The 1st of November 2007 I was invited as one of the speakers at Daytona Sessions Vol 1.. Martin and Rasmus, the founders of Daytona wanted me to speak about digital communication in 2012. Said and done – I pinpointed 8 things that would happen and change digital communication in 2012.
My predictions and status today were and is the following:
A younger generation taking on management roles establish digital communication as marketing tool nr1.
We’re not quite there. But stats are telling us we’re not more than 1 or 2 years away from this one.
1. No communication without social communication.
Check. Barack Obama put the last nail in the coffin here. After his successful presidential campaign and looking at the top 100 brands in social communication I think we all can agree this one is a home run.
2. We will consume advertising in front of the TV again.
Sony and Windows went public with their cooperation around building windows into the next generation flat screens. Rumours around apple shows that they’re not far behind. We’re not consuming yet – but we will…soon.
3. We will consume [digital] advertising in our cars.
Not long ago Blaupunkt announced their latest stereo. It’s a grey little beauty (what else) that can play almost every format there is. But on top of that it’s got a 3G and Wireless connection. Didn’t I tell you!
4. No communication without innovation and interaction.
Have a look at communication from leading brands like Nike, adidas, Burger King, Volkswagen, Apple, Mc Donalds etc etc. We are there.
4. Three new market leaders on the mobile phone market
Apple had been on the market a couple of weeks when I spoke at the last Daytona Sessions. They’re now nr 3 in the worlds when it comes to business phones. Google announced Android only a month or so after. Not quiet there yet. Microsoft…hmm…still chasing. Palm has appeared from nowhere again. What about Nokia, Sony, Motorola? Still boring. This one is well on it’s way but it’s a tough one.
5. E commerce strikes with full force
This is the one I’m scared about. People seem stuck by the fact that you can buy things in a regular store. However, I did exemplify the drive behind this being the mobile applications that would make you the stronger buyer. Here we’ve already seen several examples of applications for the iPhone that lets you compare prices in real time. Getting the best price is easier than ever.
6. Open source will be the engine behind digital communication
Business week published a list of the most influential people this year. 3 of the top 10 were heading Open Source projects. I must say this is now a no brainer.
7. Google will be challenged by Microsoft.
About a year after the last Daytona Sessions Microsoft announced that they were to implement Windows Live Search into Facebook. That’s more or less the exact screenshot I had in my presentation in november 2007. Apart from that Microsoft are coming on strong from all directions when it comes to digital advertising. This is a race that will be extremely interesting to follow and it will end before 2012.
8. Development will go faster than we think.
And it does. Even though we’re witnessing the scariest financial crisis ever, development of digital platforms an new open source innovation is turbo charged. I’ve seen more things the last 6 month come out of the market when it comes to tech innovations than I’ve seen the last 2 years. Speed, speed, speed – if you don’t got it – get it!
To sum up. My mission was to give a prediction about what the next 5 years will bring. Most of the things I prediction has already come true and the rest will probably be in place before 2012. The one thing that amazes me is how wrong I was in terms of when since I personally thought most things would come true in 3-4 years. Now they came true in 1-2 year instead. Prediction nr 10 is obviously the one that was the most right.
Now I’m going to head into Rival and enjoy a fantastic evening.
Thank you Daytona for putting on a show!
