The Next Big Thing

The “next big thing” wasn’t really anything. Again the consumer was discussed and the search engine. But no one really knows how to do it right. I ended up leaving and wandering the conference floor. There was one degenerate corner where the girls were wearing t-shirts that said “Do you want to be on top” and another booth was giving out “personal massagers” and there was beer and rock and roll on the juke box. This was where the kids hang out who smoke. The next big thing is the same thing all over again: Sex sells, and people want to talk about themselves.

There is a huge difference between what is projected and what exists. I wandered the conference floor. There were many different engines for search marketing. They were all same except with difference sauce. But chipped beef is still chipped beef no matter what sauce you add to it.

Last year you threw a rock and hit an email marketing company. Here spam has all but disappeared. Then there are the traditional list companies. Everyone is thinking about contextual search. But no one is creating the context. If the context remains as it is we are left with flotsam.

I keep hoping that around the corner will be the Next Big thing but I am rather bored by what I see. There is a chasm between the idea and the fruition. It is disappointing to realize that it not the technology that is lacking but the vision. It is our job to do better. It seems like the consumer is irrelevant in many contexts, yet hailed. In order to shape a new offering it is clear that the brand must take a risk.

I am going home now with my personal massager and perhaps tomorrow I will see what I imagine as the Next Big thing.