital media, trying to make sense of them. Some
are trying to throw the old model around the new world.
But that is a mistake: the new world requires an entirely
new kind of strategy (and underlying model). We must
start again. How does an 18-year-old digital native navigate their socio-digital world? How can brands fit in that
world and add value to it? Adam Morgan, of the consultancy eatbigfish, is working on a new media model for
the socio-digital economy. Take a peek at his idea about
the six new social currencies that brands and media
companies will use in the future.
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THE MARKET OF FREE............................................ 51
By Christian Vibe Norup, CIFS
The market of free is exploding. That means every company must reconsider its business model. Money is no
longer the only way to measure and create value, and
it is no longer the only scarce resource. Your time and
respect are the gold of the attention economy. That is
why Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, author of The Long
Tail and author of an upcoming book about the free
economy, believes free will be the norm, not an anomaly,
in the future. Read about his views about what the market of free is and read his views on six different business
models - all based on the idea of free.
PO
LF
OT
OJO Images FLORESCO PRODUCTIONS
Topfoto
O
44 hours
p 13
The green agenda
p 39
44 HOURS IN A DAY.................................................. 13
American studies show that young people can now cram
the equivalent of 44 analogue hours into a good, oldfashioned 24-hour day. Young media users can easily
handle three or four tasks simultaneously, letting them
watch TV, listen to music, send text messages and game
– all while updating Facebook. What seriously separates
this generation from the one before is the strength of
their media tools. They can tailor and personalize everything. They can act “global,” and they do. One of the
common themes of young people’s media consumption
is also one of humanity’s: social interaction. Meet the
new multimedia generation.
THE GREEN AGENDA............................................... 39
Environment-friendly communication and climate strategy: consumers say they want your company’s profile and
agenda to be green. The sense that the climate problem
is a here-and-now problem is widespread, and is starting
to affect how we organize our consumption. What does
it mean for media selection and content, and will CO2 be
the best excuse for cutting back?
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NORDICPHOTOS, LARS G SÃ FSTRÖM
By Gitte Larsen,
Copenhagen Institute for FUTURES STUDIES
Introduction:
Get influenced!
When you and your company think about the future and look for
influences, you must also focus on goals. But goals may look
and seem different in the future. The capitalist economy, as we
know it, will not be around much longer. The currencies we use
will change. You will change. Nothing will stay the same. Go explore what possible futures are actually an opportunity for your
company and next advertising campaign, and do it by keeping
up with what influences your business – both obvious and nonobvious influences.
Don’t expect consumers to know what they want in the future. Of course, you should interact with your customers,
but you should also interact with other people: friends,
people who are different from you, people you meet every
day, people you have never met and will meet by accident.
No one can be sure about where the next great idea will
come from, except perhaps great companies, and personalities such as Nick Butler, policy adviser at BP. I recently
read in Hot Spots, by Lynda Gratton, that Butler “wanted
to keep in touch with people who know more than we [BP]
do.” He knows that he doesn’t know, and has arranged
regularly to be in touch with people and environments
where the next great idea may lurk.
That mindset, and doubt in general, should be more
accepted and acknowledged. It is an especially important
part of your relationship with employees and customers.
It is important in the development of your company,
products, and marketing plan. Insightfulness comes only
from exposing yourself and your doubt to every kind of
knowledge, experience, and information – and from sharing what you know.
Another example in Gratton’s Hot Spots (which I recommend) comes from IBM CEO Lou Gerstner. He made
a rule that slides could never again be shown at meetings
of senior managers. Gerstner preferred conversation to
presentations, and this makes sense, I believe. The state
we’re in, not least the new direction for the traditional
capitalist economy, will increasingly demand we use the
knowledge we already have in new ways. Conversation
and the meeting of different people, views and perspectives will be the determining factors. The same will apply
to marketing and advertising in the future: you will need
to think about your products as new kinds of currencies,
and view that which creates real value in new and broader terms, beyond just money.
Yet another CEO, this time from Corning, made a
rule that anyone who did not add or receive something of
value from a meeting would not take part. Think about
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how many resources your company could use better,
and think about your own personal joy and relief, if you
could decide yourself which meetings are worth attending. Many ritual meetings would quickly die out, as happened in Corning. And this applies to your products, and
the speed of the digital market will make it happen ever
faster than before. When nobody, especially your clients
and customers, wants to take part in your next marketing
campaign
The future is not predictable
Don’t be so sure you know what your customers want in
the future. Nobody can predict the future. Imagine that
you could. You could confidently walk into the CEO’s
office and explain exactly how to market the company’s
next product. You would tell him (or her: in the future,
it’s more likely to “her,” but that’s another story) that
you know what the customers and other consumers
want in the future. You know they will go for the mobile
phone with integrated platforms, and they will only
consume segmented and personally chosen information.
Consumers will go for the instant, high-quality content
and experiences they can share and develop further. As a
reader of this article, you may believe this is exactly how
the future will be, and you may be right.
Tomorrow’s people, employees in your company,
your colleagues, your children and their friends’ parents,
etc. will demand quality content for free. They will want
it whenever and wherever they like, and in the form they
want. The technology will be there. But will we understand what it means to be human in a globalized world?
And this is nothing but a question.
You may be right in thinking that the future will be
as described above (and in the other articles in this first
issue of blink), but you can never be sure. If you were
sure, you would stop asking questions, and you would
continue to do whatever you have always done, in more
or less the same way.
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Even though we could, in an otherwise plausible
way, predict the future, no one – no company or person
– would dare act on it. It is up to each of us to approach
our individual and collective futures, and we do that best
by working with alternative, possible futures.
A one-track mind sees and hears very little. The
recommendation, then, is companies and organizations
ask the question: What will happen, if such and such
happened? How would the company react? It is all about
being prepared for the future, and if we are, we do not
need to predict the future. In short, don’t stop thinking
about tomorrow - ever!
In thinking about the future, and looking for influences, you need to focus, too, on specific goals. But even
goals may look and feel different in the future. The
capitalist economy, as we know it, will not be around
much longer. The currencies we use will change. You will
change. Nothing will stay the same.
Rethinking business and economy
The financial crisis that has engulfed the world is quite
likely a structural crisis. When we get through it, capitalism, as we know it, will no longer exist.
Companies and business should not aim to be just
capitalists, but happy capitalists. We should be glad, even
happy, and make money. Or, said another way: there is
a global need for companies to manage the capitalist system in a way that doesn’t kill us all. In different or new
economies, or mutations of capitalism, our currencies
are very different from what we are used to. More and
more companies will be managing their business from
the principle of “cradle to cradle,” and we will speak of a
circular economy that will let us consume more without
having a bad conscience.
The award-winning Dutch documentary Waste=Food
considers a more natural capitalism based on the central
principle of closed-loop manufacturing. As architect Paul
Bierman-Lytle of the engineering firm CH2M Hill puts it,
“waste equals food.”
Get influenced!- By Gitte Larsen
How to get influenced
There are many sources of new business opportunities, and ways to find
them. Here are some ways for you to be influenced:
?
#3: Seeing differently!
We often talk about opportunities as something we see. Perhaps
opportunities are also something that can be heard, smelled,
tasted, and felt? Perhaps you should discuss product, organizational or market development in unusual venues. Most meeting
rooms aren’t really rooms for seeing things in a different manner.
By moving to an unusual spot, you’ll see different things, and your
mind will be opened. Wherever you are, though, see everything as
a medium. Pick anything you have and make it a medium.
One example of seeing differently is Air New Zealand, which
changed its definition of itself from being ’New Zealand’s largest
airline’ to being the ’The World’s 32nd largest airline’. The shift from
high status and the challenge of maintaining routes, to a status
where it is smart to sacrifice routes and over-commit on service,
changed the airline and how it does business.
You might want to add these sources or
ways to look for opportunities:
#4: Think outside in!
In futures studies, the core element is working with the cognitive reframing of what is possible. The future is not a given, and ’the one size fits
all’ is never applicable. Every possible future is not an opportunity for
everyone. But a possible or probable future might just be an opportunity
for you and your company.
The world is always changing. Reviewing the surroundings is a must for
every business and organization. The windows of opportunities are out
there. First, you and your company must stay focused on the big wins,
and not drown in the small stuff. The hard part is still to translate possibilities into real business opportunities for your company, and this has to
do with riding with change, quickness and skill.
#5: Recognize the creative process!
#6: Store ideas!
#7: Measure something different!
#8: Try it in a small scale!
#9: ... -and you can add to the list if you have
more ways
Gitte Larsen, Doing opportunities, article in
FO/futureorientation #3 2008, Copenhagen
Institute for Futures Studies.
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#1: Ask questions!
Asking good questions is an art, and there are different ways to do it.
When looking for new opportunities and influences, you must ask openended questions that offer a wide range of answers. Obviously, they must
be questions to which you do not know the answer. Asking why questions
lets you dig to the root of the problem. You can ask why, why not and why
not now?
Other useful questions are what do I need, what do you need and
what is needed?
In futures studies, one core question is: What if? Ask this question
after you ask those listed above. Doing so lets you discuss and play with
possible futures.
#2: Challenge assumptions!
The heart of futures work is the ability to challenge assumptions
in a way that opens our minds. First, you must agree there is no
best way of doing things: there are always better ways! It’s human
nature to cover up a problem rather than call attention to it. So,
second, when challenging assumptions, don’t just solve problems
- be creative, spot wrong questions and ask new ones.
The only way to change the future, and create a better one, is
by relating to the mindsets of today in new ways. Every strategy
– whether in management, product development, market development, marketing, or human resources – contains implicit assumptions about the future. By making these assumptions explicit,
and by challenging them, you will be able to navigate much more
wisely.
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For example, Ford, one of the biggest brands of the
industrial age, has recently retooled and improved production to the benefit of employees, the environment
and, not least, profitability. One goal was that children
should be able to freely roam the grounds and factories, and that goal has been achieved. Ford has, in other
words, changed how it manages capitalism and is now in
a completely different financial rationale and mindset.
The first industrial revolution was based on the
belief that natural resources were unlimited. The next
industrial revolution, already taking place, must be based
on the opposite notion: natural resources are limited, and
we do not even know what will replace the ones we are
running out of -- yet. Sustainability will not be enough
in the future. We need to go beyond this and rethink the
way we run our business. Thoughts such as these will
become a greater part of how we address the global challenges of an increasingly complicated, developing knowledge society and economy.
We have heard and know that it is people who
create value in the knowledge society. Humans are
the most important production factor. We have heard
people and their talent are every organization’s greatest
asset. Unfortunately, it seems the message has begun
to bore us. Many companies still have far to go, with
many important changes ahead. It is not only about
acknowledging that human beings are the most important resource, but also about how we organize our business overall, about cooperation, about sharing and about
developing new desirable business models. In short: How
can we continue to stay happy capitalists, or become
even happier capitalists, in the future?
Building long-lasting relationships with your clients,
consumers, employees, and the surrounding (global) society will inevitably be the most important influence on
profits in the future.
Creating your future
obvious and non-obvious influences. And, at last, by
deciding and acting. Lynda Gratton put it this way in a
recent interview in the magazine FO/futureorientation:
“You should think about things you need to create for
innovation to take place.”
All the trends described in this issue of blink will
influence the media business, and marketing, but how
and to what degree your company and your products
will be influences depends to a large degree of how you
choose to respond on these influences and challenges.
Everything, in principle, is possible, but there is an
important difference between possibilities and opportunities. We often speak of possibilities as something we
see. A possibility is a specific view of a specific topic or
challenged. Or, put another way, possibilities are futures
you can create. In other words, opportunities are something you and your company do or can do. The difference
between a possibility and an opportunity is that possible
futures always exist outside you and your company,
while opportunities are something you and your company have and do. Sometimes, a possible future gives your
company an opportunity that a competitor cannot enjoy.
In this edition of blink, you can read much more
about several important influences in the media business.
Even though we have not covered every trend that will
affect you and your business, the ones we have chosen
undoubtedly already play a decisive role for all companies – not least media companies.
Sources: Lynda Gratton, Hot Spots, 2007. Gitte Larsen, “Hot Spots is
energy”, interview with Lynda Gratton in FO/futureorientation #5 2008,
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. Gitte Larsen, “Doing opportunities”, article in FO/futureorientation #3 2008, Copenhagen Institute for
Futures Studies. Thomas Geuken og Gitte Larsen, Copenhagen Institute
for Futures Studies, All Dressed Up – but nowhere to go, Gyldendal
2007.
