What a difference a decade makes.

Two years before the launch of Apple's iPhone, my book BRANDING UNBOUND ventured forward to explore the future of advertising, sales and the brand experience in the mobile age.

Excerpted in ADWEEK, the book generated a lot of attention for envisioning a world of games, music, video, shopping and more via the device in the hands of virtually every man, woman and child.

Looking back now, it's fun to see what I got right—and where I went laughably wrong.

SHOPPING FOR INSIGHTS FROM THE MOBILE FRONTIER

I recently found myself chuckling about how I predicted Apple would indeed create a mobile phone, and by 2010 potentially go onto become a MVNO - a mobile virtual network operator - piggybacking on say, AT&T's network to offer its own branded Apple mobile service.

As it turned out, it was August 2015 before news reports surfaced about potential plans for an Apple-branded service in Europe (a rumor Apple quickly denied).

Hey, playing marketing futurist isn't a certain proposition.

But long before you could name the topic and rest assured that "yes, there's an app for that," I wrote about the potential for m-wallets that enable you to purchase goods in physical world stores and have it charged to a prepaid account, a credit card, or as a debit on your phone bill. And I talked about how one day, we would walk into stores, scan product tags to place a purchase, and then simply walk out the door without ever digging for cash, swiping a card, writing a check—or ever again standing in line.

To be fair, a lot of this was already in its early stages in other countries and only seemed impossible (or improbable) in the US because of a lack of standards and interoperable mobile networks. But that day did indeed come, even if some of these capabilities are still in their early stages.

MOBILE EVERYTHING

Looking ahead, I also write about how by 2015, services deployed over mobile networks will wake you up in the morning; deliver email; enable you to schedule and reschedule your day based on real-time traffic patterns, travel plans, unexpected meetings, and more. You'll buy plane tickets on the go. You'll call up news, entertainment, and shopping content—anywhere, anytime. And everyday consumers will gravitate toward solutions "that make their lives easier and help them do the things they already do easier and faster, whether it's staying in touch with friends, capturing life's moments, listening to music, or playing games."

For marketers, this would mean location-enabled, or place-based, personalized advertising that calls up "relevant offers based on personal buying behavior"—in-store or on the go.

To be sure, much of what I write about has yet to be realized—like product innovations such as RFID-like tags on frozen foods that tell the microwave oven how to cook them to perfection, or coffee machines that serve up the perfect brew based on instructions from tags placed on the bean packaging. But it is amazing to look back now at how so much of what seemed fantastic at the time has become part of our everyday lives.

That last part about product innovation is more about the Internet of Things, which I write about extensively in the book. We'll save that topic for a later installment in this series.

In the meantime, you might enjoy reading about what I got right and wrong on wearable technology (let's just say I was bullish on what Google Glass would one day seek to accomplish) and mobile advertising (I predicted the current state of mobile advertising, but thought it would progress to its next, far more powerful stage by now). 

One thing is for sure: Here in the last few months of 2015, innovative retailers and pure-play digital competitors are using the mobile channel to actively reshape what it means to shop in the twenty-first century.

Which means if you're not already into mobile-enabled retailing, don't worry.

It's already on its way to you.

ALSO READ:

PART 1: A BOOM WITH A VIEW: WEARABLES

 PART 2: REACH OUT & SELL SOMEONE: MOBILE ADVERTISING

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Games can be good for business—even (perhaps especially) when it comes to B2B marketing.

In the second half of my recent appearance on the Jim Blasingame Show, we continue our conversation on 5 of the top forms of content marketing. Not so much about channels—blogs, shared social media platforms, email, landing pages, websites and so on—rather, what kind of content makes for, or enhances, posts in those channels.

While Part One focused on video and touched on case studies, this second half addresses infographics, webcasts and branded games.

...Wait, branded games?

GAME ON

A content marketing report from Hubspot earlier this year finds 64% of B2B marketers rank webinars/webcasts as the most effective kind of marketing content, followed by video at 60%. Old-school case studies are close behind, at 58%. And posts and articles that contain infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than ones without.

Indeed, while specifics (and content categorizations) vary from survey to survey, the five we discuss are at the top end of most surveys in terms of both adoption and effectiveness.

So what content type is missing in most of these studies?

Games—which are used by just 1% to 12% of B2B marketers, and don't tend to show up in even the top 20 in terms of most effective content types.

But does that mean it doesn't work? Or that it's untapped opportunity?

For his part, Jim sounds as if he might be at least a little perturbed by the whole rise of gamification in our lives—and perhaps a little skeptical about its use in B2B marketing.

But as you'll hear me tell Jim, key research on gaming among white collar workers informed an engagement with one B2B client that resulted in a branded game that was played over 1 million times, resulted in 5,000 leads, and over $1 million in direct sales in its first six months (see case study video above).

Not only did the initiative earn coverage in a report on content marketing in The Wall Street Journal, but I include it in a chapter on branded games in my second book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND.

PUTTING YOUR BRAND IN PLAY

As Jim wisely points out, this is not the kind content that you should necessarily deliver directly to just any B2B prospect or client.

Indeed, as I say here, it's better that your communications should point to a game, and let interested parties come to it.

It's also important to point out that Jim's show is targeted to SMBs, which, as we discuss, would impact the types of games that are truly feasible. Think knowledge games versus full, high-concept productions.

And while I touch on it in the interview, I want to add that in my view, whether it's B2C or B2B, and whether it's large brand or small, there are three key rules of the game, so to speak:

• The best games are built around, and clearly communicate, your value proposition. They are not just games for the sake of games.

• Branded games are best played with others—meaning they should have built-in incentives to make the games social and viral, creating a multiplier effect in communicating your value proposition.

• They should always include a call to action to continue the conversation about your offerings. Before you even start developing a game, define what it is you want your audience to do, feel or think about your brand once they play it.

So is gaming and/or gamification right for your content marketing operations—B2B or otherwise?

You won't know until you try.

But make no mistake: B2B marketers at Microsoft, Dell-SonicWALL, IBM and other brands long ago discovered that they can turn fun and games into serious profits.

Why not play with the possibilities—and see how well you score?

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO:

TOP 5 FORMS OF CONTENT MARKETING: AUTHOR RICK MATHIESON ON THE JIM BLASINGAME SHOW (PT 2)

 (Approx 5 min)

PLUS:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 1

 (approx. 6:16)

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