The Hologram Marketing Channel

I recall writing an essay in 2004 about how online marketers would appear to be in the "stone ages" when compared with the hologram marketers of 2015. I even wrote a few things on the topic last year. We can envision the comments ... "customers who shop via both the e-commerce and hologram channel are worth six times as much as customers who only shop via the e-commerce channel or the hologram channel".

Now the heavy hitters are talking about Hologram Marketing, following CNN's surreal and sometimes creepy presentation of holograms during Tuesday's evening's election coverage.

Could there be anything more enjoyable than a hologram from a leading retail brand suddenly appearing in your bedroom, saying the following ...

"Kevin, customers who recently purchased a high definition television also purchased HDMI cables ... I am willing to offer you free shipping and twenty percent off if you take advantage of my offer in the next half hour ... I'll stand here and wait for you to make your decision ... your pillow cases are really nice, would you like for me to find a promotional code from Cuddeldown of Maine for your next pillowcase purchase? ... Wait, before you opt out of hologram marketing, would you like for me to reduce my appearance frequency? ... Wait, we value you as a customer, would you consider opting back in to hologram marketing if we gave you up to sixty percent off of any future HDMI cable purchase? ... ok, I'm sorry, I am leaving your bedroom forever. Now, I introduce Harry the Hologram, who has an offer from our sister company".

Channels like Hologram Marketing are coming, not tomorrow, not in 2011. But they are coming. And we CAN avoid what I described in the paragraph above.

Here's a clip of the video from Tuesday evening, courtesy of YouTube.

Hologram Marketing On The Horizon

We're evolving toward Hologram Marketing at Darwinian speed:

• Brookstone 3-D Online Store.
• From Alan Rimm-Kaufman --- sku-level videos.

Hologram Marketing and Multichannel Marketing in 2015

A loyal reader sent us this article about Target using Hologram Marketing.

Fast forward to 2015, when we'll read an article that goes something like this:


NEW RESEARCH INDICATES THAT E-COMMERCE AND HOLOGRAM MARKETING WORK TOGETHER TO FACILITATE THE OPTIMAL CUSTOMER MULTICHANNEL EXPERIENCE

October 29, 2015: A new study, commissioned by Google, Yahoo!, Shop.org, Marketing Sherpa, Forrester Research, E-Tailer and Internet Retailer indicates that "multichannel customers", customers who shop via e-mail marketing, paid search marketing, website research, social media, e-commerce and hologram marketing, are five times more valuable than customers shopping via just the hologram marketing channel.

"These results validate what we've been preaching to clients since the early days of hologram marketing ... you simply cannot dive headfirst into hologram marketing without realizing that the customer demands a multichannel experience." stated Leonard Thigginsworth, President of Shop.org, the venerable e-commerce advocacy firm. "Firms that fail to tightly integrate the world of e-commerce with the benefits of hologram marketing are unlikely to thrive in this hyper competitive marketplace. Furthermore, the suggestion that today's experienced online marketers will soon be standing in soup lines is simply premature. Online marketing skills are essential in this highly complicated age of hologram marketing." concluded Thigginsworth.

The study indicated that 61% of customers were "very likely", "likely", or "somewhat likely" to use old fashioned tools like Google and Yahoo! to search for products and services. These customers indicated that they spent 5.3 times as much money on hologram marketing as did customers who abandoned e-commerce in favor of hologram marketing technology from "Holo", the San Jose based brand that utterly disrupted e-commerce in 2013 with innovative "personal holograms" that manage everyday consumer tasks via simple voice commands.

39% of survey respondents said that they were "very likely", "likely", or "somewhat likely" to use promotional e-mail campaigns to facilitate searches on Google or Yahoo!, searches that resulted in customers researching products and services on old-fashioned e-commerce websites, before ultimately giving purchase instructions to their personal hologram.

Darren Manning, President of Internet Retailer, believes these results validate the need for a holistic multichannel customer shopping experience. "We all know that late at night, shoppers wearing pajamas, sitting in front of the fireplace, love to hold their notebook computers on their lap, reading promotional e-mail campaigns and researching products and services in the friendly, safe and encrypted blanket known as e-commerce. This behavior simply isn't going to change because a startup company creates a personal hologram who does menial tasks and chores for you." stated Mr. Manning.

"In addition, do you trust handing over your credit card number or thumbprint to a hologram? I don't! I trust the encrypted environment offered by e-commerce." added Mr. Manning.

The study is good news for Google, a beleaguered old-school brand who lost a third of their search market share to Holo during the past thirty six months, resulting in an 80% drop in share price.

The study is also good news for online advocacy organization Shop.org, which is struggling to stay in business in this ultra-competitive marketplace. "We strongly believe that multichannel marketing is best experienced when customers use a combination of e-mail marketing, paid search, and e-commerce websites to research products and services. Traditional e-commerce-based research drives purchases via tools such as Holo. Research indicates that up to 80% of purchases via Holo are driven by e-mail marketing, paid search marketing, and e-commerce websites. Multichannel marketing, e-mail marketing, and paid search are here to stay. Take away e-commerce, and you take away the e-commerce potential of Holo" stated Ben Morrison, President of Shop.org.

Still, there are fundamental changes in customer behavior being exhibited by "Generation Z", 13-25 year olds who are children of the non-descript "Generation X" cohort of consumers. A recent study commissioned by Holo indicated that only 7% of these consumers subscribe to e-mail marketing programs, or use paid search.

"We believe that when Generation Z become full-fledged members of the "participation economy", (a phrase jointly coined by President Jeb Bush and Speaker of the House Michael Moore), they will appreciate and fully utilize the myriad of benefits offered by a multichannel marketing experience that tightly integrates e-mail marketing, paid search, social media, e-commerce and hologram marketing." stated recently appointed Marketing Sherpa President Sarah Rogers.