Gitte Larsen, MA Political Science, is a futurist and editor of FO/futureorientation, the journal of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.
www.fo-online.dk and [email protected]
The future should be a conversation piece in any company. The future is not just out there – it must be created.
You can create it through conversations and collaboration. Of course, you must also explore possible futures by
keeping up with what influences your business --- both
More info on influences and trends:
www.cifs.dk
www.trendwatching.com
www.springwise.com
www.springspotters.com
Waste=food: Search Google Video and watch the excellent Dutch documentary Waste=food with great examples of how companies like Ford
rethought their business model to be more than sustainable.
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By Flemming Wisler,
NXT
44 hours
in a day
If you are 25 years old or younger, you probably have special
skills that make you a member of an extremely challenging
club. This is the club of people under 25 who manage to cram
up to 44 hours into a good, old-fashioned analogue day of 24
hours. That’s why you have to get up early to be young with
the young. Meet the new multimedia generation.
Making arrangements, meeting, and keeping in touch
via obsolete analogue tools such as snail mail and rotary
telephones would be an unholy nightmare for a teenager
anno 2008. In fact, I tested it on my own two, and I could
read in their eyes the utter hopelessness of the project.
Just the thought of not having hour-by-hour updates
about where close friends are, who they are together with
and, most important, what they are doing, seemed almost
to provoke fear. A new generation – the digital natives –
has indeed taken the stage.
Only if you deserve it!
Children born in the 1980s became the first generation
in Denmark to grow up with a large television channel
selection and with advertising as a natural part of the
broadcast. Later, in the 1990s, the Internet turned up,
along with fast computers with challenging three-dimensional playing surfaces and, not least, the mobile phone.
Since the turn of the millennium, the media offering has
been extended to easy access to music and, increasingly,
to films. And the Net’s social dimensions, in the form of
meeting places and virtual worlds, have long since made
the Web both two-way and global.
Young people 25 and younger are, fortunately, just
as ordinary as the young people before them, with the
same strong need for communities and their own identity. But what seriously separates this generation from the
one before is the strength of their media tools. They can
tailor and personalize everything. They can act “global,”
and they do.
Children and youth raised with open media channels
from morning ‘til night can increasingly filter messages
and information, so that only relevant, entertaining and
valuable bytes penetrate their consciousness and receive
their attention.
However, if you want to reach this group, you can
take comfort in knowing that, if you hit the right channel with a relevant message, you will hit them right in
the solar plexus. The acceptance of placed messages in
personal online-channels appears, however, to vary by
culture. It’s bigger in India and Asia than in Europe, for
example, where advertising is mainly expected, and tolerated, in traditional media.
The point, however, isn’t so much the channel, as it
is the relevant message. There’s no percentage in forcing
access to users, as Rupert Murdoch did when he bought
MySpace.com. Google has apparently shown the path
forward by delivering precisely that form of advertising
that media sharks under age 25 want to use: the small,
diminutive text advert aimed precisely at the situation
you are in, right here and right now. The same applies to
both iTune’s and YouTube, which know what you are listening to, or watching, and then recommend more from
the same drawer.
Multichannels need multipeople
One of the more interesting sides of the accelerating
media- and content offering is what it does to our use
of time. Much indicates that young people today simply
don’t have the time to attack all the offers thrown their
way. That means many of them “stretch” time by training themselves to contemplate and address far more
tasks and information than those of us could manage,
who grew up in 1970’s Denmark, when telephone booths
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POLCREATIVE HØGSBERG SIMON
PYMCA PAUL HARTNETT
fStop RAGNAR SCHMUCK
were few and far between, and when McCloud was the
only show on Saturday night.
Surveys show that young media users easily handle
three-four tasks simultaneously, enabling them to watch
TV, listen to music, send text messages and game, all
while surfing Facebook. Studies and homework being an
extension, understand.
According to American studies, young people can
now cram the equivalent of 44 analogue hours into a
good, old-fashioned 24-hour day. That’s why you need to
get up early to be young with youth. Fishing for information from several media has become a widespread behavior, which, as a result of multitasking, prompts chain
reactions and a ripple effect through the news stream,
entertainment and communities.
This form of media meshing means, for example, that
a news item presented in one medium will immediately
be “nuanced” by viewing it in another medium closer to
the event, and perhaps supplemented by a Google search,
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reading a blog, and texting/emailing with friends. Think
about how you react to breaking news you see on the
Net, or hear about through a text message. You most
probably research further and find your own angle on
the story.
The same applies to entertainment, where immediate
global fame, à la Warhol’s divinely foreseen 15 minutes,
can arise, if a string with music, video – or, ideally, both
-- suddenly penetrates the filter and gains status as a
really sick joke. The actual sequence will spread at the
speed of light, and the source of the entertainment will
be ransacked for more of the same, and discussion about
the discussion will finally slip into the mainstream “river
of news.” When the event makes it to the printed press a
couple of days later, the actual entertainment is ancient
history in the fast circles of the Net. At dinner, your teenager looks at you indulgently when you talk about news
you read in the newspaper.
44 hours in a day - By Flemming Wisler
NORDICPHOTOS LIV CARLÉ MORTENSEN
PYMCA NAKI
Youth 2008
PYMCA JA
Y
BRO
OK
S
More young people on the streets;
juvenile crime has fallen
Although life is largely lived on the network, a study by the
Danish Ministry of Justice Research Unit indicates more
and more young people hang out on the street. The finding led the ministry to recommend more adult control in
the urban environment to keep lifestyle-related crime in
check. Otherwise, robberies and violence could increase.
However, it is concluded that juvenile delinquency trends
are generally positive, with crimes by young people declining over the last 20-30 years.
Source: Danish Ministry of Justice Research Unit, August
2008
OJO Images FLORESCO PRODUCTIONS
Pass the bottle
Danish youth still tops the alcohol consumption list when
compared to the rest of the world. In June 2008, the
Danish National Institute of Public Health published a
three-year Internet-based study that followed 13,000
young people from grades 7 to 9. The study showed an
early drinking debut, and 25% of those in 7th class have
been influenced by alcohol. There is apparently a link
between the introduction to alcohol and its subsequent
consumption, so early debut results in increased consumption later. The study also shows that many young
drinkers do so in groups. Pre-mixed products, such as
Bacardi Breezers, especially lead young people to drink
large quantities for concentrated periods and then pause
for a while. Reducing the age limit for alcohol sales is the
way forward, concludes the Institute.
Source: Danish National Institute of Public Health, June
2008
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Life is great
95% of young Danes are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives,
concludes the Center for Youth Research at the Danish University of
Education. The center’s study, released in June 2008, surveys security
and wellbeing among 1,300 children and adolescents from grades 6 to
10 in the Frederiksberg area of Copenhagen. 84% say they have a good
or very good relationship with their parents. And, generally, social relationships mean the most for happiness.
PYMCA MARC VALLEE
The six best things about being young today, according to the study:
#1.
#2.
#3.
#4.
#5.
#6.
Friends
Parents and family
To have it good
Recreation and sports
School
Boyfriend/girlfriend
Source: Center for Youth Research, Danish University of Education, June
2008
Fancy TOM
A
SR
OD
RI G
UE
Z
The key to everything
The media generation has gone through a kind of instant
evolution that has literally changed or strengthened the
sensory apparatus and motor function, so that social
interaction and navigation in the global digital network
can be optimized.
One of the most important tools has become the
mobile phone. The mobile phone is such an integrated
part of the young person’s character and network that
most cannot imagine life without it. It has become a sort
of extension of the body and a prerequisite for being able
to orient and express oneself.
The compressed spelling that text messaging requires
has become a parallel language, where icons – smileys –
become indicators of emotional state. While emails were
a hybrid between telephone and written letter, texting
has become a hybrid between emails and conversation.
They are an even shorter, more frequent dialogue form,
which act as a sort of social pulse monitor.
The mobile phone long ago left shed its guise as a
portable telephone. Today, it is becoming a multimedia
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The social Internet has become part
of everyday life, and parents are
absent
30% of children aged 14-18 spend more than
two hours daily on social forums online, and 30%
spend between one and two hours.
Fancy OLIVER ROSSI
34% speak with their parents about life on Internet
net meeting sites, while the rest spend their day
on the web without parental involvement.
31% have had what they perceive as unpleasant
experiences on the net, but see it as part of the
universe. The unpleasant experiences associated
with people whom they do not know IRL (in real
life).
channel for receiving, recording, editing and broadcasting. This will present problems for producers of standalone digital cameras, mp3 players and, paradoxically,
mobile phone makers, because most people in the future
will not want to carry a one-dimensional media platform.
Sony and Ericsson saw this and joined forces in
a fusion of telephony, photography, video and music.
Apple saw it and has just merged the iPod with the telephone and computer. What will Canon and Nokia do?
Friends
What has the media revolution done to its children?
Has it eaten them and changed them into obedient Red
Guards equipped with mobile phones instead of the “little
red book. Fortunately, no. One of the common themes of
young people’s media consumption is also one of humanity’s: social interaction.
Never before have communities and friends had
greater status than right now, when the phenomenon
has actually become measurable. Even the Danish prime
minister has bragged about how many friends he has on
Fancy OLIVER ROSSI
These figures are from the Media Council’s major
study, published in February 2008, about the
online lives of children and youth. The report’s
conclusion is that few parents are involved enough
in Internet life to give their children proper support.
Source: Media Council for Children and Young
People
Facebook. The media generation is globally informed,
smart, creative, lightning fast and always in dense social
relations.
The challenge for the media-conscious young is being
able to sort and choose in an almost infinitely large supply of opportunities. There is certainly a limit to how
many times it is humanly possible to double the number
of hours in a day, and a longing after deep calm will
probably lead to islands of offline.
Maybe there will be status in being an old, pre-media
oracle from the 1970s, who dares to turn off the power
and navigate via analogue instruments and undocumented wisdom?
Sources: Joe Uva, OMD Worldwide, Global Media Study, New York
This article, except the fact boxes, was previously printed in FO/futureorientation #1 2008, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. www.
fo-online.dk
FLEMMING WISLER is director of nxt, which specializes in creative execution, strategy and the media’s new social possibilities in light of futures
research, art and globalization. Read his blog at www.nxtbrand.dk
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POLFOTO LANGKILDE MORTEN
Since 1983, the Green
Concerts have been an
institution in Danish music.
Each year, Tuborg and the
Danish Muscular Dystrophy
Foundation hold 1-day music
festivals around Denmark.
By Signe Wandler,
Mediacom
Build an
audience
Branded content will be the future of marketing only if brands
can express themselves credibly. Otherwise, consumers will
not demand the content – and giving them what they want
will not do, either. Brands must involve and activate consumers, and do it through high quality and original content. When
branded content is successful, the lovely relationship between
brand and consumer makes everyone – consumer, brand and
media – a winner. Get four examples.
Everyone has been talking about Branded Content in
recent years. If they do not call it Branded Content, then
they use more or less correct names such as Branded
Entertainment, Branded Utility, Advertiser Funded Content
or Advertainment.
Branded Content (BC), as a concept, covers content
with high branding value and, unlike traditional entertainment and content, is funded by a brand or company.
With the successful BC, the company or brand can reach
otherwise inaccessible audiences and thus gain a larger
target group as audience. If it delivers content the audience demands, BC may be one answer to the demanding
consumer’s desire for activation and involvement.
BC became a serious part of our vocabulary in
2002, when BMW launched the mini-series The Hire.
The Hire was a series of well-produced, short, quality films distributed on the Internet. The films were
directed by Hollywood’s best directors, and all centered
around BMW. The films were in a special class, and fully
matched other Hollywood films, which was new – but
the idea of letting art support companies is not.
Soap operas are called that because 1930’s soap
makers sponsored daytime radio shows. Before that, the
patron-client system allowed artists, such as Leonardi Da
Vinci, and scientists, such as Tycho Brahe, to practice
their skills. Similarly, sponsorship and Product Placement
have been part of the marketing toolbox for many
years. But while it has previously been about exposing
the brand and building awareness, BC is about creating
value for the consumer. The brand must be coupled with
the consumer’s needs and thereby increase consumer
involvement.
More than branded film
BC is often linked to movies. But films as BC are better
called Branded Entertainment. BC is much more than
film and television production. Especially in the Nordic
countries, restrictive national laws and small advertising
budgets demand a more nuanced concept.
