By Caesar Vallejos
Eagle News online correspondent
BARCELONA, Spain (Eagle News) — The way the world communicates right now is through mobile.
“If my wife is sending me pictures of my children and my dog as as I speak right now, I am doing selfies with my panel which is a way for me to say, ‘this is not a good time to call.’ I do this because this is the way the world lives right now.” This is how Getty VP Strategic Partnerships Vince Bannon illustrated how the world of screens and mobile has created an entirely new digital era.
Getty joined experts from CNN, Sony and L’Oreal in the “Opportunities for Media and Brands” track at the recently concluded Mobile, Media, Innovation and Experience Summit at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain held last February 22-15, 2016.
“We are very good at social but what we’re not good at is content”, Getty remembers Facebook and Instagram executives telling him, yet they want to keep you engaged in those platforms. “It is really why Mark Zuckerberg is building up more apps, buying Instagram and doing WhatsApp. In the same respect, he now knows that he gets to compete with the likes of Netflix and CNN or partner with them,” he added.
Five years ago, CNN does not pay attention to any user generated content. “Today, every social media platform wants to step up on content and bring it to another level and the good thing is everything is on the mobile screen,” Bannon added.
New media ecosystem
There is an entirely new ecosystem.
Gone were the days when something happens in the world and there is an exact place that you can go to get the news like CNN. Thirty-five years ago, CNN was really the only broadcaster of seismic moments in time and it could reach everyone.
With the digital world today, there’s “Snapchat Discover, Facebook instant articles, Google newsstand, Line, WeChat and all kinds of chats and experiences inside all of these messaging and social platforms. We call it off-channel, off-platform,” CNN Chief Product Officer Alex Wellen said.
Wellen admits that there are audiences who only engage on its brand on those social media platforms and will never come in contact with CNN otherwise.
With mobile changing everything, CNN worldwide is laser focused on these two challenges: Looking at what a modern-day broadcaster looks like on multiple platforms, and the personalization of its content.
“We need to be everywhere but everywhere means something different, particularly live broadcasting and news alerting. It has to be native. The content has to feel that it is created for that platform, ours or someone else’s. We owe it to you to intuit what you want. The technology combined with the editorial oversight should be able to deliver the stories that are relevant to you at that moment,” the CNN expert said.
“That is what mobile gives us, you are somewhere at some point in time, we may even know what you’re doing. We should be able to tell you when you get off the plane that there’s an issue in Barcelona about transportation,” Wellen added.
Story telling in the new digital age
“It is not only were there citizen journalists contributing, and reporters everywhere, but we have thousands of affiliates from around the world,” CNN’s Wellen boasts.
“We ask ourselves ‘what are the stories that we need to tell?’ The fun begins with how we wanted to tell those stories. It has to start with the stories. From there, it really brings technology and journalism together to create a product, and when those things work, it’s magic. Wellen explains that CNN wants to use every resource at its fingertips and harness that, even if it means relying on to third parties. “To believe that you can do it all is probably wrong,” Wellen stressed.
However, a panelist warned multiple stakeholders can bring the brand to tricky situations so Legal and outsourcing must be involved from Day 1 in content negotiation and co-creation.
CNN taps important technologies that bring the stories quickly to users. Wellen said that CNN has digital studios that has produced original programming in its website and apps. “Globally we are taking every single brand that we have, looking at whether it has that proper footprint and what it looks like across the globe, as opposed to US-centric or internationally-centric.”
For L’Oreal International in Paris, addressing the value exchange is to change how to start and end the story. Before, it was about their products and the how it is a great product development company.
“With the new advent of digital, it is about personalization and the value that we are bringing over a lifetime of relationship with customers. It involves a tango, a dance where people are taking a conversation that is not endemic to our culture. The story telling is changed based on the customer, first and foremost, “Esohe Omoruyi, VP for Digital Services and Innovation of L’Oreal International, Paris said.
The connection with the consumer is providing meaningful value to them. “Not just pushing an ad, not just expecting them to click and go to a defunct website but providing them a service that is an immediate response to a very simple need – how to draw a perfect cat eye or how to cover a blemish before a meeting or a date.” Omoruyi said.
L’Oreal has an augmented reality app that allows women to try the company’s entire product catalogue that makes them explore the new look with confidence before buying. “And then they can buy with confidence knowing that what they’re buying is actually what they want,” she said.
User experience
For David Chapon, Sony Global Director, Digital Channels, Customer Marketing Communication of Sony Mobile Communications, it is not only about content. It is about experience. “Experiences can be anything from the content, downloading a movie, or participating in a contest to get into somewhere in the world,” Chapon said.
“It could be anything from giving us access to tips and services on how you use and benefit more from your smartphone. From there, “we know that you are a sports fan or music fan so we can monitor and aggregate that content to feed that back into you for making your daily life easier, Chapon added.
The iStock platform owned by Getty Images has user-generated content, and curated by its actual participants. “We are rewarding citizens by uploading content and finding a whole other revenue streams for iStock, Flicker and Instagram, We are finding ways to monetize real native content,” said the Getty expert.
Whether the next big thing is on wearables, VR, chatbox and voice recognition, the panelists all agreed: Change is going to happen, embrace it.
