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Andy Hood, Head of Emerging Technologies at AKQA, says we need to think about new tech in terms of the value it creates, and explains what brands can learn from start-ups to drive innovation
igital marketing, it’s sometimes said, is the place where art and science meet. That could explain why, as marketers, we’re so fond of the dramatic noun:
transformation, innovation – on occasion even revolution. But, says Andy Hood, Head of Emerging Technologies at AKQA, for all the extraordinary opportunities presented by new tech, there remains the danger that we end up deploying it for its own sake, rather than ensuring it meets real business needs. Marketing’s objective now, says Hood, isn’t simply to create great images, videos and copy. It’s to produce “new digital products and services that market brands through the value they bring, either to consumers or to the business itself. This is fundamentally a different thing.”
STURGEON’S LAW Not so long ago we might have
encountered one genuinely game- changing piece of technology every few years. Now, thanks to the explosion of start-ups and crowd-funding platforms like Kickstarter, there could be a new one every six months. Even the titanic corporates are keeping a close eye on the start-up community and – as we shall see – learning from the little guys who aren’t afraid to fail. But, says Hood, it’s also
important for marketers to keep hold of their critical faculties. Back in 1951 the sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon coined what’s come to be known as Sturgeon’s Law: “90 per cent of everything is crap.” (He was responding
34 issue 23 january 2015
to an accusation that most of the writing in his own genre was, well, crap.) In fact, says Hood, “I think he was being slightly conservative. You could probably throw another nine in there. That’s not being critical; we know that in all walks of life, in all genres, most of the stuff sits at the bottom. We love the stuff we
love because it rises above that.” Modern marketing’s mission, he explains, is to avoid implementing
technology arbitrarily - making use of it just because it’s there – and to create something of genuine value.
thIN With
PUTTING TECH TO THE TEST Consider, for example, beacon
technology. Armed with the appropriate apps, says Hood, AKQA’s team hit the high street for a spot of
e New
field testing. What they discovered wasn’t promising: student vouchers were sent to a single woman in her late thirties who had already specified that she was not a student. Offers didn’t reach the team until they’d left the shops and gone home. “We don’t mind too much if the
technology is glitchy,” says Hood. “That’s an occupational hazard of working with new tech. What matters is where the thought is coming from. We have the ability with this technology to unify our online and offline identities. We can enable brands to understand who and where we are so they can provide personalised experiences. But where are the uses of that data which enable us to treat a physical
space in an entirely new and dynamic way? Right now, we just spam people with vouchers.”
Oculus Rift is another piece of ARTICLE BY JON FORTGANG
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