A classic Danish example is Tuborg’s Green Concerts
in which the beer brand organizes several concerts each
year. A newer Danish example is Denmark’s Best Gamer,
in which TDC, a telephony company, has managed to
reach a difficult target group by creating Denmark’s largest gaming tournament. Denmark’s Best Gamer is successful BC, because it is close to the TDC’s core business of
fast broadband and simultaneously manages to activate
several of TDC’s channels (shops, Boomtown, mobile etc).
In Sweden, Rexona successfully gathered the difficult
male target group to races on the Web through events
around Sweden and television. But film and television
production are important parts of BC. In Finland, in
recent years, TV stations have opened the door to obvious BC branding, and that has brought film and TV
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Dos and Don’ts
OF Branded Content
-
Unlike commercials, branded content must win user
acceptance to be successful
-
Start by understanding how we consume content
and what piques our interest
-
Classic banded content, such as TV shows and
movies, take time to produce. At least 12-18
months
-
Branded content on new digital platforms is fast,
easy and cheaper than traditional platforms
-
Let the consumer help you or inspire you -- if you
dare. Great ideas and talent often come from user
involvement
-
Does the brand’s presence in the content add anything? If not, ensure it does or remove it. You can
get credit other ways
-
Finally – if you are in doubt – don’t do it!
production to the forefront. 7th heaven is producing a
10-minute BC movie to be shown on Finnish MTV 3.
Other brands are creating their own “TV”channels on
the Internet, brand channels, where content is aimed at
Internet users.
Successful BC requires high quality – for both consumer and brand. So it is important to start with the
consumer and a basic understanding of consumers’ lives,
and then develop a concept that connects the idea to the
brand. A strong and credible link between concept and
brand is critical, and the concept must be centered on the
core business. The relationship between the brand and
the content must be credible, which makes BC more than
Product Placement.
A credible expression is required for the consumer
to demand the content, and so is also a prerequisite for
making it possible for the content to activate and involve
users. BC’s goal is that the audience demands the content,
but for the pull factor to work, the content must meet the
needs of consumers and not be just what they want. The
consumer must be surprised, which is why it is seldom
advisable to create BC just because you can, or copy other
concepts. Originality is rewarded. And when BC is successful, everyone is a winner: consumer, brand and the
media.
The future of BC
We have only seen the beginning of BC. The field is
growing rapidly; in several countries, BC is the hottest
marketing topic. Many advertisers is still hesitant for fear
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of the unknown territory, but as the field is cultivated,
as more cases and experience accrue, the more advertisers will have confidence in BC’s potential and take the
plunge. The advantage of BC is that all parties have an
incentive to create BC, because it can make all parties
winners.
Many channels and media are under pressure. BC
lets them deliver high quality content without the usual
cost. Brands are able to be exposed in new ways and to
hard-to-reach audiences. Consumers get better content
with relevancy, and are able to select or deselect, because
the branding and its sender are obvious.
BC offers many opportunities. It should be seen as a
powerful marketing tool and a useful supplement to the
traditional marketing plan. BC is still under development,
and nothing is a given.
Signe Wandler, BA (economics) MSc in IT, is an insight and research
consultant at MediaCom Copenhagen. Work areas include consumer
developments and trends. Contact: [email protected]. Tel:
+45 3376 2267
To learn more:
BMW - The Hire. Search on “The Hire” on YouTube
DBG - danmarksbedstegamer.dk
Carlsberg brand channel - Partofthegame.com
Frozn - Frozn.fi
Content LAX - contentcph.dk
7th heaven - 7th.fi
ContentCph - contentcph.com
Build an audience - By Signe Wandler
Case
TDC & Denmark’s Best Gamer
The key objective for the leading Danish telecom brand, TDC, was to
reconnect with the 18-35 year old future clients and communicate their
new brand proposition: Experience More. However, insight showed that
this target group had a significant lack of interest in TDC pointing out
the need for a different approach – involving the target group. Another
insight was that gaming is the fastest growing entertainment category
and it involves more than 45% of the target group on a monthly basis.
The solution was to involve the target group in TDC’s own casual
gaming tournament, Denmark’s Best Gamer (Danmarks Bedste Gamer),
spanning multiple gaming platforms including console, PC and mobile.
A gaming tournament supported TDC’s core business, mainly high
speed broadband and secondary mobile services. The effect of media
was increased ten times by credible partnerships. The concept was
developed by Content CPH.
In
-
-
-
terms of the core target audience, the results were outstanding:
There has been a 100% increase in people linking TDC with gaming.
7 out of 10 participants changed their perception of TDC.
70% of the participants told friends and family about the tournament.
Links:
www.danmarksbedstegamer.dk
dbg.tdconline.dk
www.contentcph.dk
Advertiser: TDC
Media agency: MediaCom
Activation Agency: Content Cph
Design: ContentCph
Production: ContentCph
Christian Johansen
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Case
Roni Tran
Volvo © Kai Lindqvist Volvo the Crash
Aitojen Asioiden Aarella Redrama Ystavyys
frozn & Keep it real /
Leaf created a new gum, frozn, aimed at 15-24 year olds. Since this is a
hard-to-reach group, Leaf needed a strong concept that could work on multiple platforms. The solution was letting the audience tell something real.
The concept evolved into 8 TV shows, a user-generated Web site, TV commercials, buzz agents and more.
And the results were very convincing
- 12.5% of the entire target group got connected within the first month on
the internet site
- 67% remembered the TV ads
- The image as young and fresh was cemented
Links:
www.7th.fi
frozn.fi
Advertiser: Leaf
Activation Agency: 7th Heaven
Advertising agency: Taivas
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Case
Byggmakker & Oppussingsserien Huset
Links:
Dagbladet.no
Advertiser: Byggmakker
Advertising agency: DDB
Interactive design: Mediafront
Production company: Allegro
Byggmakker (BM), a Norwegian do-it-yourself chain, bought a house in Moss, Norway that
was built in 1947. The house required repairs and the whole process was broadcast on
webTV that could be seen at Dagbladet.no and BM.no.
The goal was to show BM’s categories and products in a new, modern context. The
house would let BM show it sells whole solutions and would strengthen the audience’s perception of BM as an expert in home repair.
A key insight from the Norwegian market with regard to BM is that Norwegians are far
more interested n restoring their homes than other Europeans, and spend much more of their
income on housing and interior design.
Even the repair process typically takes 6-12 months from idea to start. Traditionally, the
building materials supplier becomes involved at a late stage. This was the starting point for
the target audience, which were men and women who are just entering the market to make
some changes at home.
The results were clear and exceeded all goals
- More than 93,000 visits to Dagbladet.no /Huset in the first month after launch
- 118,000 visits to Dagbladet.no /Huset on average per month.
Case
EA games & Svenskafans.se
Audience: 15-44 year old males with an interest in sports
EA Sports created a forum for sports fans where it could communicate
directly with the audience. On the audience’s terms, in an environment
where fans already met.
The result was seamless cultivation of EA Sports’ main target group
through an integrated cooperation with a credible partner for the recipient.
The long-term goal was to strengthen the brand EA Sports (authentic sports), while reinforcing loyalty to the strategically important sports
games, FIFA and NHL.
The solution was a total integration of EA Sports at Sweden’s biggest fan site, svenskafans.com
FIFA increased traffic to its product pages by 1600%, while NHL
increased by 550% compared to the year before. E-sports on Fan-TV
were seen by 12,000 viewers during the live matches with commentators,
while the other EA-related features were seen by 7,700 viewers.
After the introduction, the following pull results were achieved:
- Veckans Glenn 18,600 downloads
- FIFA 07 films 16,500 downloads
- 2,700 downloaded the introductory discount offer during the launch
(FIFA + NHL). In cooperation with svenskafans, EA games have also
published motion-capture films that have attracted about 50,000
downloads on YouTube and other sites.
Links:
Svenskafans.com
Advertiser: EA Games
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By Flemming Wisler,
NXT
Content
is King for Nokia!
“Cell phones are offering more and more Internet facilities and
possibilities, and have become a gateway to the net – here and
now. We can see that people are changing their habits and
using the mobile Internet to structure their decisions and social
life,” says Ruhne Fiala, Global Marketing Activation Director at
Nokia. Advertisers will gain access to more and more mobile
services - providing content, of course.
Eyebrows were raised among major telecom providers
and former state-owned telephone monopolies in 2007
when Nokia launched Ovi, which, together with Nokia
Music, propelled the world’s leading cell phone producer
straight to the content side of the mobile universe.
That was nothing compared with the hype that
“Nokia Comes With Music” created when the concept was
aired at the end of 2007. Launched on the UK market in
September 2008, the new phones come with unlimited
access to more than two million music tracks. The business model breaks with the principle of buying music
one track at a time: instead, freely downloadable music is
included in the price of the cell phone.
This initiative takes Nokia yet another step towards
tying its products to customers through secondary content offers. Many people see this as a direct offensive
against Apple’s success with a similar strategy and a
defense against the imperial expansion of iPhones.
This business model based on bundling music and
entertainment services and products has come to stay, a
phenomenon demonstrated by Nokia’s bid – as truly one
of the last, but also one of the largest modern media players – to exploit its reputation to buy free access to content for its customers.
Strike up the music!
A number of subscription-based services such as Napster
and MusicStation are already offering unlimited music
access, and rumor has it that Apple is also toying with
the idea of releasing music tracks on iTunes.
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In the telecom sector, the Danish company TDC
launched its unlimited music service “Play” in 2008,
and the UK BskyB recently signed an agreement with
Universal which may lead to a similar service. In France,
Orange launched “MusiqueMax” offering 500 downloadable tracks for about €20 a month.
All these services tie the music to the device or the
company selling the device. However, in Nokia’s case,
users can keep the music on their computer and cell
phone even if they choose not to extend the “Comes With
Music” contract.
For the music industry, these services are a way
of distributing music and, not least, an opportunity to
recoup some of the money lost via illegal file sharing. On
the face of it a win-win situation for both worlds.
Cross-branding in action
When news of the merger between Swedish cell phone
producer Ericsson and the electronics giant Sony broke in
2001, it was a sensation. With its reputation as the Volvo
of the cell phone world – a reliable but also slightly dull
technical solution – Ericsson seemed a perfect match for
Sony, which, although determined to enter the mobile
market, lacked Ericsson’s in-depth expertise.
The surprising marriage had an extra dimension
holding far more perspective than the mere synergy generated by two technology-intensive development companies. Although the combination of Ericsson’s dependable
mobile tractor and Sony’s mega consumer technology
brand was intrinsically capable of creating powerful
mobile solutions, Sony’s vast catalogue of content was
the true trump card.
Access to world-class music and movies paved
the way for bundling a mobile unit with content – a
Walkman-style cell phone. Competition between phones
and telecom companies for customer favor gained a new
dimension. Neither could do without the other, but the
balance of power was decisive for dividing the pie – the
money that consumers devote to their darling cell phones.
Five years later the stage was set for the entry of
yet another brand into the mobile market when rumors
about Apple’s transformation of iPod into a cell phone
proved true. Steve Jobs and Co. had already capitalized
on one of the consumer industry’s biggest strategic errors
when Apple stepped into the void left by Walkman after
Sony failed to take its megahit into the MP3 universe. In
2007 Apple went a step further with iPhone, introducing
consumers to an array of other mobile Internet facilities
in addition to mobile telephony.
The content-platform hybrid itself is not news, but
nor was iPod in its time, and yet again the strategy paid
off for Apple, even though the number of units sold to
date is still only a blip on the screen compared with the
old cell phone companies.
Nokia goes content
The counter-move from the largest mobile supplier of
them all has long been awaited with great anticipation.
The most popular cell phone may have made Nokia the
undisputed king, but a whole new generation of mobile
content is king for Nokia! - By Flemming Wisler
nokia
PA Photos MATT CROSSICK
The Feeling perform live at the
Carphone Warehouse on Oxford
St in London, for the launch
of the new Nokia Comes With
Music service.
Nokia Comes With Music
Nokia “Comes With Music” was launched on models like Nokia
5310, one of Nokia’s mid-range phones. Included in the purchase
is the option to download up to 2.1 million music tracks. The music
can be freely downloaded to the user’s computer.
After a year, users have to buy a new phone if they wish to
continue downloading music from the service. However, they can opt
to keep music already downloaded even if they do not want to buy a
new phone. This distinguishes the service from its counterparts. The
downloaded music is controlled by Microsoft’s DRM (Digital Rights
Management) technology, which among other things means it cannot
be played on an iPod.
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25
super-users has long since departed from the notion that
a cell phone is nothing more than a phone.
