Mike Davis, Senior Digital Planner/Buyer here at B/T provided Media Mosaic with a fantastic wrap up of the 2010 iMedia Breakthrough Summit. Here’s what he had to say:
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After four jam-packed days of presentations, conversations with 75+ vendors about their latest and greatest capabilities and getting to spend some time with the best of the best in Digital Media I left with a slightly different perspective on where Digital Media is today and where it’s going. Dean Donaldson, Director of Digital Experience at Eyeblaster gave a great presentation tying everything covered at iMedia together nicely. If you ever get the chance to see him speak I highly recommend taking advantage of it.

There were a number of buzz words like cross-channel, motial (mobile + social), augmented reality, QR codes, and location-based thrown around quite a bit. Dean Donaldson said, “Amid the buzz, we are seeing evidence that all media is getting ready for a digital hyper-drive, fueled by consumer desire for entertainment-on-demand and always-on-communication.”

When you look at a number of things happening in the world of media with that thought in mind, it becomes very apparent that there is a significant fundamental shift happening in the way people consume media and the way marketers are starting to alter their approach because of that.

Mobile: “Instead of viewing mobile marketing as a new kind of advertising distribution platform, we should instead approach it from its greatest strength – as an “activation” or “response” mechanism by which we can respond to commercial messages, not that we experience on the handset, but in OTHER media,” says Rick Mathieson.

• Best Buy is using QR codes to deliver product reviews to mobile phones
• Starwood hotels is experimenting with SMS check-in
• Nike and Cisco are using augmented reality
• Sonic is using location based mobile marketing to drive traffic and sales

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Social Media: Mobile is on the verge of becoming the primary access point for social media. Brands are engaging consumers in meaningful ways.

• Dominos re-invented their pizza based on feedback obtained through social media and their brand indexed skyrocketed to #1 among national pizza chains.
• Vitamin water allowed Facebook users to create a new flavor
• Bud Light allowed users to choose their Super Bowl ad
• Nestle saw a 17% jump purchase intent when it allowed users to send virtual cookies to their friends

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TV: The TV Guide channel is running an interactive banner ad.

Print: With the tremendous amount of buzz around e-readers, the iPad, and tablets in general, the way consumers consume print media is changing yet again.

Digital Out Of Home (DOOH): DOOH is popping up all over the place and it’s a great way to tie digital efforts into the physical world as well as placing your message where it will have the most influence

• Evian brought online viral videos to point of purchase in convenience stores

The one thing that all of these digital media tactics have in common is that they are all about engaging consumers in a meaningful way. This is going to require a major shift in the way brands think about media and those that start trying to make that shift in thinking now will have a substantial advantage on their competition in five years.