What do you believe are the biggest challenges and opportunities for the advertising and marketing industry in the new frontiers?

One of the biggest challenges is the fundamental shift in the way consumers approach purchase decisions. This shift means that marketing’s success (or not) is dependent on a broad range of factors outside conventional, paid media. There is no doubt it is harder – and less understood - by the very people charged with doing the influencing.

You used to pretty much get what you paid for. Now, the channels and the key influences have changed at every step of the decision making process. Though the reach of paid media remains compelling, the impact becomes less effective if not integrated into a more engaging experience where consumers can actually get interested. Marketers are now almost required to interact in significantly more personalised ways with consumers across numerous forms of media. Who has the time? Yet, it’s vital to the sales outcome. 

A semi-obvious opportunity is for these brands to partner with publishers and other audience specialists that not only have the deep consumer understanding required, but also the connections and conversational assets so crucial to influencing beyond “awareness”. There are a number of consumer product companies in Australia doing this well including Johnson & Johnson, Weight Watchers and Ford. These brands leverage the full arsenal of media and online touch points, to deepen the engagement, enrich the brand experience and awaken the mass influencers. They don’t wash their hands when the television ad airs but rather use it as the starting gun to fire up the rest of the experience! 

Katie May, Kidspot CEO in response to AdNews Mouth off; December 2010