As we drop the curtain on 2009 and look through the moody clouds and stormy weather to 2010, media strategists will be gathering to discuss what the New Year will have in store. The first decade of the ‘Noughties’ (00’s) has seen Big Brother rise and fall, social contact between friends and family grow increasingly virtual, and the general rise of the ‘always-on’ society. Whether Apple or BlackBerry, our smart phone delivers information and storage at our fingertips; anytime, anywhere (unless you travel on the South Eastern train from London Victoria around 18:18).

So, the passing of Big Brother leaves an important legacy: the expectation of audience interactivity. Our highly-connected society now clamours to vote contestants in or out, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the satellites of gossip, recordings, T-shirts and online applications. The challenge therefore for 2010 will be the alchemy now required to make commercially successful programmes; ride with what’s hot and to avoid what’s not. And crucially for the bottom line to make sure that all bases are covered: the SMS deal, the online advertising, the mobile application revenues, the recording contract rights share and so on…complicated.

In a year that has seen the need for potential advertisers to make every marketing penny count, the importance of brand positioning and targeting will surely be on their mind when it comes to working with both producers and broadcasters. Both the government’s acceptance of product placement and a brave new interactive world make that possible. So begins the age of the ‘engaged’?

Tags: Advertisers, Apple, Applications, Audience, Big Brother, BlackBerry, Broadcasters, Media Strategists, New Year, Noughties, Online, Producers, SMS, Virtual

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 2:38 pm and is filed under The Weekly Wizard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.