Digital media convergence has been a
technological advancement that has developed with significant speed over few
decades. Dwyer defines media convergence as “the process whereby new
technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries
and cultures.” (Dwyer, 2008, p. 2) This gives consumers the ability to access a
variety of services on a multitude of platforms, ranging from being able to
obtain radio, live video streaming, information, Internet all from a single
source, whether it be computers or your own portable smart phone. (Ibid, p.4) This
phenomenon not only changes the way consumers interact with these new
multi-faceted technologies but also the way advertisers have evolved to
assimilate with these advancements. Due to people’s overwhelming presence in
cyberspace, social networking sites such as Facebook have increased the ability
of advertising to reach a further audience with this new opportunity to reach
them in an imaginative way. Advertisements that have succeeded due to
digital media convergence are Nick Haley’s iPod Touch animation, Coco-Cola, and promotion of television series, Skins.
Sheehan and Morrison have outlined in their article “Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising
agency in a changing world” that convergence is not so much relevant to consumer
generated media, but more so a confluence culture where things merge and flow
together, and are therefore strengthened through focusing on the importance of
creating messages about a brand by the agencies, clients and consumers. (Sheehan and Morrison, 2009). An example of confluence culture and digital media convergence,
Nick Haley, a British college student and loyal Apple devotee was able to
create his own ad for the iPod touch which he created using visuals
elements he found from the Apple website which thus landed him a job
collaborating with the marketers at Apple who sought him out to help them
create a professional version of it. (Ibid) This allows advertising to be less of a
monologue and more so interactive with the consumer. If it was not for digitization,
which is ironically problematic for advertising due to it’s lack of
advertisements, people would not be able to have access to create videos that
they could, using the internet and search interfaces such as Youtube, to spread
to the entire world web (Spurgeon 2008). Haley himself had many comments on his video that
ranged from “That is awesome!” and “Makes me want to buy one and hack it”. It
is through this elaborate connectivity that has boomed in social networking
media, that Haley was able to get the number of viewers for his imaginative
creation that helped attract the attention of professional marketers as well as
consumers for the product.
The “migratory behaviour of consumers” as Jenkins puts it (Jenkins, 2006), has allowed advertisers to implement interactive advertisements on popular social networking sites such as Facebook. Facebook is a breeding ground for advertisers who are able to create pages supporting their product and promote them directly on the homepage of millions of users. They entice Facebook users to only click one ‘like’ on their page by offering opportunities to win their product, get discounts and even play games. The Coca-Cola advertisement page has a staggering 49,562,477 likes that also includes links to their Twitter, Flickr, Google + and Youtube accounts. They interact with fans through sharing creative images of the product and sharing their video advertisements, such as the latest one on the positivity of surveillance in our highly technological world. They encourage a ‘feel good’ vibe in their advertisements and for people to see the positives of life where they may not have thought of before. The height of their success also allows them to promote other causes to fans of the page, such as positive humanitarian projects and most recently, their partner, the Olympics which includes an interactive application that allows teenagers in London to win prizes such as 1000 pounds through creating their own music, as inspired by singer Katy B. However, this is not the limit of the opportunities they offer. The more success a product has, the more ability the advertisers have to reach to their audience in a variety of ways.
However, this form of using social networking sites does not stop at only products, but can extend even further with promoting television series. ‘Skins’ a popular British series aimed at teenagers, who are also the main users of technology and social media, went as far as to create separate Facebook profiles for each character in their show so that they could use them to directly interact with fans. They use these profiles to appeal to audiences by writing posts in character, make jokes using familiar lingo that teenagers understand as well as use and ask the fans suggestions for what they’d like to see happen to them. By doing this, not only do they attract new viewers by exposing themselves to new people but they keep present viewers hooked while the creators have a better understanding of what fans want to see.
Digital media convergence is at work consistently, evolving and shaping our lives. It is bringing together people from all over the globe, of different cultures and allowing people to branch out their individual ideas creatively and more effectively as well bringing back new ways of advertising which were almost obliterated, in more effective ways than they ever have before with the opportunity to sell their product to the entire world at a click of a button as well as collaborating with ordinary consumers and other companies. The advertisement below, for Nokia, shows their interpretation of media convergence throughout the decades.
Bibliography
- Dwyer, T 2010. Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire, pp. 2-4
- Sheehan, KB & Morrison, DK 2009. "Beyond Convergence: Confluence culture and the role of advertising agency in a changing world", First Monday, vol. 14, no. 3, viewed 27th August 2012. <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2239/2121>
- Spurgeon, C 2008. Advertising and New Media, Oxon, Routledge. pp. 26-38
- Elliot, S 2007, 'Student's Ad Gets a Remake, and Makes the Big Time' The New York Times, viewed 27th of August, 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/business/media/26appleweb.html>
- Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media collide, NYU University Press, pp. 2
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