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This phrase is probably familiar to many of us. I kept coming back to this principle when I was trying to work out a simple way of explaining to my customers and colleagues what my unit actually does. For example, we have been devising “web strategies”, producing “concept designs” and defining “target states” for years and continue to do so. But how can I explain this in a way that makes sense to you, my valuable customer? Below, I have tried to explain how we want to help you, in plain English.
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Does the marketer need to understand the buying process of a consumer in the market for a vacation package, mobile phone, or a new home? Yes – by understanding the consumer’s buying process, the marketer can learn to both manage and make the most of media convergence.

Does the consumer in the market for a vacation package, mobile phone, or new home need to understand media convergence? No – the consumer simply lives media convergence by using different marketing channels in a variety of ways and by moving back and forth between channels in search of products and/or services.

From information silos to understanding the buying process

Although there have been myriad studies on marketing phenomena, most often the knowledge gained has been cross-sectional. Marketing channels have been studied in silos; each channel and its efficiency separately. Rarely if ever have studies focused on successive media or how multiple channels work together as a single entity.

Last fall, the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper undertook a forward-thinking study of consumer processes related to the purchase of a home or apartment. The central goal was better understanding of how print media and the internet work together; in other words, the study focused on the play between the net and the newspaper, and how people moved back and forth between the two while searching for interesting investments. The process of buying a home was recognized as lengthy in terms of duration and complex in terms of the channels used. The study subjects were Helsinki area residents who were in the market for a new home over the next six months. (more…)

1) Does Web 2.0 really exist – or is it a handy catch-all title for what, in fact, has been a largely incremental evolution?

When Tim O’Reilly invented the term “Web 2.0” to market his conference of the Internet’s future, I’m sure that no one ever considered how much hype that term would get in the following two years. It’s a real buzzword. Yet I think that it is good that we have a common name and topic to talk about. There are major changes happening in the online medium, we are really starting to live online, not only use online services. If 1997 was the initial boom year for commercial internet, I think 2006 and 2007 will be remembered as the years when Internet broke through as a normal part of our behavior. Broadband connections allow us to have our PC’s on all the time, web 2.0-kind of apps give new speed for UI and business innovations. To conclude, I think we are in a middle of a major leap, not only doing an incremental evolution.

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According to the survey, mobile phone use continued to diversify further in 2006. The use of MMS messaging grew from 29 percent to 41 percent. Twenty-five percent of respondents had accessed websites with their mobile phones and 31 percent had used their mobiles to react to programmes or advertising on TV or radio. Last year, the percentage was 26. (more…)