Media Post’s Search Insider Summit lives up to the “insider” promise, with a limited attendance list of high-level search marketers, resulting in well-informed and focused discussion sessions. Kiosk attended the most recent Summit on Kiawah Island in South Carolina, where conversation revolved around emerging consumer trends and the ever-evolving way people search across connected devices. Here are a few highlights from the Search Insiders.
Jeff Carl, E Commerce Marketing Manager for Angie’s List, presented on the future of wearables. While considering the exciting possibilities that wearables offer, Carl noted that their ubiquity is still some way off. In an audience of over a hundred tech-savvy early-adopters, many were sporting fitness trackers, but only four were wearing smartwatches. For now, some of the more memorable wearable implementations highlighted were Disney’s Magic Band, for theme park visitors, and Nivea’s Protection Ad, a throwaway-wearable that allows parents to track their kid’s location on the beach.
Michael Dowd, Chief Technologist at GroupM, helped break through the tech clutter with a presentation on “bright shiny objects”, noting that much like wearables, virtual reality is coming, but the best stuff is still a long way off. Oculus Rift recently announced their first consumer product, coming to market in January 2016. Of the players in the VR space, Sony and Oculus were cited as the ones to watch, as we look forward to a world where online shopping might mean walking around a store without even leaving your house.
Whitney Drake, GM’s Lead for Social Strategy and Care, brought the worlds of social and search together, reminding us that a cohesive cross-channel marketing plan often depends on the two complimenting each other. With a few SF Giants fans on the Kiosk staff, we enjoyed hearing about GM’s ability to shift social and marketing muscle behind #TechnologyandStuff. The viral activity was generated when a Chevy staffer mishandled the presentation of a GM truck to Giants World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. GM was agile enough to turn a presentation glitch into a PR gift, with an estimated $5M in free exposure.