MAKING TECH TANGIBLE
BY VICTORIA FALLA, PLANNING DIRECTOR AND CAT BOTIBOL, CREATIVE CHIEF
I
nnovation is a word that many of our clients have
to deal with on a day-to-day basis. It’s a race to stay
ahead. Whether that new innovation be product or
service led, being seen as a pioneering leader in your sector
or newly defined sector is the pinnacle. Having a Chief
Innovation Officer is the norm.
But are consumers ready for it all?
According to Eileen Burbidge from Passion Capital who
recently spoke at this year’s Web Summit:
51% of (everyday) people feel that innovation is moving too
fast. People are overwhelmed, so we have to hold people’s
hands, to help them navigate tech overload in the simplest
way possible.
Just look at Engadget, the front page entices us with all
manner of the latest things including ‘Oculus Touch
Controllers’, internet connected toys, ‘Trusted Contacts’
from Google, and the opportunity to design your dream
drone. They all seem pretty exciting, but does being
exciting alone actually guarantee commercial success?
With new ideas being thought up by the minute, how can
we better ensure innovation is fruitful and profitable rather
than just another fad or item to put in the drawer?
What we have to remember is that the average consumer
isn’t your average tech-expert, they don’t get excited about
innovation in the same way that an inventor does. They
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don’t have a need for bottomless new tech, and that’s where
marketing needs to fill the gap between normal people and
clever innovation. Marketing’s role is to take what could be
perceived as overly complicated, or even alien to current
human understanding and make it familiar, simple and
enticing. Wowing people is easy, convincing them they need
to buy is somewhat harder.
Raising awareness is simply not enough. You know the
saying… ‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t
make him drink’. Whilst the media giants and controllers
of the universe may claim you only need super targeted
advertising, we think you have to take a step back and tackle
the fundamentals first – need, want, desire.
To better communicate tech, we need to give people
something tangible to understand, relate to, hold onto.
We think that experiences matter and brand still rules,
purpose and meaning should come first above and beyond
capabilities and functionality. User strategy needs to go
beyond just UI and UX. An effective innovation strategy
needs real people, real needs and real human experience at
the heart of the marketing strategy.
Our tips for making tech more tangible:
REAL WORLD ENCOUNTERS
Just because your product is digital, it doesn’t mean it
shouldn’t live in the real world. People love to shop, browse
and touch. Why shun what works, let’s take traditional
touchy feely logic and apply it to the new tech world. The
power of brand experiences aren’t unknown. Its just they
tend to be forgotten in the digital world. According to our
research partners, 2CV ‘51% of those who go through a
brand experience go on to buy’. Experiences aren’t just a
nice to have, they inform our intent to buy and increase
word of mouth. We know that emotional connection drives
more value than a specification list of features.
FANS NOT JUST CONSUMERS
Making friends and getting influencers on board is key.
People love an expert opinion and genuinely buy on peerto-peer recommendation. John Lewis and Which are
testament to this. Using people to reach others can be a cost
effective communication channel – whether you have the
budget for more-well known individuals or just very well
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connected everyday people. Use others to spread your good
tech word.
BE CULTURALLY RELEVANT
Find out what your audience are really into and work with
that. Communicate your product or service in the context
of their world. Real humans, real quirks, real connections,
real purpose. (Basically it’s easier to be a part of what they
already love, than try to get them to love something new. )
We love finding out interesting nuggets to better align
brands and culture, and often use YouGov to find them.
Sometimes knowing which Twitter handles people follow or
what they like to see at the cinema can unlock a new way to
position faceless technology.
TANGIBLE TECH IN PRACTICE
LAUNCHING THE NEW MUSIC
STREAMING APP DEEZER TO
THE UK MARKET
Rather than talk about what music streaming offers (like
the rest of the competition), we set about differentiating
Deezer with a unique brand launch on a limited media
spend. We created a quirky series of announcement ads
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designed to firmly implant the brand name Deezer into
the forefront of minds, via a surreal slideshow of rhyming
objects that ‘sound like Deezer’. In a competitive market, we
knew the brand had the power to stand out over the subtle
differences in functionality.
Results
We increased Deezer’s base in the UK by 300% and drove
uplift of their brand name threefold.
DISRUPTING THE MONEY
TRANSFER MARKET WITH
NEW APP AZIMO
Azimo wanted to launch their new alternative money
transfer app to select international audiences, who are
not particularly tech savvy. Our creative approach was
to sidestep the functionality message to reward people
who send their money to others - to recognise and reward
individuals in an otherwise transactional service. To
make sure our message was heard, we identified a number
of cost effective channels to hyper target our audiences,
concentrating on regional international events and TV
sub channels.
Results
Our activity at Africa live gave us direct hands on time
with over 10,000 Nigerians, resulting in significant app
downloads and app trial.
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TARGETING A NEW
CONSUMER GROUP OF
MUSIC FANS FOR INTEL
Intel Power-Up DJ Final, Shoreditch, London
Knowing that Intel products were not particularly appealing
to the music aficionados, we set to change that perception
with a campaign and experience targeted at emerging DJs,
the influentials within our target group. The idea was to
give them a hands-on experience with the product, rather
than just tell them how great they are. Our solution was a
nationwide DJ competition fronted by Radio 1 DJ, Benji B,
drawing in hundreds of participants and attendees for an
epic audio and visual night.
Results
A combined social reach of 2.5 million, over 400 DJ’s
entering our nationwide competition and oversubscription
of 200% to our event nights.
If you need help connecting with humans, then drop
David a line to help you stand out and avoid becoming
just another fad.
[email protected]
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