ADOTAS

2012 Prediction: From Social to Spatial

It’s no longer just “what are you doing?,” but “where are you going?” and “when will you be there?” that the social universe cares about. While Facebook’s Timeline allows us to answer, for all our friends and followers, those age-old “where were you when …” questions, Foursquare’s Radar functionality tells you when you’re near people or places that you like, just in case you’re up for a bit of a diversion in the future (even if that future is only five minutes from now). As more people transition from using social media to record what we’ve done to using it to help us plan what we will do, advertising and marketing efforts can become increasingly local — even hyperlocal — to reach an engaged nearby audience eager for interaction with companies and brands. Fjord sees a bright future for organizations that are able to harness the power of location and time — categories that, unlike social and search, are still up for grabs.

2012 Prediction: An S.O.S. from the Disconnected Living Room

2012 will see even more “clutter” in the living room. Yahoo’s IntoNow app can determine what we’re watching on TV and share that with our friends via Twitter. Hulu feeds our watching habits to our Facbook Timelines. The Xbox, more than just a gaming console, allows us to access film and video without having to leave the house, or even the sofa. Disney encouraged viewers of its Christmas Day parade to use the Shazam app to get behind-the-scenes content. Americans spend an average of four hours per day watching television, and delivering a more full-integrated experience (or at  least companion experiences) — whether through interactivity, social networking, or simple convenience — can ensure that those are four hours are enhanced. But be careful, 2012 is also the year in which the struggle for sofa supremacy could finally start to see some winners and losers.

2012 Prediction: Your Identity Is Your Currency

There’s something truly remarkable about modern society’s willingness to share so much of themselves with their friends and acquaintances. Modern stoicism is giving way to post-modern openness — but with that openness are risks. The more we share, the greater the odds that what we post can someday be used against us: in job interviews ,relationships, even financial transactions. So in 2012, we anticipate an increased sensitivity to how we value the information that we post — and how we value our ability to keep it at least somewhat private. For every service like OpenID that allows us to safely log into multiple sites and control our information, there will also be an uptick in trends like “Pay with a Tweet,” in which no money changes hands, but the whole Twitterverse can see what you’ve just “purchased.” 2012 may be the year of social media privacy trade-offs; it remains to be seen whether more secrecy or more openness will ultimately win. 2012 will see a host of services that will push the boundaries of privacy — some of these will prevail as “cool;” others are doomed to be creepy. This is the tipping point we call the social dilemma, because nobody knows exactly where it lies. 2012 could be the first year of the Social Dilemma.

2012 Prediction: Say Hello to 24/7 Wearables

One of the most tedious parts of sticking to a workout regimen? Pausing between each set to write down how many reps you’ve done. Wouldn’t it be nice if something could just do it for you? For the cost of a few sessions with a personal trainer, you can get a wearable device that will track your activity over the course of the day — not just at the gym, but on your bike, or even walking around the city. Not into fitness? What about a sensor that tracks your sleeping habits and feeds it to a smart alarm clock to calculate the ideal time to wake up in the morning? Or a pair of earrings that allows you to listen to your iPod wirelessly, without anyone even noticing? We might still be a long way off from having microchips implanted in our brains, but devices that can help us do the things we already do more quickly and easily will be increasingly in demand this year — so brands willing to give that to their consumers will have quite an edge over their competitors. The challenge for wearable electronics is to understand what users will want to do with them, and to take advantage of the growing concept of  ”glanceability.” There will be a battle for people’s “glance.”

So I was pleased to see that the Southern Comfort brand is joining the digital age with both woozy feet, as it were. According to AdAge, Brown-Forman’s brand is taking its entire media buy digital, allowing it access to programs online it couldn’t touch on TV. Last year, SoCo spent $6 million on cable TV, and another $1.5 million on magazine ads. This year, the media buy, lower than the $8 million spent last year, will go to properties such as Facebook, Spin, Fader, Pitchfork, Thrillist and Hulu.

Lena DerOhannessian, the brand’s U.S. marketing director, told AdAge that SoCo’s tight focus on the youngest legal-drinking-age consumers drove the shift. “As we’ve focused more on 21 to 29, TV becomes less and less effective at reaching that audience,” she said. “It was getting harder and harder to hit our target without so much waste.”

You wonder when Congress will start complaining about the intrusion of alcohol advertising to impressionable youths.

i33 specializes in online user experiences which includes designing and developing social media applications, widgets and rich media experiences for clients including PBS, Target and Borders.

While 360i often produced online ad campaigns — for clients like NBC and Bravo — featuring widgets and search applications, it previously didn’t have the tools to create them.

“To compete and reach audiences effectively online, smart marketers today require a whole new kind of agency – one that has a deep understanding of how to create engaging interactive consumer experiences that are searchable, integrated and provide measurable impact to the marketer,” said Bryan Wiener, CEO of 360i. “We’ve worked with i33 on a series of integrated programs and have consistently found their team and their work to be nothing less than exceptional.”

“This is a perfect marriage, combining our skill sets with 360i’s roster of blue-chip clients, as well our joint focus on delivering engaging and measurable results to our strategic clients,” said David Levin, President/CEO of i33.

The acquisition follows an industry-wide trend of indie digital agencies being snapped up by bigger fish. iCrossing recently acquired Proxicom and Search Rev recently bought AKQA.

360i is a digital agency specializing in search, behavioral marketing and social media.

The New York Times reported today that Pepsi-Cola North America is unveiling a new calorie-free, carbonated beverage called Tava with its own Web site (www.tava.com), banner ads, promotions and sampling events. (Tava will also be sent gratis to tech-happy employees of Google, Apple and MTV).

One of the reasons Pepsi’s approach is so revolutionary: Tava is not supposed to be the new hotness for Paris Hilton compatriots. The caffeine-free, fruit-flavored drink is being aimed squarely at the minivan brigade — the 35 to 49 demographic, The Times reports.

“There used to be an assumption this target was not online,” Frank Cooper, vice president for flavored carbonated soft drinks at Pepsi told The Times. “But there’s a group in that category that’s ‘reborn digital.’ They’ve lived through the change and learned to adapt to it. This consumer spends significant time online, although what they do may differ from the younger consumer. They’re not I.M.-ing their friends; they’re looking at e-mail or looking up information about travel, music, food.”

Tribal DDB Worldwide, the digital arm of DDB Worldwide, is handling the campaign. Banner ads will reportedly appear on AOL, chow.com, CitySearch, oprah.com, People and weather.com, among other sites.

Digital advertising in India is worth about $130 million but it’s growing by 60% every year, published reports say. India is the first country outside of the U.S. where Microsoft has launched a digital ad platform, according to reports.

NDTV Media is partnering with Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions to bring advertisers to the platform.

“Our target is to have over 750 advertisers on the platform by the end of the calendar year,” NDTV Media’s Chief Operating Officer Niraj Dutt told The Economic Times of India.

In other news, Microsoft introduced a mobile advertising initiative for advertisers who want to buy search keywords on Live Search and Vodafone Live.