This week, I had the privilege of attending the Ad Club's annual Edge Conference. No surprise they every speaker had interesting things to say, but the one that stood out to me was Ben Jones, a Creative Director at Google. Jones shared his latest thoughts on technology and the future of the ad world in a highly engaging way. Read a few lessons from his presentation below.
How Do Brands Connect with Humans?
Jones explained that we are all aware of all the cool technology there is out there, but brands shouldn't just use it to say they use it. If they don't want to waste their money, the context must speak to the consumer and connect with their emotions. 'This is a revolution of the small and personal'?¦there is hunger for experiences that join real and digital together.'?
As we work with clients who ask the timely questions like 'why are we not on Pinterest,'? we should take a lesson from Jones. Before we just go ahead and get our clients on Pinterest, we should not just figure out the 'why'? but more importantly figure out why the consumer cares.
Meat Pack Makes a Game out of Discounting
The best (and coolest) example Jones shared was a sneaker company in Guatemala called Meat Pack. In order to get customers in the door, the brand created 'Hijack,'? an enhancement to their smart phone app that triggered on a discount promotion to appear on the phone screen as soon as a customer entered the mall. Starting at 99% off, customers were told to get to the Meat Pack store to redeem the discount. However, the discount would go down by one percentage point every single second ' encouraging customers to literally run as fast as they could to the store. Check out the video:
'Data is Waiting for Its Scorsese'?
Jones explained that we have so much data at our fingertips, but it's about using the data to generate a meaningful human experience. 'Data is waiting for its Scorsese'? was his way of putting it.
A fantastic presentation with real-world learnings and practical application. I am just hoping Kate Spade takes a lesson from that sneaker store. I will gladly sprint through the mall to claim my discount!