From flying cars to automatic dog walkers, Back to the Future portrayed the world in 2015 as brimming with marvels. Let’s face it, not all of them came about – teenagers awaiting hoverboards should probably stop holding their breath – but a good number of the predictions made by the movie turned out impressively close to reality.
The development of consumer goods over the past 30 years has been astounding, as have been the great strides in perfecting business tactics. Marketing is one area where remarkable transformation can be seen. What Marty McFly would have experienced as a consumer in the 80s, with the marketing of microwaves for example, is very different from how he would find a kitchen appliance like the hydrator promoted today.
The decade of Madonna and Maggie
Microwaves were the high-tech kitchen items of 1985. Their prevalence in UK homes grew exponentially over the following few years, due in no small part to ad campaigns. Media plans were comprised of several standard elements with the goal of getting a company’s name and product out there. Quantity trumped quality in regards to who was reached with the message.
TV and print advertising were the primary avenues for companies wanting to get a microwave – or any other product – in front of consumers. With limited numbers of TV channels (just four in the UK), delivering a message to the intended demographic was a matter of choosing the best day and time slot for advertisements. Meanwhile, publications were selected solely based on title and basic details in the media kit.
Secondary means of marketing the microwave were used to broaden audiences. These included direct mail based on basic information and mailing lists, infomercials disguised as cookery shows, and product demonstrations at events. Additionally was the option of product placements in movies or TV shows.
The main challenge for marketing at the time was the lack of precision in targeting an audience. Both primary and secondary methods required a time consuming process of trial and error before optimal results could be achieved. Difficulties were compounded by the silhouette nature of the actual audience, where little was known about who was on the receiving end of campaigns.
The market emergence of millennials and new media
In Back to the Future, the chrome-plated Black & Decker hydrator was the epitome of kitchen gadgetry in 2015. Of course an appliance that converts compact dehydrated foods into full meals never materialised in real life. But if it did, the methods used for its promotion today would be markedly different from those when the movie was made.
Marketing tactics and hairstyles aside, much has changed since the 80s. New tools and technology make advertising a science, reshaping how messages are crafted, delivered and evaluated.
In place of the trial and error technique, digital advertising would be used to promote the hydrator to exact target audiences with results available instantly, rather than months later. Gender, income, age, location, interest in electronics and countless other variables could be adjusted to ensure ads reached the right people via any medium. Social media provides limitless possibilities in this way, as the growing percentage of millennials in the workplace constantly forge and master new outlets for reaching the public.
Content marketing could also be utilised to gain wider attention. This might include writing a How to Hydrate e-book, commissioning a research paper on the cooking method’s health benefits or creating YouTube videos on how to use the product. Such content would be shared and spark conversations. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook would allow consumers to respond directly to the company with ease, providing a forum for immediate feedback and information that couldn’t be imagined in 1985.
So much has changed, but perhaps the biggest shift of all is the advent of programmatic marketing.
Database marketing was all shiny and new in the 1980’s, but really brands only had the most basic of data to use, manually updating datasets as they went along. In 2015 we know infinitely much more about consumers, their likes, dislikes, demographic and geography. Advances in audience data can provide a better understanding of the path to purchase, giving campaigns context-awareness and treating consumers as the unique individuals they are, rather than just one homogenous group. Plus thanks to automation we can use all this insight in real time and what would have taken six weeks in direct mail planning in 1985, now happens in 200 milliseconds, which - when you think about it - is simply mind blowing.
The future destination for today’s companies
A major transition has taken place over the past 30 years. Laborious and inefficient practices of mass-marketing have been replaced by modern methods that deliver precise and instant results with ease. The DeLorean has been traded in for a Tesla Roadster.
But left unchanged is the destination. The goal of today’s companies is to go places previously unseen and veiled in unexplored potential. Widespread growth, new levels of profits and contact with people that once seemed beyond reach.
“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” said Doc Brown famously. Where marketing is going, little more is needed than creative and masterful use of the tools that are already available. We are in 2015 and truth is, to get to the future from here, we don’t even need a flux capacitor.
By Kevin Tan, CEO at Eyeota.
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