When it comes to innovation and trendsetting, the United States still take on the pole position. Many trends are established there long before they make an appearance anywhere else. TWT Interactive revealed now comprehensively, what kind of new developments we can expect in the near future.

'Connected Moments'

When we speak of the ‘Internet of Things’, a lot centers around those devices that make a connected world possible. But it's about much more than just that. The mobile advertising platform Kiip, for instance, rewards moments and especially moments of success in which we are particularly sensitive to consumption. With ‘Precision Moments Targeting’ the company last year started offering a promotional tool that allows advertisers to very precisely tailor their mobile campaigns to the user.

Individualized advertising means providing added value at specific moments: Imagine a beer brand can adjust the moment for an advertising campaign precisely through networked devices when the last beer is taken out of the refrigerator.

Many of these moments - whether positive or negative - can be used to get the attention of consumers and to be at the right place at the right time. These moments also arise in our ‘smart home’ or the ‘connected car’.

Hyperpersonalization

Personalized emails are a must for businesses in times of spam and the high density of information flow. Hyperpersonalization goes a step further by trying to provide the customer with tailored content, based on a precise data analysis.

By way of conversation, the interest of the audience can be ignited beginning with a personalized image, for example, and continuing with welcome, birthday, or "we-miss-you" emails. It is important, of course, to have a powerful tool which collects as much customer data as possible in order to be able to address the customer accurately. A sharpened profile simply helps to create and send relevant content. The result is an increased brand loyalty and of course a boost in sales.

But beware of a strong personalization and stereotyped thinking. Preferences can change and offers that do not really fit into the profile of the buyer, can suddenly become interesting. Therefore, stay flexible and always check your processes on a regular basis.

Story building is the new storytelling

Storytelling has long been the stylistic device of consumer marketing per se. In commercials, worlds were created in order to give products that are interchangeable some originality and reach customers on an emotional level.

However, since media, technology and data started to merge more and more together, and the Internet has already become a participatory medium, there is a movement towards story building, which is collaborative, non-linear and in real time. Consumers co-create the stories of their brand and are at the same time part of the story. They generate and share content so that messages of the brands reach target audiences much better.

Again, it is all about a more relevant, more personal relation with the brand that advances into the real lives of consumers. With the rapid growth of image-based social networks, such as Instagram and Pinterest, besides the fact that Facebook is also picture-heavy, story building will be dominated more and more visually as well. Further, story building changes the measurement of success factors: Instead of measuring range and frequency, values such as commitment and activity gain importance in measuring the success of a campaign.

Native advertising

Native advertising is not a new trend but recently gained real traction, especially since media companies started to create their own formats by combining paid posts, series of topics and core areas. The American publisher BuzzFeed, for instance, only uses native advertising. In addition to the so-called "Listicles", however, investigative reports from well-known journalists are published as well, which are financed by business-funded stories. Netflix is another good example, which advertises in a very subtle way for its self-produced series "Orange is the New Black", with the help of native advertising that brought them very positive feedback in return.

By MediaBUZZ