Goafest 2011: “Biggest revolution is happening in mobile commerce”

Daniel Morel, chairman and chief executive officer, Wunderman, presented his thoughts on the evolution of community marketing in the age of new media. Titled ‘The revolution that changed the world’, Morel noted that the revolution of Marketing 3.0 is in its infancy, the impact will last for years to come.

Citing the recent revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, he attributed its quick effect to social media. Morel also talked about the impact of social media and its ability to connect with people at the shortest possible time.

“Along with these benefits, these mediums allow near limitless real-time data being transferred. We are left with tons of data and unless we don’t know what to do with them, we are wasting the opportunity,” he added.

Pointing out the four key aspects of ‘Marketing 3.0’, he listed out location, context, community and commerce as the four key aspects. Sharing an example of an ongoing campaign by Austrian Airlines, he illustrated the importance of contextual marketing. He also shared the example of Microsoft Windows 7 where the brand had tapped into university students to promote the new operating system. The brand had initially set a target of 500,000 brand impressions among the TG for its Windows Share House campaign, and managed to exceed all expectations due to the community effect of social media. The brand had 7,247 members joining the Facebook group and engaged 891,240 people. The brand managed to generate 10.4 million brand impressions by the end of the campaign.

Touching upon the commerce aspect in the evolution of marketing, Morel said, “Mobile commerce is a very important medium. Around the world, the biggest revolution is happening in mobile commerce. In Kenya, almost 20 percent of financial transactions are through mobile commerce.”

Concluding his presentation, he said, “The key differentiator as compared to the past revolutions is the speed at which old products become obsolete. As marketers, we must be open, flexible and quick to pool our resources like search, social and mobile together and leverage the data we capture. And that’s what we need to create, so that when we are ready to change, adapt and evolve.”