This module passed very quickly. During this time we have dealt with a large number of topics, from the use of social media and its relationship with marketing to the importance of the customer journey, in addition to the formulation of questions as if the end of privacy had arrived with the emergence of new technologies or if the assumption of this new trend had created a form of online culture.
Personally, there are certain points that I would like to highlight. In the first instance, I have found the deepening in the figure of Marshall McLuhan very enriching (a total visionary!). Moreover, the debate about the degree of disruption of the new digital environment seemed very important to me, even more if it is compared to former disruptive trends (e.g. printing press or TV before). It truly made me think about the real impact in our daily basis, which is rising to a colossal dimension.
Short video explaining one of McLuhan’s most brilliant theories: the medium is the message Source: Eudaimonia
As well, it was convenient to see the figures that certainly convinced me of how digital marketing is breaking through as opposed to the traditional one. Besides, the explanation about Big Data and its importance today has also been eye-opening, especially due to the video attached by Lisa Harris with her former student Florence Broderick. Examples provided such as the Cambridge Analytica case have also been important in anticipating and realizing about the capital importance of personal data in the current times.
After assimilating all the information given, I must say that I am much more concerned about the good usage of my digital identities, since I think that the need to cover my privacy has been accentuated during the course of the module.
My digital identities
From my past work experience as a journalist I believe that the part in which we have reviewed concepts such as Fake News and Post Truth have produced me a peculiar enthusiasm. The reason? I believe that those concepts are like viruses that must be eradicated, since they contaminate all strata of modern societies. At this moment false information or half-truths are bombarding us everywhere, does not matter the platform you are using. If we want to be ready and differ what is truth and what is a lie, our data literacy should achieve the highest proficiency degree possible to combat misinformation in a proper way. Therefore, our duty is to develop our ability to react and analyse what interacts with us in our digital environment.
Hence, I think that this module will help me a lot when it comes to assessing the importance of the digital market, not only as a complement, but as something essential in the 21st century marketer’s career. We live in times of change, constant disruption and a world of possibilities within the reach of a mouse click. The study of the digital environment in relation to marketing has clarified to me how holistic the technology is in the life of the consumer and has warned me of the responsibilities that we must have both as individuals and companies (e.g. CSR).
Last but not least, this module showed me that in the digital environment I am a total lurker! I hope our paths will cross again. I will be spying on you behind the bushes.
The video game industry has gained a lot of ground in the field of conventional entertainment. Not so long ago, this form of leisure was socially aimed as something childish, not that serious or useless. However, today the figures speak for themselves:
There are more than 2.5 billion video gamers around the world (Yanev, V. 2019).
Approximately 37.3 Million of UK population played video games in 2018 (New Zoo, 2018).
Only in UK, the industry achieved $3.7bn revenues in 2018 (Desjardins, J. 2017).
Gamers spend more than seven hours each week playing (LimeLight, 2019).
The video games market has contributed £2.87 billion to the UK economy only in 2016 (Batchelor, J. 2018).
Esports, i.e. video games competitions streamed via internet, are predicted to accomplish £1bn revenue and 600 million audiences by the end of this year (BBC, 2017).
Yeah, those numbers are totally mind-blowing! (source: giphy)
The impact of this industry is that deep that gamification has broken out as a resource in various fields. With the aim of significantly increase a user’s level of engagement in different spheres, gamification is the advertising activity whereby elements commonly associated with games are applied in non-game contexts. But it is more than a sociological phenomenon. Obviously, those huge amounts of money and users previously pointed out can be translated into advertising business. Video games have become a target channel that can be very beneficial due to the rising value of the sector. Thus, video game ads are already a reality, and attainable visibility is something that companies increasingly consider. It can be divided in two ways of developing the promotion: Advergaming and in game advertising.
The first mode is based on advergames. It consists of the creation of videogames to advertise a specific brand or product. This typology has been in the games since the early ’80s (Barton, 2017), although it grew exponentially in recent years as a result of the growth of the video game industry and the expansion of the number of players, as well as the crisis suffered by traditional media through the migration of audiences to digital media. They are video games that allow a continuous exposure of the user to the advertised brand, which can captivatingly and discreetly feel the values of said brand.
Secondly, in game advertising is the insertion of advertisements in videogames, which are used as a promotional channel, unlike the first way in which the videogame is created specifically for the act of promotion. In some cases, advertising appears as part of the natural environment of the action (e.g. this Panasonic ads in FIFA series, where they appeared located on the stadiums’ banners). Other times, advertising is more invasive and can have effects on the gameplay (e.g. Candy Crush gives free lives by watching ads). The opportunities that the videogame platform offers are incalculable. As seen in the figures presented, their intensive use makes the incursion of promotional material inevitable. Even so, this publicity may seem excessive and sometimes certainly uncomfortable, as we can see in this entertaining video:
The inclusion of advertisements in video games faces certain challenges, since its use can create particular ethical dilemmas. A great example of this leads us to the 2008 US presidential election, when Barack Obama was elected president. His campaign was carried out in various games of the EA company, although only in the Xbox 360 console version (Sinclair, 2008). Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is the manipulation of potential voters. In addition to being able to condition the free will of the user, if there is no regulation to those campaigns the process can lead to even worse events —e.g. advertisements for bookmakers or alcoholic beverages that can promote behaviours that threaten public health—.
Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign ads on EA games
What does the future hold?
With a billionaire industry that does not stop growing and those appealing revenues, it seems that the paths of advertising and video games are doomed to associate and understand themselves. Historically, the emergence of disruptive formats provokes the need of promotion channels to gradually transform. The same is happening with new technologies. These are exciting times for marketing production and will certainly bring creative ways to carry the message to the largest number of users.
Thus, advertisers are no longer spending most of their advertising budgets on traditional media purchases such as television or radio, as consumers are using alternative platforms more frequently. Moreover, promotional video game campaigns may be more effective due to the user’s repeated exposure to advertisements (due to the addictive nature of video games). Gaming will increasingly become a pivotal part of our culture, and greater accessibility to games combined with greater levels of immersion will lead to people more willing to spend their money on games. For that reason, we marketers must value and control the video games industry if we want to be at the forefront.
Video games break into all areas. It is a channel that should be exploited. (Source: Giphy)
I wrote two comments, but unfortunately the second one (made on Freya’s blog) is still awaiting for approval. For that reason, I attached an screenshot to prove the existence of the comment.
The label ethical have always seemed very tricky to me. Not only because I tend to be innately confused, but also because of the complexity of the matter. The term, related with the morals of each individual, has necessarily a subjective connotation. However, there are certain issues that are universally accepted as non-ethical or, at least, controversial. In this occasion I would like to give my opinion about the privacy that we are almost all allowing to sacrifice, either consciously or not, in recent times. The reason? Internet. Cause and solution of many of the problems that contemporary western man has.
Source: imgur.com
Is lack of privacy a contemporary issue?
Privacy has been a trending topic since our origins. It is not surprising that the underdeveloped primates that preceded us would have received the input of looking for a cave where they could shelter themselves and being able to be in a more personal, confidential place, somewhere even proto romantic (as romantic as a hominid could appreciate). Surprisingly for some, the right to privacy is historically a very recent concept firstly pointed out by Warren & Brandeis (1890). With the development of an established welfare state (always in the context of Western societies), social standards changed and privacy occupied a more important place in our lives. This is so to the point that online privacy is undoubtedly one of the issues that most concern and upset society, especially with cases such as the famous Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The compilation of personal data is currently a dangerous realty; thus, Big Data could be discussed as the concept of the century so far. All our movements seem to be annotated and the digital footprints we leave would highlight us in front of the most inept detective. But how does it deprive us of our right to confidentiality? Here are some examples:
Geolocation: Did you hear about Google Location History? Isn’t it quite creepy to see all the places you have been located every single day?
Speech: Mobiles phones, virtual assistants AI, etc. can hear your conversations,even when you are not using them, for advertising reasons.
Everyday issues: With the consolidation of wearables technology, personal data such as the physical effort we do on our daily basis or the expenses we make can be collected, which would be an interesting data for insurance and banking companies to target each potential client. That could lead to a more accurate approach to some of them, but also to the exclusion of others.
Example of Geolocation collected by Google (Retrieved from my personal Phone)
From the point of view of the normal internet user, the above information can be worrisome and generally negative. The following video provides some more examples:
Source: TEDxSeattle
However, and here is the dilemma, the digital trail is extremely efficient for marketing executives. The use of collected data is a very important competitive advantage in nowadays markets, as it is a very effective way to make visible the value proposition offered to the targeted individual. In fact, according to a McKinsey research (Brown, Kanagasabai, Pant & Serpa Pinto, 2017), those organizations that leverage customer behavioural insights outperform peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% percent in gross margin. The numbers then suggest that the use of Big Data for commercial purposes is something that the industry cannot renounce. Nevertheless, according to a survey published in Hubspot (An, 2016), 91% of respondents think that personalized ad campaigns are becoming more and more intrusive. Furthermore, users are trying to avoid those ads craftily, as more than 419 million people have installed some kind of mobile ad-blocking software only on their smartphones (Willens, 2016). It seems that although the value of privacy is on the rise and more and more attempts are being made to limit what is shared, the use of Big Data is being commonly accepted and it will continue along this path.
How should we marketers deal with the dilemma?
In my opinion, marketers must solve the quandary by giving the consumer the power, or at least facilitate greater individual freedom. If consumers have more control over their profiles and the marketing channels in which they participate, that is, if they have full control over what they prefer to share, it would be vastly approved by the majority. José María Álvarez-Pallete, chairman of Telefónica and one of the most influential CEOs in the world, shares this desire. He has already appealed to the responsibility of the industry and society to use data in an ethical, transparent way (Álvarez-Pallete, 2019). He also demanded a new Digital Bill of Rights that lays down fundamental rights in a digital future for all citizens (Lomas, 2018).
In the new data economy, people need to trust how personal data is being used and have control over the data they generate. That is the most ethical way to maintain a way of doing business that is highly profitable and even vital for many companies to keep going (Marr, 2016). I believe that the implementation of ethical patterns (translating this as the attainment of more personal rights and translucency) is fundamental in a digital world that, because it is so new, is not yet as regulated as it should.
Word Count: 843
References:
Álvarez-Pallete, J.M. [Telefónica]. (2019, February 25). Welcome speech #MWC19 with José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman and CEO of @telefonica [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0i6Z5FLKIE.
Cesar MarKtin 
