Last week we attended the Direct from SXSW, Key Trends 2017 talk hosted by IAPI. The speaker was Nigel Gwilliam, Consultant Head of Media & Emerging Technology, IPA London. He has attended SXSW Interactive for the last seven years and was sharing his insight into the key trends and takeaways from the conference.
The overarching theme for the talk was one of surreality. Whilst SXSW is usually a very upbeat, positive environment, this year was somewhat overshadowed by shifting world politics and the impact of technological advances, often progressing faster than we can make sense of.
Unsurprisingly, Trump was a key feature of the conference and Nigel spoke of the three key elements that made Trump a success in the US elections:
- Big brand messaging rooted in emotional communication through traditional broadcast mediums– Trump’s brand was rooted in the psyche of America long before the elections through The Apprentice and other broadcast appearances. Broadcast media is not dead, and remains highly influential.
- Access to and understanding of the application of Big Data to understand the voter base and their preferences and the ability to manipulate messaging to best exploit these insights. He made reference to big data companies and their potential role in manipulating and exploiting big data to influence politics
- Whether or not Cambridge Analytica were responsible for Trump or Brexit, it remains true that data collected from FB/website activity can be used to develop multi layered profiles that can be used for highly effective targeting.
- A strong online community who will advocate for your brand and fight on your behalf – reference made to groups such as 4chan and their influence in spreading fake news, some making 6 figure sums on their fake news website. Really interesting note about 4chan users putting their energy into ruining things for other people, such as Shia Laboeuf’s ‘he will not divide us’ protest by figuring out the location of a flag based on flight trails, constellations and wildlife in the background.
Trends included:
- the rise of AI, with Nigel suggesting that the true power in AI lies in the ability of humans to engage in effective team work with our AI counterparts. Eg. Centaur chess – this doesn’t necessarily mean the smartest people with the most powerful computers win, but the right combination of man and machine working together
- The move away from product focused brands to service provider brands through harnessing the data collected from smart technology
- The erosion of jobs and the changing workplace as more and more tasks become automated. 3.5 million truck drivers in the US will lose their jobs as trucking becomes automated. Creatives will be last to be replaced, but they too are in danger due to products like Persado software, which can generate creative copy which garners double the click through rates of their human counterparts. It’s been tested. It’s happening.
- The lack of privacy in the modern world and the glimmer of hope that apps like WhatsApp provide through their encryption services, but how quickly before this is eroded by government intervention?
Nigel also gave us insight into the CES trade show run by the Consumer Technology Association. Lots of interesting tech products coming down the line with the main emphasis on the development form smart products to smart service providers. Examples include UnderArmour running shoes, which after 6 jumps while wearing can gauge your ability to exercise and advise you on the best course of action to follow. There was also a whole host of smart products aimed at young families, which include a super secure camera (as other smart toys have been hacked), ambient light you can control from downstairs etc.
One interesting consequence of this emerging tech is where it leaves advertising. It is predicted that very soon, with the rise of systems like Amazon’s Alexa, 30% of interactions with computers will be verbal. Internet advertising will lose its place as we no longer need to look at a screen to find our information. As Google found out when they tried to advertise on Google home, the public has no time for the invasion of advertising into the space. Could it be that in the not too distant future marketers will need to consider marketing to AI rather than humans as more and more of our choices and preferences are fed to us by the AI in our smart technology?
Really interesting/terrifying stuff.
One point that stood out is how technological advances can have the strangest unforeseen consequences, and we may not be able to deal with them fast enough – example, someone created a Twitter profile for Rep. Steven Smith, the 15th Georgian rep. There are only 14 actual reps in Georgia but people took this fake man’s political tweets as fact and it may have been a tiny factor in the fake news aspect of Trump’s campaign.