Cell phones have become a multimedia channel that
can receive, record, edit and broadcast. This presents a
huge challenge for dedicated producers of digital cameras, MP3 players and, paradoxically, also for cell phone
manufacturers, because most users by far are not content
to walk around with uni-dimensional media platforms
capable of only one function.
“We’ve looked into how our customers use cell phones,
and it appears that only 12% of those using our leading
multi-media range, the N series, use their phones purely
for conversation. The rest use them equally for all sorts of
other purposes,” explains Ruhne Fiala, Global Marketing
Activation Director at Nokia.
“Cell phones are offering more and more Internet
facilities and possibilities, and have become a gateway to
the net – here and now. We can see that people are changing their habits and using the mobile Internet to structure
their decisions and social life.”
The master key
Navigation is an example of Nokia’s focus on the hereand-now potential of mobile phones. A single button
press is all it takes to transform the phone into a fully
fledged navigation system regardless of whether the user
is a car driver or a pedestrian, and Nokia has acquired
several manufacturers in the past few years.
“We supply maps to over 150 countries all over the
world,” says Fiala, “and we produce 10 models with GPS.
This is one of the best examples of where it’s all headed. If
you’re in a town and need to find a good Italian restaurant,
you key in what you’re looking for. The system locates the
various options in the neighborhood and gives you directions from where you are right now.”
“This is also where we can open up the other side of
the market. As an advertiser you gain access to mobile
services such as the digital maps, and we work with a
large number of companies that write applications for our
various services, giving us another way to profile ourselves
vis-à-vis our users.”
Nokia has grouped its mobile services under the
Ovi brand, which, like Microsoft’s Live Workspace and
Apple’s mobileMe, is a community dedicated to its users,
creating a sense of affinity by offering a platform for
digital socializing at a highly individual level.
Ovi is based on fundamental services such as contacts, files, calendars, photos – especially photo-sharing,
games, music, and navigation maps. Right at your fingertips, all these functions are combined with basic mobile
functions like text messaging and phone calls.
For Nokia, it is a question of being a channel for
personal and especially business interaction, services
provided in competition with other media players whose
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operations are based on hardware platforms, transmission rights or services and communities like Google and
Facebook.
Everyone wants a bite of the global media cherry that
has become an integral part of daily social interaction
and business in the new millennium.
“Over time we have sold more than a billion mobile
units, and as one of the world’s strongest brands, we
believe we are in a pretty good position to assume the role
of content provider for the mobile Internet,” explains Fiala.
Friends are the engine of the mobile Internet
Although Nokia’s “Comes With Music” initiative has generated a lot of interest, according to Fiala, the cell phone’s
predominance as a social device is the prime driver of
development on the mobile Internet. Its capacity as a
contact-creating and inventive broadcasting tool has
made it indispensable to the social Web 2.0 culture.
“You can film or photograph whatever you’re doing
right now, and publish it directly on your social web platform in real time. These are the type of here-and-now possibilities that drive development in the mobile world and
help to tie Nokia and the net together,” says Fiala.
The battle for mobile customer loyalty and the
enormous sums invested are a small indicator of where
users are and where a major area of the media market is
heading.
So when will “Nokia Comes With Music” hit the
Nordic market?
“Unfortunately I can’t disclose that now,” concludes
Fiala.
There are many signs that the order of roll-out in
2009 will be as follows: Asia, Australia and Singapore
and in Europe: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands
and Spain. But first the system is being pilot-tested on
the tough UK market, where the Christmas sales will provide an interesting benchmark. None of the five UK telecom operators was interested in partnering with Nokia
on the project.
However, for the media market as a whole, this
build-up is yet another indication that investments are
shifting towards content. And this is even before any
mention of Google, which is working on its new mobile
platform Android and will thus open up yet another front
in the battle for consumer loyalty.
content is king for nokia! - By Flemming Wisler
WORKBOOK STOCK
By Sara Jönsson,
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
The ethnic minority
cool factor
A leading electronics chain uses Latin American rappers in its TV
ads, a furniture manufacturer uses a dark-skinned woman wearing traditional African dress to present its kitchens, and a new
cell phone subscription ”Amigos” is being launched for people
wanting to make cheap international calls. Companies whose
public communication signals respect for and understanding of
different cultural groups are likely to get a warm reception from
the growing number of ethnic minorities with buying power.
The year is 2004. Gringo, a Swedish newspaper founded
in Stockholm, quickly attracts a large readership. Gringo’s
articles are about the third option for anyone who would
rather not choose between being an immigrant and
being Swedish but prefers to broaden the concept of
being Swedish. Focusing on the suburbs, the paper turns
expressions like “blatte” (a derogatory term for immigrants) into a cool concept as well as introduces new
Swedish words influenced by languages like Turkish.
Words like “keff” (bad) and “guzz” (girl) figure evermore frequently in The Swedish Academy Glossary, thus
becoming a generally acknowledged part of the Swedish
language.
Similarly, the media are also presenting a different
picture of immigrants. Alongside the usual stories about
crime and poverty, we now see another side of the ethnic
Nordic citizen. Having a different ethnic background and
standing out from others is becoming trendy. The new
wave of advertising that puts immigrants in the spotlight
particularly manifests this trend, which is not restricted
to the Nordic countries: it is global. The USA has long
since developed an ethnic marketing concept.
Ethnic minorities – an overlooked consumer group
Why, then, has the ethnic minority market in
Scandinavia failed to attract much attention from market
practitioners? According to a Swedish forecast, immigrants, primarily from outside Europe, will make up 90%
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of population growth until 2020. In other words, a quarter of the Swedish population will have a foreign background. The other Nordic countries are also witnessing
rising numbers of immigrants and increasing migration.
Today, 8% of Norway’s population are immigrants, ie,
people either born abroad or with parents born abroad.
If we include people who have one parent with a foreign background, the figure rises to 14%. Although pronounced in population statistics, the globalization trend
is less evident in media and advertising.
Dawn Burton, a lecturer at Leeds University Business
School, has researched ethnic minority marketing and
believes several factors account for the weak focus on the
ethnic market. For one thing, negative stereotypical views
of certain ethnic minorities abound, and companies are
unsure how to market products to this group of consumers. Their uncertainty is also linked to the scarcity of marketing and product development employees with foreign
backgrounds.
However, media analysts all seem to agree on one
thing: there is money to be made from ethnic minorities,
whose numbers are growing while their buying power
soars. An overlooked customer group in the past, they are
gradually attracting attention, especially because of their
cool factor. The media have also neglected immigrants
in advertising and marketing drives, often projecting a
negative image and/or presenting them as a homogenous
group. Now ethnic minorities want to play a visible part
NORDICPHOTOS CONNY EKSTRÖM
Facts about immigrants in the Nordic region
Immigrants are and will continue to be an urban phenomenon, with
immigrants from non-Western backgrounds most prone to settle in city
environments. If we look at which regions received the largest number
of immigrants in 2004 (net migration), we see that the three largest are
in Sweden.
Migration often follows existing routes and networks, which means the
largest minority groups differ between the Nordic countries. In Norway,
Poles and Pakistanis are the largest minority groups, whereas in
Denmark immigrants from Turkey and ex-Yugoslavia are the largest, and
Finns, ex-Yugoslavs and Iraqis are the biggest groups in Sweden.
Immigrants are considerably younger than the indigenous aging Nordic
population. The first children of second-generation immigrants are well
on their way to getting established, having children and becoming an
affluent group.
The ethnic minority cool factor - By Sara Jönsson
Norwegian housing statistics show that the percentage of immigrant
homeowners is growing rapidly. The percentage of immigrants from
Pakistan, Vietnam and Sri Lanka living in owned homes is higher
than for the indigenous Norwegian population. Having been part of
Norway for many years, the three minorities have had time to accumulate capital.
Sources: Daniel Rauhut et al. The Demographic Challenge to the Nordic
Countries, Nordregio 2008. Statistics Norway (SSB): Statistical Analysis
50 Immigration and immigrants 2002. (including second generation).
Ministry for Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs Årbog om
udlændinge i Danmark 2005 – Status og Udvikling (Yearbook on foreigners in Denmark 2005 – status and development, in Danish, September
2005). Statistics Sweden (SCB): Statistical Yearbook of Sweden. The
box was designed by Knut Ghytfeldt, a trainee specializing in demographic trends at Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS).
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Excerpts from the multicultural almanac
for July 2008
4 July: Independence Day (USA). America’s national day marks the
day in 1776 when the American colonies declared their independence
from Great Britain.
13 July: Obon (Japan). Three days when Japanese Buddhists honor
the spirits of their ancestors, who return to their earthly relatives during
Obon. Preparations include cleaning ancestors’ graves, setting up a
special altar in the home and lighting candles.
14 July: Bastille Day (France). The French national celebration
commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in France, which
sparked off the French Revolution.
29 July: Lailat al Miraj The Ascent of the Prophet (Muslims).
The prophet’s ascent to heaven is considered a miracle in Islam. Two
archangels cleaned the prophet’s heart while he slept, and a winged
being carried him to Jerusalem and thence to heaven and God. On
the way he met former prophets such as Abraham, Jesus and John.
Muhammed returned to earth to pass on a message to the faithful
that they should pray five times a day. On this day, children are often
invited to the mosque to pray with adults.
30 July: Father’s Day (Vietnam).
Source: Mångkulturella Almanackan (the multicultural almanac) can be
read in Swedish on http://www.mkc.botkyrka.se/alma/index.html
27 July: National Sleepy Head Day (Finland). Until 1900, this
was a public holiday in Sweden named for the legend about seven
young Anatolian Christians who slept in a cave for nearly 200 years.
When they awoke, they thought they had only slept a single night.
“National Sleepy Head Day” still features in the Finnish almanac.
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If you want to know more, please visit blink.mediacom.com
in society by contributing new stimulating ideas and
cultural qualities. A survey conducted by MediaCom in
spring 2007 about immigrants and the media showed
that minority groups generally have a strong desire
to be accepted and respected by their new country.
Consequently, companies whose public communication signals respect for and understanding of different
cultural groups are likely to get a warm reception from
this target group. Marketing aimed at ethnic minorities
becomes an important communication tool that creates
and signals acceptance of new Nordic residents and their
ethnic roots.
Products for many target groups
Companies that market traditional products with an ethnic touch or ethnic products with a cool factor can, on
this basis alone, reach more target groups than simply
ethnic minority consumers. In Sweden, a big food chain
recently launched a “Global Food” concept comprising
around 300 products, mostly from the Middle East. The
intention was twofold: to reach new customer groups
with non-Swedish food traditions and to introduce
established customers to new exciting products and a
healthier lifestyle. The food chain reports the resounding
success of the concept, which boosted their stores’ total
foodstuff sales.
There is also a growing tendency to promote special
festivals through specialty products, services and marketing. The Swedish Trade Association for retail businesses
teamed up with another association, The Multicultural
Center, to produce a calendar featuring new business
opportunities for stores. The resulting multicultural
almanac contains the dates for all sorts of high festivals, including the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan.
Thanks to the feast of Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end
of Ramadan, the festival generates millions of revenue
kroner in the Nordic region, with at least half a million
Muslims joining in the celebrations. Such occasions are
starting to attract attention; for example, one daily newspaper publishes a special theme issue with ads aimed at
the Muslim target group, several phone operators lower
their cell call rates to Muslim countries, and one provider
even offers an audiobook edition of the Koran.
New product categories on the way
The banks are next up to adapt to ethnic minorities.
Several Danish banks are already offering special loans to
Muslims – an idea that has culled success in international
business bank circles. Islam forbids Muslims to pay interest, but there is a loophole: if the bank buys the house
and then resells it at a higher price, Muslims avoid interest payments and can take out a loan.
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PYMCA JENNIE BAPTISTE
The fashion industry has also tuned in to the cool
factor. Headscarves and veils designed by famous fashion houses have become enormously popular with
Muslim women, particularly in the Nørrebro quarter of
Copenhagen, where some stores exclusively sell veils. The
latest idea comes from the Radio Denmark’s youth community, which launched a competition called “Miss Headscarf
2008”. The prize included a subscription to a Muslim girl’s
magazine and a specially designed veil. The competition
accentuated a different type of cool factor while highlighting an overlooked feature of the Danish street scene. The
growing use of luxury veils also says something about ethnic minorities’ consumption of intangible goods, because
this market’s buying behavior extends beyond anonymous
everyday commodities. The product’s story plays a key
role in creating identity and social status for ethnic groups
just as it does for the rest of the population. Being able to
single yourself out through your choice of car, cell phone
or clothes is also a way of communicating with the rest of
the world and showing who you are.
