Nick Barron is CEO of MediaCom MENA
In 1831 Charles Darwin boarded HMS Beagle and departed on a voyage around the world. His thirst for knowledge and his curiosity would take five years of physical endeavour that in the end resulted in a revolutionary thesis – The Origin of Species. At the heart of which was that natural selection and genetic diversity were the critical elements of evolution.
The reason for my reference to a major moment in natural history? Google has launched Google Now, which will actively use personal data to drive real-time personalised suggestions to mobile users. It will use cloud-stored data and algorithms to predict and try to anticipate needs.
Apple will launch its own local device-based Spotlight system, which will then drive users into their own apps again, trying to predict what’s needed or wanted. Facebook is launching a personal assistant which I guess is intended to be helpful to us. Meanwhile, Media Eyes has launched a digital outdoor site in the UK that will tailor ads to the ages of people passing by.
Our technological development seems to be trying to take all of the randomness and risk out of our world. In pursuit of ever increasing efficiency and rapier targeting there is a danger that we are engineering out chance.
In the early days of the internet Ask Jeeves tried to beat Google with a positioning of ‘Find don’t Search’. It didn’t work, I suspect, as much because the random chances of discovering something new is all part of the journey that has theoretically made humans the alpha species on our planet.
I suspect the physical journey that Darwin went on was as much an influence on his thinking as the scientific studies he conducted. Advertising at its core is supposed to impact consumer or customer behaviour. It takes advantage of a basic human quality – that we like change. Apple used to talk about ‘Think Different’. I couldn’t agree more.
