Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” He argued (among many things) that the various media are extensions of, well, us – our human mind, body and senses. We’re not too far off from a time when media no longer needs to extend us… we will be the medium. If the medium is the message, and we are the medium, then that means we are the message. YOU are the new medium baby; YOU are the message.
It’s certainly not news, but data is playing a huge role in media – and that role is getting bigger and bigger. All the smart companies are busy as bees collecting data. They’re not too interested in data about you, that’s old hat. What they’re interested in is data about your behavior: when you like go to movies, when you tend to buy stuff, when you send emails and text messages, when you go to stores, how & when you communicate. Because as every good marketer knows, it’s not really about price or need, it’s about timing. You can target the right TV to the right person at the right price, but if they’re not buying (ie: sitting at home on their couch), you lose. And changing someone’s behavior is next to impossible (ever try to lose weight, or quit smoking?).
The successful companies of the future will know enough about your behavior to not only target that TV you wanted at a great price, but they’ll target you when you’re out shopping for TVs. Take a look at the emerging trendy sites. FourSquare, Groupon, Blippy, OpenTable, Tumblr. And don’t forget the old standbys like Facebook, Google, Flickr and Twitter who are working furtively on adding easy to use geo-location to their services. The common thread here is that these sites are learning about YOU my friend. The more they learn, the better they can target you with the message you want when you want it. Yes, I said message youwant. Advertising will become that personal, true one to one advertising.
In the near future, when you’re walking by The Future Shop, you’ll get an ad for that awesome LED TV you wanted… and it’s on sale! And you got paid yesterday! In you go to get your TV with a smile. This is why data will be the next revolution in advertising. Since this data is a digital representation of you, it’s your message… you’re own behaviors determine the message. YOU, my friend, are the message.