Ethnic minority marketing is beginning to make an
impact in the Nordic countries, and companies are gradually realizing that ethnic minority groups with money to
spend can both generate profit and be a cool marketing
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factor. Immigrants are no longer seen as a homogenous
segregated group of the population with low social and
economic status; they stand out from the masses, have
their own specific cultures, and are entrepreneurial and
eye-catching in a relatively rigid Nordic culture. They
are also important for retail business, representing huge
amassed potential absent in other product categories and
target groups, which are growing pale and hollow.
New products are developed at the interface between
ethnic and Nordic, adapted to Nordic immigrants as well
as to other needs for greater supply, inspiration and variation. In other words, tomorrow’s marketing also targets
ethnic minority consumers and contains the minority
cool factor – and we will be seeing increasing numbers of
products with an ethnic touch in the Nordic market.
Sources: Statistics Sweden (SCB), Sveriges framtida befolkning 20032020: svensk och utländsk bakgrund. 2003. SSB, Innvandring och
innvandrere 2006. Burton, D. (2002) Incorporating ethnicity into marketing
intelligence and planning. Market intelligence and planning, 20, 442-451.
MediaCom Qualitative Analysis 2007.
This article was previously printed in FO/futureorientation #4 2008,
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. www.fo-online.dk
Sara Jönsson has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and is a research
assistant at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, [email protected]
WORKBOOK STOCK
By Adam Morgan,
eatbigfish
Six new social currencies
for delivering content
Adam Morgan, of eatbigfish, a consultancy, believes a new
media model is needed for the socio-digital economy. The six
new currencies that brands and media companies will revolve
around are the ride, burp, jolt, world, tool and gum. This new
way of seeing content and currency cuts across all media and
entertainment.
I look at the way that brand and brand owners are wrestling with social and digital media, and the way they are
trying to make sense of them. It seems to me that we
may be trying to throw the old model around the new
world, when in fact the new world requires an entirely
new kind of strategy (and underlying model) altogether.
We all know that, as they change significantly, categories mistakenly hang on to conventions of the past.
When the first cars came out, they had whip holders
fitted by the driver even though there was nothing left
to whip. But, as brand owners, hanging on to the past
in this way is not quaint: it is downright dangerous. We
have to start again, from understanding how an 18-year
old, for instance, a so-called ‘digital native’, navigates his
socio-digital world, to understanding how brands can
now fit into, and add value to that world.
So perhaps it would be interesting to create a new
model that embraced how these digital natives use
media/entertainment. What if, for instance there were
six (and perhaps even only six) kinds of such media
use? Each of them represents a different kind of experi-
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ence that our 18-year old seeks that either gratifies him
or acts as a currency with his peers.
All six currencies fill very important personal and
social roles. That is the nature of a currency. It has value.
And that is what we want our brands and our media
spend to have in consumers lives as well, right? And that
is the very thing we are most nervous about them losing
in this ‘oh-the-old-model-is-broken-but-we-can’t-seem-tofigure-out-what-the-new-one-is-apart-from-some-nonsenseabout-engagement’ world.
The six new currencies
To succeed in the socio-digital economy, brands must act
as content creators, employing both content creators and
currency planners (see sidebar). The content they choose
to create will have to take the form of one of the six new
currencies relevant in the socio-digital economy: Rides,
Burps, Jolts, Worlds, Tools and Gum.
Some of this content will be private. Most will be
public. The public content will be designed to be passed
continues on page 37
six new currencies
Content can take the form of one of
the six new currencies.
#1
#2
#3
A Jolt is something that jerks me out of a
complacency. It can be short form or long form. A
news story about a missing child. The world heating up and polar bears drowning in the Arctic.
Girls fight on YouTube. Jackass. A flight from
London to NY for 99 bucks. Again this is something that can be passed on or shared. ‘Have you
seen this?’ A Jolt is like a little drama.
Six new social currencies for delivering content - By Adam Morgan
WORKBOOK STOCK
NORDICPHOTOS LENA JOHANSSON
A Burp is a small moment of fun. Not necessarily rude, but three minutes of amusement/
humor that pushes my buttons. ‘Subservient
chicken,’ to take a cliché. Dropping Mentos into
Coke bottles and recreating Versailles. Something
not just to amuse, but to share, to use as a building block between two people, as a social currency
through shared amusement.
NONSTOCK BRIAN KENNEDY
Let’s talk first about The Ride. Hollywood
talks about films as ‘rides’ – an initial rush of
adrenaline (for which you delay the opening credits), then plotted in terms of action like a rollercoaster, sacrificing character development to keep
you on the edge of your seat as much as possible.
Why? Because with a ride, you are more likely
to go not once with your friends but twice when
it first comes out, to see it when it comes out on
Netflix, to buy the game, to buy/give the DVD.
There’s simply more money in rides.
This is a very personal, adrenaline-filled experience. It offers escape, redness, intensity of living,
an antidote to the remote and the beige that our
lives can sometimes seem. As examples, some videogames are clearly rides, and some drugs are too.
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#5
AP MARIO PEREZ
A Tool is something that is useful. This is
of course is the great discontinuity that Google has
created: How do you become one of the world’s
favorite brands without ever marketing yourself.
Answer: Be startlingly useful. And one of our key
currencies will of course be utility: utility of aggregation, utility of speed of access, utility of portability and so on. Applications (increasingly free) that
allow us to get what we want or need and share
them with others.
#4
WORKBOOK STOCK
A World is a self referential and detailed
place where I want to spend longer periods of
time. Explore the world, explore a character,
explore myself with them. Look at ‘Lost’, ‘24’,
some of the better RPG’s, entertainment worlds
such as Harry Potter, Bond, and Alex Rider. Flickr,
sometimes. It could also be my football team, and
the community around that. Worlds are all about
a different world to my own to live in for a while,
which brings us to communities, and the work of
Alan Moore. And MySpace/Facebook – the voyeurism and exhibitionism of looking at someone else’s
world, and sharing ours with others.
#6 And at last Gum, which simply recognizes
linkimage PELLE KRONESTEDT
that there are some things I want to watch or
experience simply because I want to do nothing
and need some mindless mental chewing that
restores my inner rhythm. Reruns of ‘Friends’ or
Nick at Nite. Local news about local boy/girl doing
good. Soft rock radio FM. My friend Rob in Spain
has moved to the country, and he tells me that this
is in effect the nature of conversation with most
of his neighbors: They tell the same story over and
over again from meeting to meeting – because, he
realized, the purpose is not news, but to keep the
relationship humming happily.
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continued from page 34
on – and built on by the person passing it. Cumulatively.
This means that engagement will not be about the brand
with the consumer. It will be about the consumer with
the consumer, with the brand or bits of brand content as
currency between the two.
This does not mean brands are passing on responsibility for creation of meaning. They need to have a very
clear sense of what they stand for, and this will remain a
consistent story or back-story in whatever currency they
are using.
The question is what do these six things represent?
In my mind they are six kinds of content, or six kinds of
social currency.
These are different kinds of content than brands and
media companies used to consider, and they are going to
be used in very different ways. Not different lengths of
content (’let’s go from 30 seconds to 30 minutes for our
brand format’), or different ways of embedding in content
(‘product placement is the new advertising’) or different
channels through which content is piped (‘the mobile is
the new TV’), or a different articulation of the move to
two way communication with consumers (‘engagement is
the new monologue’).
No, our six kinds of social currency are none of
these, and in fact they go beyond any of these. What they
say is that there are different kinds of content being used
in different kinds of ways, each in its own way a valid
currency for a consumer on their own, and between one
consumer and another, or a bunch of others.
And the point is, this way of seeing content and currency cuts across all kinds of media and entertainment.
Across a single so-called genre. So comedy actually could
be any of these things. Spongebob is a World. Some
comedians are simply a series of Burps. Friends is now
Gum. Or take price, for example: London to New York
for 49 bucks return is a jolt. The same trip for 499 bucks
is gum. For 8000 bucks it becomes a jolt again.
Some of these are things you just want to explore on
your own. Some are things you want to be part of your
social currency. They are thus currencies because of the
value they have not simply to people, but between people.
If an enormous part of the new world is having content
conversations, where the content is passed on, and the
nature of the passing and the way I have commented on
or added to that content is itself a way of communicating
something about me, then that act of building to this content as I pass it on, the ‘content fingerprint’ I leave on it,
will also be a currency we need to recognize. And we will
need to build it and let it go in a way that allows that to
happen. Perhaps that makes it easy to happen.
Implications for brands
So these could be the six currencies we need to understand to make sense of the way we are going to use
media, and the way brands can genuinely and relevantly
fit at the heart of people’s lives in this new content,
media, and brand world.
What are its implications for brands? First, you as
a brand owner need to understand that these are the
six currencies, and how to play in each of them (so TV
advertising - how well does it actually deliver against any
of these any more?) You want to have a brand that is
about being its own world? Then you’d better understand
how worlds work and nurture themselves for an 18-year
old. You want to be about Burps? One could argue that
much beer advertising over the past few years has been
very expensive 30 second burps - but maybe now there
are better ways to create them and channels to distribute
them in than television.
But actually, presumably the point is that all brands
will need to play across more than one of these currencies to flourish. And that is when it really gets interesting. How one uses some to build awareness, how one
uses others to build loyalty, and how one uses others to
break habits.
This article was previously printed in FO/futureorientation #5 2008,
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. www.fo-online.dk
Adam Morgan is founder of eatbigfish, and author of two bestseller
books about challenger brands: Eating the Big Fish, and The Pirate
Inside. This article is based on a working paper from his next and third
book about challenger brands.
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37
PYMCA CHRIS DYER
GPL MARK WINWOOD
mauritius images BUSSE YANKUSHEV
By Flemming Wisler,
NXT
The green
agenda
Environment-friendly communication and climate strategy: consumers say they want your company’s profile and agenda to
be green. The sense that the climate problem is a here-andnow problem is widespread, and is starting to affect how we
organize our consumption. What does it mean for media selection and content, and will climate change be the best excuse
for cutting back?
On 18 January 2007, former US Vice President Al
Gore visited Denmark. He presented his project, An
Inconvenient Truth, to a select audience of businessmen
and journalist. Two months later, he returned to address
a more open assembly of young people and students.
The events were landmarks in many ways, because,
for the first time, Danish politicians and opinion leaders
realized that Americans had joined the climate fight.
Until then, there was a widespread perception that
the environment debate had bypassed the United States,
particularly in light of the American failure to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol and the Bush administration’s general
skepticism towards the issue of global warming.
Gore is no longer directly involved in politics, but
his influence and his eight years in office makes him an
important representative of the American establishment.
But because his network and dealings with the most
influential part of the American creative class within
business and culture are so strong, we know he speaks on
behalf of power. Later that year came the Nobel Prize and
an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, which put the climate
topic even more in the spotlight.
From a more scientific approach, however, it was the
UN climate panel, IPCC, that put manmade global warming on the agenda. In 2007, IPCC released four reports on
the Earth’s climate change and, once and for all, established that we have a climate crisis that we helped create.
Since then, the debate has flowed strongly, not least
because the next UN Climate Summit will be held in
Copenhagen, in November 2009.
Green full-page ads
In Denmark, the long economic boom has dominated
media consumption, and we have witnessed an unprecedented consumer orgy, in which the realization of our
wildest dreams has been in focus.
Recently, however, environment arguments have
begun to fill the media, and we have seen the first fullpage ads built up around climate branding that appeals
to a greater cause than personal consumption and
satisfaction.
According to senior managers of international companies, the climate question is at the top of the agenda in
terms of importance, and demand for sustainable products is apparently on the rise.
Thus, the Danish dairy giant Arla, for example, chose
to double its investment in its climate strategy from $10
million to $20 million, prompted in part by pressure
from British consumers who want to know how much
CO2 it costs to produce a liter of milk.
At the same time, several large Danish companies
have announced that specific targets for reducing the
effects of CO2 are on the way, with both climate balance
sheets and sustainable products to follow.
From me to we
Several critical trends in the climate question are crossing. At the intersection is a kind of green tipping point
that could significantly affect the Danish, or even entire
Nordic, media market in coming years.
