Chameleon PR

Traditional media advertising, spanning the printed press to television, is set to take a backseat in the economic recovery (such as it is) with new technology expected to revive the industry.

At least that is according to an annual survey carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers which was published in The Times yesterday. Revenue across the advertising industry fell almost 4% last year, dropping slightly below £50 billion. Spending on television advertising in the UK alone fell 11% in 2009, with radio fairing little better at a slump of 7% over the same period.

Yet PwC is forecasting that revenue across the entire industry is expected to grow until 2014, where it is likely to top the £60 billion mark (20% up on 2009). Much of this growth is expected to come from digital media outlets.

As recession has rocked the economy, demand for smartphones, such as the iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, has continued to grow. With its ability to target the consumer round the clock, the portability of the smartphone has become the advertising industry’s dream, linking the industry to over four billion worldwide mobile users.

While the smartphone currently makes up only a minority of mobile devices on the market, the increased availability of high-speed mobile broadband, and operator subsidies aimed at boosting data traffic, expect these numbers to grow considerably for the foreseeable future. Indeed smartphones, along with tablet computers such as the iPad, will inspire a revival in the advertising industry. PwC says mobile advertising revenue will reach £335 million by 2014, a rise from £75 million in 2009. While these figures seem small in comparison with the overall revenue expected to be generated by the industry, the sharp rise in mobile advertising cannot be ignored.

When you ask people what augmented reality (AR) is, the general response is a look of confusion, followed by something similar to ‘is that the same as 3D cinema?’ According to our clever friends at Wikipedia, AR is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery… In other words your view of reality is altered and pretty pictures appear.

It’s a growing trend with everyone from the big brands such as Adidas, Lego and BMW right down to county councils using it to spice up iron age tour guides. However thanks to Holition [client], augmenting retail is quickly becoming an integral part of the retail marketing plan and Tissot is making a splash with a two week interactive touch screen window display at Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street. The installation went live on May 13th.

Using a free paper cut out consumers hold it up to the screen and through the scrolling menu can see themselves trying on all 28 Tissot watches in the new Touch Collection as well as adjust the strap size and colour and learn about additional features at a touch of a button.

We were on site to get the punters’ view and it was great to see everyone of all ages giving it a whirl. One man even described AR and the display as “the deep blue ocean”, on further digging what he was trying to say was that it was innovative, exciting and fresh.

Go and check it out at the window now! Cheesy snap below shows me having a go.

You can see the demo on YouTube here

A lovely little technology financials write up in The Times today:

“Micro Focus: The London-listed software group, which spent six months without a chief executive, said that it expects revenue to rise by 57 per cent this year.”

If only the company had not had a chief executive all year, it could have doubled revenue…