What’s next for direct response? Here are eight trends to watch for in 2008.
1. Instant gratification: Consumers are becoming more demanding, and more fickle. Internet click-and-buy shopping is fueling a product-on-demand mentality. Response channels are beginning to enjoy highly branded messages.
2. The :30 spot is still alive and well: While some are predicting the demise of the :30 television spot due to the rise of the DVR and the Internet, it remains one of the most effective forms of communication available. In fact, its death was predicted in the 1960s with the introduction of the remote control. Also, look for creatives to embrace the :15, :20 and even the :10 spot.
3. The splintering of social networks: Watch for dominant MySpace and Facebook social networking sites to lose ground to more specialized, specific offerings like LinkedIn, Badoo and Quepasa.com.
4. Fragmenting of streaming video: Streaming video will likely follow the predicted path of the social networks. While YouTube is the largest of these video sites currently, we’re seeing tailored secular video sites pop up almost daily.
5. Narrowcasting vs. broadcasting: Targeting audiences through media mix models, and combining technology with that, allowing marketers to conduct more sophisticated analysis of what media generates the most results from a particular audience, will become more widely used.
6. The Internet as the medium of choice: The Internet has finally matured and is now the delivery mechanism for direct response. Direct marketers look at new ways to use the Internet to connect with consumers.
7. Hispanic marketing as direct response’s new frontier: The Hispanic market’s buying power is increasing, with the Latino community growing into its own as consumers thanks to credit cards and the Internet. Look for new and innovative creative approaches to be employed to reach this growing market.
8. The oversell of mobile marketing: Mobile marketing is one of the most promising marketing technologies around today. It’s also a nut that has yet to be cracked, and no one has come close to optimizing its true potential. Campaigns using this technology will continue to be largely experimental, and much money will be spent in search of the secret to make mobile marketing pay out.