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39
polfoto Tariq Mikkel Khan
After nearly a decade of uninterrupted economic
boom, most families and individuals have been able to
realize themselves, from a consumption point of view,
at a high level. The boom in housing prices, not least,
which peaked in Denmark in 2006, has made the big
dream possible, and certain satiety will be the natural
result. This manifests itself in a greater interest in values
and spirituality: volunteerism, for example, is on the
rise as a supplement, or even replacement, for continued
overconsumption.
At the same time, energy prices have risen quickly.
In 2005, we worried about oil prices reaching $50/barrel.
Today, we speak of $150 oil as not unlikely.
But not only energy is more expensive – so is food.
Even though prices might be going down, anyone filling
a shopping cart these days knows we get far less for our
money, and that basic commodities such as milk, bread
and meat are 30% more expensive.
In finance, the demand for money has exploded in
the past year. In September, this demand triggered the
worst financial crisis on Wall Street since the Thirties. Last, but not least, concern for the environment is
accelerating, not least because of the rapidly increasing
media coverage of the topic that was initiated by Al Gore.
We also experience violent weather phenomena in our
own back yard, and reports of the unusually sharp reduction in summer ice in Greenland have flowed like the
melt-water itself.
NORDICPHOTOS JENNY GAULITZ
The “1 Ton Less” campaign’s symbol is a large orange ball that
shows precisely how much CO2 each Dane could save to help
the environment.
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The green agenda - By Flemming Wisler
Topfoto POLFOTO
Over a barrel........ Peter Gordon, great great
grandson of the founder of William Grant & Sons
checks out the production area at Girvan Distillery
in Scotland after the launch of the company’s new
£5 million state-of the-art energy center. The center,
which will reduce CO2 emissions by over 30,000
tons a year, and make the distillery one of the world’s
most eco-friendly, is the latest stage in a £30 million
investment program to transform the Girvan plant
into one of the most modern in Europe and place it
in a competitive position for the next 25 years.
The Scandinavian consumers are going green
Global warming has moved to the forefront of public consciousness.
Most Scandinavian consumers have a greater interest in the environmental effects of what they buy, and their growing environmental concerns
will challenge businesses and governments about the way products are
produced and services are provided over the next several years.
# A
ccording to the Eurobarometer, a slight majority of European
consumers believe that they can identify a genuinely environmentfriendly product. However, only one in ten believe they can with
absolute certainty. Even a significant portion of those who consciously purchase environment-friendly products admitted that
they have difficulty identifying these goods and products by labels.
Facts about the climate consumers in Scandinavia
# C
onsumers believe big businesses - the biggest polluter –
have the primary responsibility for environmental protection.
Scandinavians also believe individuals have a role to play in
protecting their local environments. According to a global survey
conducted by McKinsey & Company, 51% of executives - up from
just 31% in 2006 - now believe that climate change will be among
the top three socio-political issues that will garner the most attention over then next five years.
# W
hile the Scandinavian consumer appears to be more willing to
make more environment-friendly purchases, half of those who
have good intentions do not act on them. Why? Recent studies
by both AccountAbility and McKinsey suggest that consumers
lack information, do not want to compromise either quality or
convenience, and believe that environment-friendly products are
too expensive.
Source: Jeffrey Scott Saunders, Copenhagen Institute for Futures
Studies.
# D
anes were the most likely to think (91%) that individuals could
play a bigger role in environmental protection, against 86% who
said business and industry should be held principally responsible
for environmental protection. Finns were the least likely to feel
individuals could play a role in protecting the environment (77%)
and that companies should be held primarily responsible for environmental protection (89%). (Eurobarometer report March 2008).
# Swedes and Danes are the most likely to turn good intentions into
purchasing decisions. While only 17% of Europeans made “green”
purchases in the last month, of the 86% of Danish consumers
who intended to make environmental purchases, 41% actually did
so. In Sweden, almost half of the 88% of consumers who intended to make a green purchase did so. In Finland, where the figures
are lower, only 23% of consumers made environmental purchases
(Eurobarometer report March 2008).
# 3
3% of Swedes claimed that they purchase ecologically friendly
products for their daily needs - compared to 26% of Danes and
25% of Finns. Swedes are more likely to purchase locally produced goods than the Finns (40% to 22%), and Danes are least
likely (12%) (Eurobarometer report March 2008).
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41
Danish retail chain Irma aims to abolish
printed advertising circulars
Irma is one of Denmark’s oldest and best-known supermarket chains, though primarily in the Copenhagen area. As the
first retail chain, it recently announced it would move away
from paper advertising circulars. Instead, it will focus on an
Internet version of its advertising circular, and extend the
concept opportunities through faster updates and broader
descriptions of offers.
polfoto DRESLING JENS
polfoto WINTHER MADS
It is too early to draw conclusions, according to Irma marketing director Gitte Matzen, but the phasing out of paper is an
attempt to meet Copenhageners’ widespread antipathy to
printed circulars. Copenhagen is the most populous area of
Denmark, and the area where the most official “No advertising, please” stickers have been placed on private mailboxes.
The sense that the climate problem is a here-and-now
problem is widespread, and is starting to affect how we
organize our consumption.
The growing concern about climate can, in the minds
of most, be compensated for by a change in consumption,
which also heavily prompted by a certain material satiety, an
uncertain economic future and rising energy and food prices.
Will it be sustainable to cut back?
In Denmark, there has been considerable growth in the
number of paper media titles. The magazine sector, not
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least, has grown strongly, with a plethora of launches and
increasingly niche-oriented titles.
This growth reached a climax in 2006, when the
great Danish “free paper” war erupted with the entrance
of Nyhedsavisen into the already hard-pressed newspaper
market. At the height of the battle, Denmark had five
daily free newspapers. The volume of paper was evident
on the streets, where distributors and sanitation crews
simply could not keep up with circulation. Each morning
found large cities wrapped in newsprint.
At the same time, the special Danish hate/love relationship to the advertising circular has led to more and
more paper being forced into the mailbox. About DKK 3.5
polfoto FONFARA MARIA
Electronic paper is the most environmentfriendly - if you read fast!
The Swedish Royal Technical College conducted a study last
year about how media choice affects CO2 emissions from a
life-cycle view. It compared the reading of a paper newspaper
with reading the same material online and reading on electronic paper, a thin, flexible display that is still fairly new on the
market. The two electronic alternatives to paper are the most
climate-friendly if the reading is brief. But if you sit too long
in front of the screen, as much energy is consumed as if you
read the paper version.
According to the survey, daily newspaper reading costs 28
kilograms of CO2 per year. Reading the news on the Net, via
your computer, costs 14 kilograms of CO2 per year if, please
note, you spend only 10 minutes. If you spend a half-hour
per day, you expend up to 35 kilograms a year, thus polluting
more than if you read the paper version. However, if you use
the electronic paper, and keep your reading to a half hour, you
expend only 12 kgs a year – a clear winner.
The study looks at energy consumption across the entire lifecycle, from editorial to production, printing, distribution and
reading. For printed media, paper production causes the most
CO2 expense, while on-screen reading is the most expensive
part of the web-based media. For electronic paper, it is the
production of the electronic paper that accounts for the bulk of
the CO2 release.
Source: Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, TRITA-SUS Report
2007:1
million are invested each year in the production of advertising circulars, which are by far the biggest medium in
Denmark, moving more than DKK 10 billion of goods.
As a result, retailers have maintained their commitment to paper, despite a growing resentment expressed
by “No advertising please” signs on many consumer
mailboxes and political mutterings about the waste of
resources and the postal service’s role.
Part of the problem is that paper, in the minds of
many, is associated with trees, which in the climate
debate have great symbolic importance as one of the
levers we can grab when we want to do something about
CO2 emissions.
Trees bind CO2 and are the “lungs” of Earth. So felling trees to make paper is not a good climate policy, even
though things are not quite so simple when we come to
the more scientific part of the explanation!
The media is the message
The question is whether the unambiguous fixation on
consumption and offers in the form of push-marketing
from large advertising and media buyers will now be
affected in a different direction.
It is outrageously expensive to print produce advertising circulars, but there is outrageously good business
in doing so, at least for that part of the retail sector that
thrives on price as the primary marketing argument.
But even if it never goes out of fashion in Denmark
to talk about bargains and low prices, it is a problem that
the focus on price as a selling point is no longer as credible, especially when we look at the price increases of
these retail goods.
The advertising circular helps maintain the concept
of price promotion and nobody really dares try something else. But the climate debate and growing consumer
concerns about resource use may lead to new patterns of
media choices and arguments among the big advertising
buyers.
Wal-mart, the world’s largest retailer with sales of
$375 billion, announced in August that it had begun
collaboration with Novozymes, a Danish bioindustrial
enzymes maker, in which Novozymes would advise WalMart on sustainability. This is hardly likely to be through
resource-heavy media and a continued stream of more
products at the cheapest prices!
Maybe the Americans will surprise us again – like Al
Gore did, two years ago.
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AP JOHAN NILSSON scanpix
Dreamhack is claimed to be the worlds largest
Local Area Network party and has sold 8300 tickets . A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gathering of people together with their
computers, which they network together primarily
for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer
games.
By Christian Vibe Norup,
Users
will spread the word
The creative potential of users is great. So instead of just hoping for evangelic users who recommend a company on their
own, some companies are attempting to make a cooperative
framework that benefits the users’ and the companies’ own
interests. Users produce their own content anyway, so why not
make it attractive for them to make ads?
According to a recent Nielsen Research survey on advertising, Denmark ranks as the most skeptical nation
among the 47 countries chosen for the study. Skepticism
of advertising is a global trend, and people in industrialized countries are especially skeptical. Even though nearly €266 million of the total Danish advertising budget is
used on the Internet, we seem to have acquired immunity to the most frequently used form of marketing: conventional banner ads. They are no longer as convincing
as they once were.
Online marketing
Using various strategies, ad agencies around the world
constantly try to find other, effective ways to get their
message across to online users. “Astroturfing” productions--which are ads camouflaged in amateur packaging-have proven to be an especially popular, though risky,
method. That is because there is a fine line between
acceptable and unacceptable “fraud,” a line that Sony has
been made aware of several times.
Many companies need to take the risk in their hunt
for users. Many of the most popular viral ad videos are
unsuitable for TV and the mainstream audience. In 2005,
an advertising film was spread virally; later it would
become the Net’s most-viewed online ad. It depicted a
suicide bomber who detonated a bomb inside a VW Polo
parked beside a sidewalk café. The Polo survived, but the
terrorist did not. Due to the professional look of the ad,
everybody assumed VW was behind it. The real creators
were a couple of partners who simply wanted to show
their skills.
With such a politically sensitive issue as the basis,
VW filed suit against the young men and later got a mandatory apology, even though VW gained a huge amount
of free advertising. The ad is still on the Net, and this
example shows three important tendencies that apply to
the realm of online marketing:
1. Companies demonstrate great caution with regard to
their exactly formulated messages and images.
2. Users will voluntarily produce ads for companies.
3. The spread of content is difficult, if not impossible, to
control online.
Evangelistic marketing
When technologically competent users produce ads
without being asked to do so, and without immediate rewards, the contemporary marketing term for it is
evangelism. Marketing consultants Ben McConnell &
Jackie Huba, who coined the term Evangelist Marketing,
describe the evangelic consumers as persons who willingly and happily spread the good word on the basis of
their own experience.
Even though users may have their own egoistic
reasons behind this type of ad production, it is to the
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Online advertising in % of total
advertising spend per market
Norway: 15.6 %
Denmark: 14.3 %
Sweden: 13.3 %
Finland: 7.5 %
Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau
Europe (June 2008), http://www.greenfieldscommunications.co.uk/releases/08/080602_IAB_ADEX.pdf
great advantage of companies. Users, spontaneously
and unprompted, recommend the qualities of the companies’ products and services. Users have never had
better technological possibilities for spreading the word
through media and channels that were once the exclusive
domain of the culture/entertainment industry. Editing
programs were platform-dependent, expensive and difficult for beginners to use, but are nowadays broadly
available for free as simpler Web 2.0 services. Motionbox,
Cuts, Eyespot, JumpCut, JamGlue, ccMixter, Picnik and
Pixenate are just some of the trademarks that offer free
online editing of video, sound or pictures. What they,
like all the other Web 2.0 services, have in common is
that the more users who utilize them to make their own
content and share it with others on the same platform
and domain, the greater the volume of content and information that is available--and the greater the attraction of
that specific domain.
This development cannot be ignored. For that reason, marketers have recognized new possibilities connected to the popularity of services such as the video
sharing service YouTube, the picture sharing service
Flickr and the (legal) music sharing service MyMusic.
dk. The creative potential of users is great; so instead of
just hoping for evangelic users who recommend a company on their own, some companies are attempting to
make a cooperative framework that benefits the users’
and the companies’ own interests. Users produce their
own content anyway, so why not make it attractive for
them to make ads?
