This essay is part of a series written by speakers featuring at our upcoming 10th anniversary TNW Conference Europe. Brian is both CEO and Co-Founder of mobile advertising network Kiip.
Staying relevant in a constantly changing arena. This is the number one concern I hear from brands.
As the CEO of mobile rewards startup Kiip, I’ve spoken with hundreds of brands. To them, staying relevant means reaching the smartphone generation, launching effective digital campaigns and ensuring their security for the future.
Today, remaining relevant means engaging consumers on mobile. Tomorrow, this could be expanding onto a different platform, like Apple Watch. Five years from now, brands may look to reach newer demographics on smart devices we haven’t yet dreamed up.
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No matter the medium, there’s only one trick to future-proofing your brand: focusing on the “moment”.
Moments take place when consumers are most engaged. In mobile, moments occur when users beat a level in a game, log a completed workout in a fitness app or swipe that final item off a to-do list in a productivity app. Moments make our hearts race a little faster, our excitement peak, our focus narrow. During these moments, we’re often completely absorbed with positive emotion.
In the future, moments will captivate us all the same, but they will take a different form. Moments will inevitably expand from mobile onto new screens. Think fitness trackers, wearables and smart devices in our home and cars. They’ll take the form of “connected moments”.
Imagining brand opportunities on first-to-market devices is thrilling. But brands should be warned that there are correct and erroneous ways to advertise on new mediums. After all, advertising should emphasize the moment, not just brand awareness. Operating on dozens of smart gadgets doesn’t mean that brands should bombard people with dozens of ads at every turn. Instead, these moments should serendipitously add value to their owners’ lives.
A smart fridge could notify a home cook when produce is about to spoil and offer discounts for the next trip to the store. A Bluetooth-enabled pacifier could predict a developing fever and alert parents with a free sample of baby medicine before conditions worsen. In the future, brands will have limitless chances to engage consumers with advertisements that address real-time needs and add value to their lives. Of course, personal privacy will be taken into account on all these interactions.
Kiip has built a business around rewarding moments. We’ve expanded from rewards-based advertising to tackle loyalty with our new white-label solution, Platform. MasterCard, our newest partner, is future-proofing their brand by owning moments inside their Priceless Surprises app. By leveraging the Kiip Platform, MasterCard finds moments when consumers are most excited, both in mobile apps and across social networks. It then rewards users for loyal behavior with personal priceless surprises.
MasterCard is not the only brand looking ahead. “Moments” make regular appearances across the marketing lexicon. In August, Twitter launched an “everyday moments” tool. It gives marketers an always-on approach with the social media network. Forrester started a hashtag campaign about the consumer opportunities around mobile moments. And everyone who grew up with a TV is familiar with “ the Hallmark moment,” the result of a widespread and timeless campaign.
It’s clear that moments aren’t going anywhere.
I’m speaking at the upcoming TNW conference on April 24th at 3:20PM. If you’re in the area, check out my “how-to” keynote on successfully future-proofing brands via moments. In the meantime, if you’d like to hear more, read my thought leadership posts on the Kiip blog.
See you in Amsterdam!
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