I was reading an interesting post entitled “The Rise of Engagement Marketing” by “Faraz” at BrandActivationIdeas.blogspot.com, and he mentioned a word I had not seen before, “tryvertising”. He attributed a definition to TrendWatching, and here’s what I pulled from their site:
TRYVERTISING, which is all about consumers becoming familiar with new products by actually trying them out.
You can read more about it over there, but I was surprised because all along with product simulations, I have been making “virtual tryvertising” (now that sounds catchy — ???).
Continuing to quote from TrendWatching:
The challenge here has always been a certain lack of relevance: there’s no guarantee samples are tried out at the right time, in the right spot, and by the right target audience.
This speaks to a problem with physical consumer products — it is hard to control the environment in which the sample or product is applied. I think in the digital world, this has been the problem with using traditional simulations for product marketing (if done at all)– reproducing function has taken precedence over reproducing the right context in which the product or system is used. The functional aspects of a product are fixed somewhat; the context is pretty dynamic and can be uncertain.
Therefore, I advocate using simulations in real-world contexts that solve buyers’ problems, not focusing primarily on device functionality. The functionality has to come out to the extent it helps solve the problems. If the advertiser wants to emphasize particular functions, then the advertiser should craft the problem to reveal and need that functionality.
Albeit out of order, I want to comment on one more thing Faraz said:
In Charting A Shift from Communications to Engagements it says, “The new marketing is about creating 360⁰ brand experiences, not messaging. Consumers should buy into to your brand’s ideas, not just your product.
While I agree that the new marketing is not about messaging per se, I would take a different spin on the last sentence, perhaps it is just phrasing. I would say your marketing must reflect your consumers’ ideas and perspectives, rather than saying that consumers have to adopt something.