2003 was the year Second Life was introduced. Remember that one? A virtual world where one could lead a second life, interact with others on a surreal plane of existence and even spend money… on brands. It was all the rage; you were not serious about staying close to the cutting edge if you weren’t in on this and opened up shop. So, there we went, clothing stores, banks, ATM’s, bars, everyone jumped in (okay, maybe not everyone, but I’m trying to make it a bit juicy). Didn’t pan out, and a short while later, it kinda went underground. It does still exist though.

Then we had all kinds of creative sessions what to do with interactive TV, red buttons on remotes and how people could interact with brands and products whilst watching TV. Apps! Yes, of course, you had to have an app. Whether there was any insight into a consumer or customer need, who cares, you got to have one of those. UGC (it’s way cooler if it’s an abbreviation), let’s get everyone in on the creative process. Sounds like a great idea to get random people to govern your brand. I remember that we needed to build an algorithm to make sure people would not only be filling out curse words or competitor names, aside from all the genitalia pictures we obviously got. Great times. Foursquare! Yes, of course, how cool were those 5 months?! You could become the mayor of a building by checking in, and even more high-rises if you were active enough. Those were the days. One day I asked my account director if he was still on Foursquare, to which he replied: “No, I asked myself one day why I was checking in and wasn’t able to answer that.”

Does this mean that you should just cling to your TV GRPs, OOH and DOOH (see how cool these abbreviations look?)? Of course not, interacting with all kinds of new media, experimenting with possibilities provides loads of learnings and insights. It creates amazing stuff to look back on….sometimes. Don’t know if the agency just made me believe the story, but apparently, I was part of the very first multi Skype. Gullible me.

Point being is that you should not bank your success on just one of these items. Do not give in to FOMO. It could be a fad, a hype. Could be over in 8 months. Same timespan Vanilla Ice was dating Madonna or his track “Ice, Ice, Baby” was a hit. Either. Or both. If you have your campaigns set up, there should always be room to maneuver, to dip into popular culture and experiment with new tech, gadgets, platforms, and whatnot. Expect most to last that 8 months time window. And if it doesn’t entirely pan out, look in the mirror and ask yourself: “You had fun, didn’t you?”.