The Meatspace Does Digital?
First of all, let me begin by saying that I’ve been waiting for a chance to use the word “meatspace” for quite a while. Thank god for blogs.
The meatspace, as our savy readership may already know, refers to that ever dwindling piece of real estate known as “the real world.” You know, that place you exist in between Facebook posts and Twitter tweets? Well, some folks have begun to note that even the undeniably real, brick-and-mortar, oxygen-supported physical world is getting an online makeover. This “onlinification” of the real world is not another way of saying that many things previously done offline are now being handled online — that’s old news. That revolution is ten years old. Instead, these trendspotters have noticed that many things in the real world, from the look and feel of products, to the way consumers interact with merchandise is beginning to mirror the online world. According to them: OFF = ON these days.
If you’re like me — a full-grown adult who came of age when being “connected” meant employing a rotary phone — you might be dubious. After all, as ubiquitous as Google may be, it can be hard to imagine bits and bytes seeping into our everyday physical objects. But just check out this pretty remarkable collection of evidence put together by the wise folks at Trendwatching.com. For those of us in the experiential marketing world, this “trend” speaks to something we see everyday: more and more, today’s Gen Y-ers are demanding that their offline experiences live up to their online standards. That means they expect personalization, authenticity and deep relevance from their brands and entertainment. Which, in turn, means that merely inundating Gen Y-ers with marketing isn’t going to win you any followers. Reaching this generation requires building brand experiences that resonate to them as true and genuine.
So I say, bring on the online! If the “onlinifaction” of our world means better, smarter marketing, I’m all for it.
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