We’ve decided to see how accurate those movie magic makers of yesteryear actually were at predicting the future of marketing…
With the ever-accelerating speed in technological advances, pipedreams such as one to one product personalisation based on a consumer’s behaviour have become common-place for the marketers of the world, and are fast becoming a must.
Back to the Future II
Let’s start with everyone’s favourite time travel epic, Back To The Future Part 2.
In one of Spielberg’s finest moments we witness a young Marty McFly accompany a much older and wonderfully eccentric scientist, Doc Brown, into the future in none other than a Delorean. Set in 1985, our protagonist jets off to the year 2015, which is of course now our past (are you still following this?) and during his stay there are many parallels to be drawn between the film and modern marketing techniques.
The holy grail for marketers is catching the eye of prospective customers with exciting, engaging content. What could be more engaging than a holographic 3D shark? Although a lot of BTF’s predictions have yet to come to fruition (where’s my hoverboard?) the basic technology for holograms has existed since 2011 but we are yet to see this widely implemented. One thing we can be thankful for is that the Jaws series is extinct.
Minority Report
In another of Spielberg’s science fiction romps, the dystopian future presented in Minority Report provides us with several predictions foretelling the future of marketing technology. A prime example of which is the scene in which protagonist, John Anderton (Tom Cruise), has his retinas scanned in high street fashion outlet GAP. He is subsequently delivered a personalised message based on his previous purchase within the store.
While retina scanning isn’t very common in retail, post purchase personalisation is growing rapidly, and is recognised amongst all top retail brands as an essential part of their marketing strategy. Examples can be seen every day in the target display adds that follow you around on the internet to the hyper personalised post purchase emails with product with recommendations that hit your inbox every day.
2001 A Space Odyssey
In this classic Kubrick film we are introduced to a number of technologies that are now common place. This includes touch screens, personal televisions and an online newspaper with RSS feeds.
We all carry personal computers with touch screens and the importance of mobile (3.3 hours on average the time spent on smartphone) has not only changed the way that we create email (mobile first), but has also given rise to multimedia marketing platforms such as Youtube. The prevalence of digital publications has arguably left print media less relevant, with fewer revenue streams.
As we have seen here, the films of the past have made remarkably accurate predictions for present everyday consumerism and marketing, which begs the question: Would marketing techniques be the way they are today, without such films to inspire ideas?
Will modern movies continue to inspire and influence creativity within the marketing world? Let’s hope so.