It is a means for commercializing grass roots culture into a mainstream culture. Especially in 2006, the
concept of ”user-generated ads” accelerated. By now,
many of the largest American companies have tried
it, and several have campaigns running right now.
Some are using this type of advertising for the second
or third time. In Denmark, we have seen the concept
used by companies such as Cocio, Bang & Olufsen,
Ekstra Bladet, TDC, Apollo Rejser, Tuborg, Carlsberg
and Heineken.
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There are several reasons why companies want to
employ user-generated ads. First of all it gives them a
chance to engage a user segment (primarily 18-29-yearold young men) who are otherwise difficult to reach and
communicate to through traditional marketing. Secondly,
the advertising message can be given greater authenticity and credibility, since the recommendation is made
by another user. Thirdly, there is great dissemination
potential in user-generated ads, since user-producers, for
various reasons, want to show their ads to their social
networks and communities. Finally, it gives companies
the perfect opportunity to identify and recruit new creative employees, while simultaneously gaining insight
into users’ interests and the company image.
User motivation
Recognition, attention, money, travel, tangible prizes,
employment, entertainment and a sense of participation
are some of the central motivation factors that move
users to become voluntarily engaged in the production
of advertising in a commercial context. The motivation
factors can be described as a mix of inner and external
elements that influence users in different ways towards
production. Inner motivation arises naturally as compared with external influences, challenges or rewards,
and this type of motivation comprises a central part of
users’ visions of themselves. Even though the call to do
ad production is external, users can still experience an
inner motivation to make the best ad if they see the contest as a clear and surmountable challenge.
The degree of motivation depends upon the users’
views of themselves, but also upon their existing competence and interests. Everybody needs to feel competent
and users--who have already gained some experience in
the field of film production, for instance—will become
further motivated to participate in similar projects. The
development and maintenance of their competence is a
vital part of their views of themselves.
Users will spread the word - By Christian Vibe Norup
Client: 1881
Title: Send oss ditt 1881-bilde!
Year: 2008
Description: Create pictures that show the numbers
1881.
Prize: New winners every week. 1st prize was a Mac
Book Air
Hits: 10,000+ pictures entered
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4BgIJGxg4w
Client: Libresse and JC
Title: Libresse Nordic Design Challenge
Year: 2007
Description: Create a new design for panties
Prize: 1st prize – winning design is manufactured and
sold in 180 JC stores in Scandinavia. SEK5000 gift certificate. 2nd-5th prizes – SEK1000 gift certificate. 6th10th prizes – a year’s supply of Libresse panty liners.
Hits: 90,000 entries
Link: libresse.se
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Client: TDC
Title: Max SMS Upload
Year: 2007
Description: Create a 26-second long soundtrack for an
existing online commercial for TDC Max SMS.
Prize: one week of advertising the soundtrack through
TV ads and tdcmusik.dk, with royalties.
Hits: 436
Link: tdc.dk
Client: Olvi Lonkero
Title: Suomen Metso
Description: Upload a wood grouse picture to the campaign website. The best were then voted on.
Prize: 1st prize was a stuff grouse presented at the official long-drink festival event held by Olvi. The event was
filmed and then aired in video blogs and communities.
Hits: 100+ photos, 10,000+ participants
Links: olvi.fi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejZ1sHGz6ac
http://www.effie.fi/content/view/96/
Lack of trust in advertising
Average levels of consumers’ trust in advertising: a 47-country comparison by Nielsen Surveys. If we look at the survey in terms of skepticism,
the Scandinavian nations are ranked as follows:
Denmark: #1
Norway: #7
Sweden: #16
Finland #18
Source: http://www.nielsen.com/solutions/TrustinAdvertisingOct07.pdf
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External motivation connected to user production of
ads lies in the companies’ call and invitation to ad production, but also to a great degree in the size and type of
reward. Many users, both amateur and semi-professional,
put a great deal of work into their ads. Due to this, it has
been difficult to see the differences between several winning videos from American competitions and regular ads.
Viewers, however, must be aware that they are user ads,
so companies take great efforts to convey this information to the public. A good example would be last year’s
Super Bowl, where three companies paid around $3 million for each spot featuring a user-generated ad.
Who produces the ads is not so important to the
company or the participants, since the primary basis for
judging is often the concept itself. It is evident, though,
that the type of reward for a campaign is attractive to
several target groups. When you compare national and
international campaigns you see that the rewards in a
majority of the campaigns include exposure in various
media. Exposure is, in fact, often the primary reward
in Danish versions of this type of campaign. A reward
in the form of broad public recognition gives users an
opportunity to upgrade their visions of themselves, and it
gives them better future job possibilities.
User premises
After having won a competition with his user-generated
advertisement on the independent television channel
Current TV, 19-year-old Tyson Ibele said in 2006 to the
International Herald Tribune: “It’s a great way to get
people to see your stuff--and it’s a cool way to get your
name out there.” Not everybody, however, can get the
recognition they would like to have, and that is why so
many user-generated ads are spread on communities like
YouTube. It allows users another possibility for drawing attention, and in turn messages from companies get
broad exposure for free. In principle it is a development
that is only to the advantage of the company, but ads
with undesirable messages are spread just like those
that recommend the company’s products and services.
This means that, even though the company has found
them unsuitable as marketing materials and has omitted
them from competitions, users seeking recognition often
spread the ads anyway--despite the fact that intellectual
rights have been assumed by the company.
Especially two campaigns employing user-generated
ads have spurred great discussion in the US, because they
were controversial. What the two campaigns had in common was: they were first considered fiascoes, then, later,
successes. When you let users become partly responsible
for a company’s marketing, there will be users who are
critical and those who do not necessarily follow the for-
mal requirements of the campaign. Users can, in effect,
create their own messages, which do not necessarily
harmonize with those of the company. This is often
considered to be a marketing risk with insurmountable
consequences.
In 2006, Chevrolet staged a campaign in which users
should make simple ads for the new Tahoe SUV model.
A little more than a month later, they had received
around 30,000 entries, of which some 25% were critical.
The connection between the big SUVs and greenhouse
gasses was especially singled out in the ads, which were
dubbed: idealistically motivated. They were marked by
slogans such as: “How big is yours? Ours is really big!
Watch us fuck America with it!”
A year later Heinz held their Top This TV Challenge
contest, which also attracted many users and a number of
undesirable ads that users spread on YouTube after they
were rejected. Many people were certain that Heinz and
Chevrolet had miscalculated and not seen the potential
risks, but both companies considered the campaigns to
be great successes and later continued to use similar or
identical tactics.
While Heinz had from the start made it clear that
they would reject ads they found unsuitable, Chevrolet
chose not to censor entries. Despite the different
approaches, you could still find undesirable, so-called
“banned commercials,” from both campaigns on communities like YouTube. The difference was simply that
Chevrolet had accepted user premises, while Heinz tried
to control them.
User-generated advertising should be viewed as a
part of the user autonomy, which is an important characteristic of our current ”participation culture.” When you
invite users to participate in commercial productions, you
should also understand and respect the basis for motivation that is over and above the tangible rewards. The
basis is directly tied to users’ needs and their visions of
themselves.
This article is based on a treatise, “Brugergenerede reklamer--en analyse
af reklametypens udfordringer og potential” written by Kent Riddersholm
Nielsen and Christian Vibe Norup, 2008. You will find the entire treatise (in
Danish) at www.iff.dk/doc/fremtidsorientering/brugergenerede.reklamer.
pdf
The article, except the cases, was previously printed in FO/futureorientation #2 2008, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. www.fo-online.dk
Christian Vibe Norup is a multi-media expert, works in communications and is Web editor at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.
[email protected]
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Brand X Pictures BRIAN HAGIWARA
By Christian V. Norup,
The market
of free
The market of free is exploding. That means every company
must reconsider its business model. Money is no longer the
only way to measure and create value, and it is no longer the
only scarce resource. Your time and respect are the gold of the
attention economy. That is why Chris Anderson, editor of Wired,
author of The Long Tail and author of an upcoming book about
the free economy, believes free will be the norm, not an anomaly, in the future. Read about his views about what the market of
free is and read his views on six different business models - all
based on the idea of free.
“Freeconomics” is a completely new kind of economy. What
once was a marketing tool will become, for more and more,
essential to survival in global online business. The competition online is tough and marginal cost of digital information
is approaching zero. It is also extremely easy, in all sorts of
industries, to become a digital business able to take advantage of new opportunities in the market of free.
Two trends extend the basis of the free economy. The
first is better technology, which gives businesses more
flexibility to give away products to one customer segment,
while earning money on other segments. The second
trend is a global switch from manual to digital task management. Since the price of transistors, processors, bandwidth and storage capacity is collapsing, many corporate
costs are in free fall. Free is an inevitable outcome.
The development can be considered as an abundance
economy. The physical world is limited by scarce and
more or less exclusive property, while property in the
digital world is virtually endless and free. Intangible
goods can be copied without significant cost and consumers know it. When the price of digitalization falls,
consumers believe many digital products and services
must and should be free. Antipirating groups know all
about this. And altruistic groups such as Piratgruppen
and Piratbyrån (Danish and Swedish activists. – Ed.) will
use all every legal means to defend free distribution and
sharing of software, movies, music, e-books, etc. Also,
many examples exist of why it is a good business model
to make it free - even if it doing so, when viewed through
old economy glasses, seems silly.
From the users’ point of view, there is a major psychological difference between “free” and “partly free”
– and these are different markets. Once you accept payment for a product, you are in an industry where you
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Six free
business models
1
Freemium
Free software, services and content to users of “basic”
version. In the freemium model, one in a hundred users
pay for the premium version. This is sufficient to generate profit, because the cost of providing the 99 free copies is virtually nil.
2
Marketing
‘Free content, services, software, etc. to all users. There is
a barter between providers and advertisers, such as payper-click advertising, pay-per-page-view, pay-per-transaction, pay-per-mail and pay-per-connection.
must fight for every customer. For example, if Google
had charged for search results, users would have moved
to a competing, free search engine, Micropayments just
do not work. But if all industries and businesses offer
their content for free, how will they survive?
In 1984, Stewart Brand, a writer and futurist,
described the paradox: “Information wants to be free.
Information also wants to be expensive ... That tension
will not go away.” Brand was pointing out the eternal
dilemma of intangible assets, something akin to the
“Sticky vs. Spreadable” concept elucidated by Henry
Jenkins, a professor at MIT. Basically, the problem lies in
the abundance economy, because companies must find
new ways to survive. Instead of trying to control and
centralize business-related content and the dialogue with
consumers, it can be an advantage to concentrate on providing content that users themselves can spread, reinterpret and distribute.
free business models
The most common way to be in the business of free is
through a three-party system. As Chris Anderson writes:
“Here a third party pays to participate in a market created
by a free exchange between the first two parties. Sound
complicated? It’s the basis of virtually all media. In the tra-
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ditional media model, a publisher provides a product for
free (or nearly free) to consumers, and advertisers pay to
ride along. [...] They’re not selling papers and magazines to
read, they’re selling readers to advertisers. It’s a three way
market.“
“Free” is not necessarily based on advertising.
Innovative companies constantly find new ways to subsidize products and exploit the falling price of digitalization.
As a result, we can see a variety of business models based
on the “free” concept. The question is which to choose.
Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, who is writing a book
about free, divides the free economy into six categories.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Freemium
Marketing
Cross-subsidies
Zero Marginal Cost
Labor Exchange
Gift Economy
Sources: Chris Anderson, “Free! Why $ 0.00 Is the Future of Business,”
article from Wired; Reboot10.0 conference.
Christian Vibe Norup specializes in communication and multimedia
the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. [email protected]
The market of free - By Christian V. Norup
3
Crosssubsidies
5
Labor
Exchange
Free products included when we buy other products and
services. For instance, (almost) free cell phones and CDs
whose costs are recouped through subscription, consumption, concerts and merchandise.
Free websites and services to all users because their very
presence and involvement adds value. Examples include
Facebook, YouTube, and Digg, where user-generated content and valuable information obtained, exchanged and
accumulated.
4
Zero
Marginal
Cost
Free distribution of something that does not entail real
costs. For example, musicians who freely share music
online, aiming to generate revenue through other
channels.
