When I read this post on how Starbucks was turning itself into a tech company and how it is increasingly using digital tools to interact with consumers to adapt to the ‘seismic shifts’ caused by social, mobile etc, I was immediately reminded of two things – its aim to appropriate the ‘third place‘ (Read para 4) and the Zeroth law, in Asimov’s laws of Robotics, formulated after the 3 laws. We’ll come back to that. Starbucks is doing it all – from integrated strategy on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest to WiFi and iPads in stores, and more cutting edge NFC based loyalty solutions. #envy
In other news, brands are increasingly becoming content producers and using means of distribution that are far away from the traditional media outlets. GigaOm had a post on why, with even more new features, traditional media should be very afraid of Twitter. (assuming they weren’t already)
So, the zeroth law and the third place. The way I see it, the always on internet (across various platforms – tablet, mobile, laptop, desktop) has become the zeroth place, and whether it is through content creation and (other) usage of social technology, brands (and the various related agencies – example) have started getting a move on. It isn’t just Starbucks, take a look at this awesome app from Ford (to showcase Keyfree login) that uses bluetooth to automatically login to to social platforms when you approach your computer. The increasing challenge of the brand custodian is to get a bird’s eye view and work out an all encompassing approach. Arguable, whether that’s even possible in this era of mega fragmentation.
until next time, square zero
PS: If we replace ‘robot’ with ‘brand’ in the 3 laws…..