Convergence

There's a blitz of year-in-reviews. In reading the eMarketer round-up I see some of the usual suspects - video, social media, usage and access. Of their list, Convergence most motivates me. We've been hearing this terms for nearly 2 decades as "coming soon". When I worked in the telecommunications and digital broadcast industry, this always seemed 10 years away.

The Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES) in Vegas this year showed that "soon" may actually be right now. Technology advancements in television have enabled linking to web content portals and sites such as YouTube, Blockbuster and Netflix today. Gaming applications such as Wii do t his as well, in addition to mass multiplayer (MMP) gaming. Usage of the "third screen" or mobile and computer advancements - are also accelerating this trend. While the ability existed before, it was not intuitive or user centric to advance past early adopters and techies. Now it is - almost anyone can do it, or read how to, or purchase a kit to do so. This excitement also brings challenges in that it is not only easy but commonplace to ignore advertising. Indeed, ads are still here, but they are not relevant or embedded contextually.


This is the challenge and opportunity, to relinquish control enough to be "generous", inviting people in to understand what relevance and value is to them, and remaining honest to this. Anytime you engage with your audience to in a value-driven way, even in the absence of branding, this is more meaningful. In fact, delivering content in a commercial-neutral way may be even more meaningful. It becomes engagement, not advertising. For pharma, this is still intimidating if not inviting risk. If you execute on this consistently your customer will associate the quality of content with your brand and your company. Social media has proven this out for us. Today, there is no shortage of pharma and health company presence in social media. Yet, ad spending on these channels is at the bottom of the investment priority. What tops the list is creating content and applications that actually help audiences, either by giving them a place to find support or information, or enabling them to make more informed decisions. It takes longer to show ROI, but the ROI promises to be greater, with more longevity. In the end, the mantra, "if you build it they will come", rings truer than ever, it just has to be welcomed.

Right now, Convergence via TVs is in the "make it easier" stage - such as with Netflix. I am watching out for the proliferation of what the now nearly-dead, WebTV promised - true engagement and relationship.