6
Gift
Economy
Everything is free. The Internet gives every altruist a
new platform on which to meet and create content. –
Wikipedia, for example. These are non-commercial initiatives, the value of which is hard to price.
Vil
du have
Want
it det
forgratis?
free?
Index Stock/POLFOTO SOKOL HOWARD
On the Internet, you can find several
pages specializing in free services and
goods. See, for example, TheFreeSite.
com, StartSampling.com, FreeChannel.
net, FreebieList.com, FreebiesPlanet.
com, Yes-Its-Free.com, TotallyFreeStuff.
com, GratisTing.dk, 0kr.dk, GratisBasen.
dk, GratisSiden.dk
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“The “attention economy” and “reputation economy” are too fuzzy
to merit an academic department,
but there’s something real at the heart of both.
Thanks to Google, we now have a handy way to convert from
reputation (PageRank) to attention (traffic) to money (ads).
Anything you can consistently convert to cash is a form of currency itself,
and Google plays the role of central banker for these new economies.
There is, presumably, a limited supply of reputation
and attention in the world at any point in time.
These are the new scarcities — and the world of free exists mostly
to acquire these valuable assets for the sake of a business model
to be identified later. Free shifts the economy from a focus
on only that which can be quantified in dollars and cents to a more realistic
accounting of all the things we truly value today.”
Chris Anderson, Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business, article from wired.com
Examples of free
In 2002, Yahoo launched a premium version of its 25 MB email service for
$29.99 a year. In 2004, Google introduced Gmail service – for free and
with 40 times (one gigabyte) more storage capacity than Yahoo’s service.
In 2007, Yahoo offered free and unlimited e-mail to all. Common to both
services is that the emails carry ads, so that earnings potential rises with
the number of users.
What was astonishing about Yahoo’s decision was that no one was surprised by the offer, because it was generally accepted that storage capacity should be free. In 2007, content from the New York Times was free, as
was most of the Wall Street Journal in 2008.
54
ing new business models. Their revenues comes from advertising or the
collection of information that other companies value.
Ryanair, Wizz Air, SkyBus, Spirit and AirAsia give away tickets, hoping to
attract revenue through ads, incidental expenses and miscellaneous products and services. Lauda Motion rents cars for a nominal amount, but sells
advertising space on the sides of the vehicle. Products from Medi Cafe
vending machines are free, but advertisers pay to show a 30-second film
to the user while the product is being served.
Almost everything Google offers users is free (Google Sites, Analytics,
Gmail, Picasa, GOOG-411, Google Earth, etc.) We also see a shift from
the well-known shareware concept (free-to-try) in Web 1.0 to a development centered on freeware and open source. Software giants like
Microsoft and Adobe are increasingly squeezed by free alternatives, which
are often based on cloud computing: collective, free computing power that
creates a basis for collective free programs and services.
The struggle of subscription-based papers against free newspapers is one
of the challenges in the free economy that has received the most attention.
The battle is not yet resolved, but the number of advertising-funded free
papers and magazines is increasing quickly. According to newspaperinnovation.com, free papers were distributed in more than 50 countries
in December 2007. In Denmark, Spain, Portugal and Iceland, more free
newspapers are distributed than subscription-based papers. This clearly
illustrates how media companies are taking advantage of new opportunities in the free economy.
The development is spreading to all markets. Telecommunications is especially under pressure from the free economy, since the real cost of operations, network and bandwidth is quickly approaching zero. Services such
as Skype, Blyk, Moshe Mobile, Bumbby, Talkster, Jaxtr, Pudding Media
and GOOG-411 are taking advantage of new opportunities and are creat-
Publishers offer free compendiums, notepads and photocopies (for example, Freeload Press, FreeHand Advertising and Tadacopy) to students,
earning revenue from advertising. There is no end of free goods -- books,
wifi, pictures, games, music – that, in one way or another, recoup their
costs and create significant profit.
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WORKBOOK STOCK
To you,
from me,
it’s free
DPA A3386 ULI DECK
Light sculpture ‘HYPERION_Fragment’ at ZKM
‘HYPERION_Fragment’ (2008) by artist Rosalie and composer Georg Friedrich Haas at the Center for Arts and Media
Karlsruhe (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, 21 October 2008.
The artists’ joint project was created for the music event
‘Donaueschingen Festival’ in 2006. For the ZKM exhibition the
work reached a new dimension. It now encompasses 3,200
colorful illuminating units on a surface of 9.25 by 27 meters.
The light sculpture was introduced officially on 24 October
2008.
M:files
The Nordic Countries are all wired up
The top 10 most wired countries are (percentage of
broadband users in the population)
1 Denmark
2 The Netherlands
3 Switzerland
4 Korea
5 Norway
6 Iceland
7 Finland
8 Sweden
9 Canada
10 Belgium
Source: OECD in Wired
Recession Marketing
According to a study conducted by John Philip Jones, in 2007, brands that retain large marketing share in a recession come through the recession most successfully, and even gain
market share. Jones divided brands by their market share in the period 1975-2001. Those that
win market share are called “winners.” Those that maintain share are called “intermediate,”
while those that lose share are “losers.” The brands that have the greatest marketing share are
also those that win market share.
Bring the Real World to your toolbox
Real World Street (RWS) is MediaCom’s direct access
to the real world. RWS was first established by
MediaCom UK in a small area selected to reflect the
entire UK. The area includes well-educated families,
single mothers, working families and elderly couples:
25 families who provide a representative picture of the
UK as a whole. In RWS, all research is carried out at
the families, giving insight into the household’s actual
behavior. Research is therefore contextual.
In the UK, MediaCom carried out a large study for
two major food suppliers to examine the discrepancy
between people’s actual and perceived diets. The
goal was to influence the actual behavior instead of
the perceived behavior. The project involved several
families from RWS. They completed questionnaires and
MediaCom observed their purchases. Some households also took pictures of their shelves and refrigerators before and after grocery shopping.
RWS is now on its way to Scandinavia, and Denmark
will be the first stop. Want to hear more about
MediaComs Real World Street? Please contact
MediaCom’s Nordic Insight Director, Carsten Lind, at
e-mail [email protected] or telephone +45 33
76 00 04.
Brand groups based on
performance from 1975
– 2001
Average SoV/
SoM (Base 1975)
Winners
1.6
Intermediate
1.2
Losers
1.0
Source: The true costs of cutting ad spend, 2002, WARC based on ACNielsen / multimedia
data 1975 - 2001
The study also shows that the brands that did best during the three recessions between 1970
and 2000, were the brands that increased their relative spend during recession years compared to average years. The study is based on FMCG goods; for some brands and sectors,
it would make sense to change communication or cut back. One argument for increasing or
maintaining spend is that it achieves greater share, since some advertisers will cut their marketing budgets. Another argument is that the brand will not require a reestablishment period
when the recession ends.
See also the following YouTube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3p57SxxqEsQ or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9dZVwEEtY
Or our comprehensive collection at
blink.mediacom.com
blink012008
blink.mediacom.com
57
M:files
AP STUART RAMSON
Know your touch points
Successful marketing is not just about talking the right way to the target
group. It is also about timing. Some messages are best suited to television, while others are better in direct mail. It may be difficult to understand
what messages are suitable for which platforms, but it has never been
more essential to ensure your product, message and contact are strongly
linked. The media scene is becoming more and more fragmented, with
declining media effects and consumers who multitask as never before.
Much more than before, advertising must earn the consumer’s attention.
MediaCom’s Touch Point Planning tool, Encounters, is a systematic
approach that can identify and prioritize a brand’s relevant interfaces with
the audience and their suitability for messages. Encounters quantifies the
importance of the individual touch point, and the brands strength in the
touch point. In that way, Encounters can uncover the best touch point
mix. Encounters highlights several brands’ use of and strengths at different touch points, thus helping determine who owns the touch points
in the industry. At the same time, Encounters ensures that all customer
interfaces are considered in the communication. Both those that the
brand or its competitors already use and those where the consumer
would like to see the brand.
Want to learn more about MediaCom’s Touch Point Planning tool,
Encounters? Please contact MediaCom’s Nordic Insight Director, Carsten
Lind, at e-mail [email protected] or telephone +45 33 76 00 04.
The future of paper
Esquire magazine launched the world’s first mass produced magazine
with electronic ink. 100,000 copies of the October issue had a special
e-ink cover and a Ford advertisement with spinning wheels on page 2.
There have been earlier attempts to replace paper, but none has proven
to be a real threat to print on paper. The screens have been too small,
the updates too slow and no method existed to show color. The Esquire
cover was a small peek into the future, and much research is being
made into developing a true alternative to print media. Plastic Logics, a
US company, has developed a paper-thin screen that closely resembles
paper in shape and size. The first prototype has already been introduced
and is expected to reach the American market next year. In the UK, the
government-funded Technology Strategy Board has embarked in a joint
venture with Liquavista for a three-year £12m cooperative research program to develop next generation flexible electronic displays that support
full color and video in an environment-friendly way. The goal is to have
the benefits of the screen but with the tangibility, readability and flexibility
of paper.
Meet the future!
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies has Future Clubs in Stockholm,
Stavanger, Oslo, and Brussels. Meet the future every quarter in these four
cities - or in Copenhagen.
Promoting the conditions of innovation in your region
The demand for the capabilities of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures
Studies is spreading internationally. As a result, we now arrange four
Future Club meetings each year in our preliminary regions. At the meetings, we seek to analyze the main influences on your company’s future,
such as technological developments, consumer changes, market movements and future employee demands. We apply the uncertainties,
opportunities and consequences of today’s trends as we construct likely
scenarios for the future of your company. The techniques are well tested,
popular tools in creative and strategic thinking, which can help you identify possible barriers, needs and interests.
A membership of CIFS and our Future Clubs offers you:
- Exploratory Future Club
meetings
- Inspiring magazines
- In-depth reports
- The opportunity to seek
inspiration in the CIFS’ online
knowledge database
Read more at www.cifs.dk/en
58
blink012008
blink.mediacom.com
- Access to asking advice and
guidance from the CIFS’
futurists
- A unique opportunity for networking
Happy Capitalism?
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies’ newest issue of its awardwinning journal FO/futureorientation is about what will take for Denmark
and the other Nordic countries to remain some of the happiest countries
in the world. Read more about what is happening with capitalism, and
the ways business and consumers will manage it. And gain new insight
into what the next paradigm will demand of your company. This issue
of FO/futureorientation is free, and you can read it in English at www.
fo-online.dk
blink is published by MediaCom A/S, Antonigade 2,
DK-1106 København K., CVR 78422017. Tel. +45
3376 0000, [email protected], www.mediacom.dk
blink is made in cooperation with Copenhagen
Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS), Nørre
Farimagsgade 65, DK-1364 København K., Tel. +45
3311 7176, [email protected], www.cifs.dk and www.foonline.dk
Editor in chief: Gitte Larsen, CIFS, [email protected]
EDITOR: Signe Wandler, MediaCom, signe.wandler@
mediacom.dk
editorial team: Jonas Hemmingsen (Nordic Chief,
MediaCom), Signe Wandler, (Insight, MediaCom),
Flemming Wisler (Director, NXT) og Gitte Larsen
(Futurist and Editor of FO, CIFS).
contributers to blink #1: Christian Vibe Norup
(CIFS), Sara Jönsson (CIFS), Adam Morgan (eatbigfish.), Flemming Wisler (NXT), Signe Wandler
(MediaCom), Jonas Hemmingsen (MediaCom), and
Gitte Larsen (CIFS).
Sign up at our website blink.mediacom.com if you
would like to receive blink in the future
English editor and adaptation: Allan Jenkins,
Desirable Roasted Coffee,
www.desirableroastedcoffee.com
Art direction & layout: Stine Skøtt Olesen, NXT,
www.nxtbrand.dk
Circulation: 3,500
ISSN: 1903-5373
The opinions expressed in articles are those of the
authors. Minor textual contents may be republished
as long as the original author and publication are
cited.
Printed by: Schultz Grafisk
MediaCom | Antonigade 2,
DK-1106 Copenhagen K | Denmark
Check out our website through this 2D barcode
MediaCom is a leading Media
Agency in the Nordics. It’s our ambition to build strong and durable
communication platforms together
with our clients. We believe that
great communication comes from
understanding how consumers
think and act, and by exploring and
experimenting with new communication platforms and constantly measuring the impact of communication.
blink is a way to share our insight
and inspire us all to think in new
ways. If you want to subscribe to
blink or want learn more, please visit
our website: blink.mediacom.com

free - MediaCom

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