The Holiday season is a great time to reflect, relax, re-connect and revive for the new year. While I had little time to do any of this (working so hard :P), I did have the time to catch a few family gatherings, two of which made me think about how times had changed in the last decade. This triggered thoughts of what things would be like, technology-wise in the NEXT decade. How will we get information? How will children’s development and learning now differ from my own? How will marketers share information? Could I possibly imagine life without google? Is it fathomable that like everything else it will become outdated and replaced with something better? How quickly will we change to suit? The two events that inspired this post are as follows:
1. On Christmas day, my 91 year old grandmother talked on Skype to my brother in Sweden…without horror or hysterics about his talking head…She simply accepted that she could see him over a screen using VOIP technology. She accepted, she adapted. Flexibility in her old age? I pray its hereditary.
2. I encountered a little girl Thais who, at 4, knew what a stylus was, how to use it on a touch screen, and how to take pictures on a camera phone with little instruction or prompting from her “big cousin”. Conversely, at 4 I was fascinated by View-Masters and puzzles, both of which I’m sure kids today would laugh and point at hysterically. With things moving so quickly, how are we in the marketing arena preparing ourselves?
While globally there is countless innovation and creativity with outdoor advertising, online advertising and to a lesser extent print advertising, I sense that Trinidad and by extension the Caribbean region, is still hesitant to enter unchartered waters…Nobody really wants to jump on the risky train. However, the adage about risk and reward has proven true in many instances with ad campaigns on the global stage. Could we get away with ridiculous but funny GEICO-type ads? Could we have a full blown promotion with a smooth talking hottie named Mustafa in a towel to revive an old brand?
Perhaps we’re not quite here…yet…but with the dissemination of information, the increased internet penetration AND a smarter, faster, tech saavy generation coming up, when will me make the steps to change from safe to sassy? When will more people embrace the full potential of the internet as a marketing tool? When will the real revolution happen? If my granny could adapt, I trust that we all can. It’s just up to agencies like ours to go where others fear, and stay ahead of the curve…warp speed engaged!
Author: Taheera Tim Kee
