Working with creatives and tech companies, I often see trends in their businesses – this could be in working practices or types of projects but also in the business offering. Obvious examples of this are – on the lead up to and around the Millennium every one was getting into IT and IT companies were sprouting up at a rate of knots. That soon led into the internet based companies and lots of website design companies. Over the last 10 or so years branding, marketing, websites, advertising and social media have all become additional revenue streams for each other so now companies are more likely to be ‘creative agencies’ dealing with the brand, the logo, content, social media, advertising campaigns and apps…..The lot – so what next?
Well the way a big phase starts is with a few people doing something, then a few more, then some big players notice and get in on it and it starts to feature in the press and soon you have an entire business area that was not in existence maybe 15 years ago.
So I’m thinking digital, but the money is not in the serviced based stuff, it’s too time consuming and margins are tiny….. I’m thinking product….Make it, sell it.
Digital products have been around for a while now, you can download all sorts of things that fall under that heading but I’m talking about lifestyle type stuff. I’m talking about a real product that involves ‘doing’ – action required by the user to achieve something.
Task led digital products are not new either, Nike+ is a good example as it’s been around a while and most people know what it does even if they don’t use it. But it’s a very obvious example of a digital product, a concept that goes far deeper than you might think…
The idea behind a really good digital product is something you use to better your life in some way and not for the sake of the brand/company that make it. If it is a good one you will use it on a regular basis for no other reason than you want to, because it helps you in some way.
Going back to Nike+, people use this to help them with their training – be it to map a route, get motivation to go faster or further or share their results with fellow runners. It is irrelevant to most people that use it, that it’s made by Nike or called Nike+. They have incorporated it into their life and it improves their life so they use it…… In using it they are promoting the brand and advertising the brand, it’s sort of a by-product.
So you can see why this is a great opportunity, if you get it right, you achieve:
- ongoing brand advertising and promotion for free
- its a product so it generates a set revenue at point of sale (and Extras I’m sure) and
- the customer is helped in some way!
What could be better?
I predict this is the next big area of growth, as all those creative agencies start looking for a more sustainable less service based income stream. I am seeing more companies doing this already, check out Mint Digital, Faversham & Moss and Ostmodern.
It is also starting to feature in the press and now some of the bigger players are starting to move in this direction such as Ustwo which (as far as creatives go) is one of the bigger ones.
So it’s game on for task led digital products! Well that’s my prediction anyway.
Watch this space!
