A Vision of Marketing's Future Goes Awry

A recent video, portraying one possible future of marketing, reveals dissonance between marketing prognosticators on the one hand, and most marketers -- and the public -- on the other. Launched February 18 by PHD Worldwide (part of Omnicom Media), the two-minute spot, entitled "We Are The Future," went viral, averaging 13 views per minute across 10 days.

Young teen actors warn:

If you work in marketing, you'd better start upping your game... In just 10 years from now, we'll be buying, and influencing buying, in ways that will confound you...

They demand immersive experiences:

We won't just watch your ads. We'll expect smart, tailored content... We want to interact with it as we watch it. Not just with touch, but with voice, gesture... with intent.

We can change your business in one trade! And you'd better get used to paying us. Our browsing, influencing, and purchasing data will make some of us pretty rich. But don't overstep the mark, otherwise we'll block you. Mass blocks kill brands overnight. And keep you up all night.

Viewers posted overwhelmingly negative reactions to the video, and what it portends. The YouTube instance garnered hundreds of critical postings, often profane; commenters then berated PHD for deleting vulgarities. PHD's Global Strategy Director, Mark Holden, later conceded, "On reflection we should have left them."

Commenters invoked the specter of sinister children (citing Village of the Damned), and intrusive marketing (as portrayed in Minority Report). British comedian Dave Gorman tweeted fear to 120K followers: "This marketing vid is a spoof, right? It can't be real can it? Where's the reveal? Oh. It's real. We're doomed."

Marketers responding to the video on PHD's blog were "repulsed" by this "hackneyed horror" "polluting the industry." Some said it "perpetuates the stereotype that social media is just an industry of buzzwords and pseudo-science", while excoriating "that wonderful smug marketing glow that only the satifaction of pissing off an entire demographic can bring."

PHD's Holden acknowledged, "We were not prepared for the reaction this would create."

PHD's missteps weren't due to a lack of resources. PHD USA claims to be a "top 10 media buyer in the US representing nearly $4 billion in media billings," and was finalist for several of Marketing Magazine's 2010 Agency of the Year Awards. The spot was commissioned internally. Campaign Live reports that it also aired on Bloomberg TV.

The likely source of PHD's miscalculation: communing only internally, in too rarified an atmosphere. By gazing too far ahead, the spot failed to offer the audience a recognizable role for themselves. Accentuating their indifference to the audience, PHD ignored even today's best-practices:

• The PHD blog displaying the video remains orphaned; it links to no corporate domain.

• After a rollout tweet ("PHD's new ad is a reflection on how the next generation will engage with brands..."), even as feedback mounted, PHD's Twitter account remained silent for three days.

• When comments swung wildly negative, PHD aggressively censored them.

Such missteps -- obscuring connections, ignoring audiences, and censoring feedback -- guarantee alienation online.

Finally, PHD -- and most commenters, both marketers and others -- missed the fact that for most of us, for the next 10 years, the video does not really describe marketing's future.

Some expensive goods, marketed to the very wealthy, may merit the complex treatments the video suggests. That narrow demographic may be worthy prey as economic forces continue moving more money toward fewer people. Most of us, though, will experience such high-tech engagement only at expo booths, or in the equivalent of a marketing theme park.

The "We Are The Future" script may represent one aspect of the future: marketing of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite. But how long before we see such interactive outreach done effectively for general audiences? Twenty years? More? Is any segment of your audience ready to arrive there sooner?

— Gary Stock is CEO of Nexcerpt news monitoring service, and blogs about online search, life lessons, and subtle patterns.

The CMO Site is an executive social network that provides CMOs and other marketing executives from the world's leading organizations with a real-time, online venue where they can convene to discuss how they're delivering on the most critical marketing priorities. Join us!