Everybody is streaming. What’s next?
Used to be, products stayed in their lanes. If you sold exercise equipment you expanded by improving your machines or adding new ones. In today’s world, you get to streaming something, anything, as fast as you can. Peloton streams content. every brand needs more than a social media and marketing team, they also need an entertainment team. Look back when YouTube was in its infancy. BMW created a six-minute action movie featuring their newest car. Brilliant. Everybody flocked to watch a six-minute ad. Then Red Bull started its own channel. Now we have smart folks like those at Peloton creating an entertainment experience that integrates their product. OTT makes it all possible.
OTT has disrupted some of the world’s largest industries: telecom, entertainment & media. And they do this by delivering an experience the customer wants. Good marketers know, and have always known, that customers are more loyal to products than platforms and channels. The product is the brand. And this leaves some telecoms scratching their heads, and others acquiring content. It leaves some brands pushing brand loyalty while entertainment-integrated products zoom past.
So while everybody tries to get on board with the broader capabilities that OTT brings to marketing, we have to wonder: “What’s next?”
The answer is the same as it’s always been when questioning how to retain customers attention; “Get better at it!”
Screens are ubiquitous. Products entertainment videos will soon be ubiquitous. Personalizing content to customers is the challenge.
What’s next?
The ability to take customer data from a number of different sources (having created alliances) and delivering a personal brand experience like no other.
Once again, it comes down to the axiom: “Know thy customer.”
In the meantime, a lot of brands will spend a lot of money trying to catch up or be a part of the group (FOMO is real in the marketing biz). But the smart money will look to media science as well as trends and siloed analytics to build successful strategies.
