Page 104 - The EDIT | Q2 2017

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Thoughtleader
The other area of retail that will see huge change will be delivery. Markets like China and others across APAC have already developed extensive and highly sophisticated systems for delivery. You can buy something online, and, an hour later, have it delivered right to your door. The automation
and use of AI in these systems will vastly improve the efficiency of these further, and for companies like Alibaba, Tencent and Amazon — where they have a stake in the distribution as well and the eCommerce platform — the advantages of owning end-to-end retail are obviously huge.
This all fundamentally changes the nature of
the shopping in two ways. First, the actual act
of shopping in many instances will become an infotainment experience. In developed markets, we’ll shop because of the pleasure of the experience, rather than because we actually need to ‘go shopping’. The second big implication — which we already touched on when discussion the car industry — will be the end of ownership. For large areas of retail, subscribed access to things will replace bought ownership. Few sectors will escape the impact and implications of this —
and the marketing discipline will be at the eye
of the storm.
But what of our industry?
What changes and transformations can we expect
to see as a result of the impact of technology on the future of media and communications planning?
PART THREE:
THE SOUND OF THINGS TO COME
We’ve already hinted at the huge implications for media planning and thereby the future of PHD’s planning product. In Part Four, we’ll explore some of the specific disciplines and skill-sets that will emerge from these changes, but let’s first consider some of the specifically changes that will inform these changes to our industry and our business.
Attention de cit: Transformed media behaviours
The first implication we’re going to have to deal with is the ever further lack of consumer attention. You could argue that this is the central force that has shaped media and marketing (certainly in developed markets) for the last two decades. As we gradually moved away from obedient attention to TV and broadcast interruption, to fickle attention across screens with on-demand access to whatever we want and need in that moment, marketing, and in particular media, has striven to keep up.
There have of course been huge implications in how media money has been spent as we’ve continued
to chase attention. GAFA and BAT have won at the expense of all other media, with some (like outdoor and cinema) holding share of a fluctuating pie. Alongside where we spend, how we behave in media has produced an arms-race of tools and tactics
for reaching and engaging people. Sponsorship, product placement, brand funded content, owned media, experiential, advertorials, and native content are just the most notable weapons in our race to keep pace with declining human attention.
THE EDIT ISSUE 06 | Q2 2017