A handful of Thismoment team members were lucky enough to attend Most Contagious 2014 in New York and London last week. What’s Most Contagious? In the words of the event’s website, it is a “unique, hybrid event dedicated to dissecting the trends, technologies and creative thinking that are transforming how consumers behave and the way brands and businesses operate and communicate.”
The website further explains, “[Most Contagious] celebrates and showcases the biggest innovations, the most disruptive startups, the most impactful marketing, dissecting and decoding the impact these will have on the immediate future for brands and advertising.”
Ambitious. Audacious even. Based on an informal survey of our team, we’d say that Most Contagious measured up pretty well.
From Tower Infinity visioneers GDS Architects to the developers behind the dating app Tinder, the event highlighted a colorful and compelling set of individuals and companies making waves in their respective arenas.
The range of topics and takeaways was as diverse as the companies listed above. It’s always tricky distilling a day of thoughtful discussion into blog-friendly bullet points. And while this “shortlist” certainly won’t capture the energy of Most Contagious, here are some ideas to consider:
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Storytelling isn’t easy. Brands are seeking out and evolving their voices more than ever. Differentiating is more difficult. New non-linear, real-time, cross-platform storytelling structures are emerging in response to technological and behavioral seachanges. For example, the mobile generation switches between devices and platforms 27 times per hour (Time Inc. study).
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Good causes are good. Consumers are acquiring a greater sense of social responsibility. According to a Cone Communications report, 91% of people are likely to switch brands if another of similar price and quality supports a good cause.
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Feed the eyes. The rise of social visual culture continues unabated. Video is king, and “the standard for brands to provide competitive, high quality snippets of entertainment…is higher than ever.”
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Get personal. Context is truly becoming everything. Accenture reports that 61% of millennial shoppers would trade privacy for personalized offers from retailers.
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The crowd is the key. Crowdsourcing is now a real, strategic lever for businesses. Gartner predicts that by 2015, CPG companies using crowdsourcing in marketing campaigns or new product development will boost revenue by 1% vs. competitors that don’t embrace crowdsourcing.
For a deeper dive into Most Contagious, we encourage you to peruse the complete 2013 report packed with great graphics and data here.
Kudos to Contagious, and their partner sponsors FleishmanHillard and The Economist, for an incredible event!
