The Apple iPad is a small sliver of screen that’s filled with potential. It’s been described as an e-reader extraordinaire, the perfect entertainment hub, and the missing link between smartphones and laptops. I thought it looked pretty sweet. But I still had questions.
Who is supposed to buy the iPad, anyway? What will it offer customers that our smartphones and Kindles can’t? And what lucrative opportunities does it offer advertisers and media companies like magazines, newspapers and other websites? To find answers, I spoke with Lincoln Bjorkman, executive vice president and executive creative director of the New York region of Publicis’ Digitas, a digital marketing agency. Here is our exchange:
1) The iPad looks awesome, but I doubt I’ll buy one. Who will?
Affluentials. Affluent
kids who just can’t get enough social communication or media
interaction and content, and affluent kids who to mix their educational
needs and requirements with the aforementioned fun stuff. Also, affluent
travelers. Business people who want connectivity and ease of use and
portability. Anybody who has been stuck on a plane or in an airport in
the last 2 years. Anybody who has a Mac or iPhone or iTouch because
they instinctively understand how to use it and what it will unlock.
I
think Kindle and Nook early adopters and those who have considered it
are going to run to this device. The price point says, why not upgrade
and get more that just an ugly book reader thingy? I think the
celebrity chic set will be all over it too–it’s a great way to consume
what they create and interact with their peeps and their fans. If it’s
out, wouldn’t you expect to see it in an Oscar goodie bag?
2) We know what the iPad looks like. It looks like a big iPhone. The
iPhone is amazing, but it’s not been hailed as a savior of media
advertising. What makes the iPad different?
The iPad itself
isn’t the big news (though it’s very cool and very worthy of some
attention). What’s different is the signal that technology companies
like Apple (and Google) continue to send when they create extremely
compelling devices, applications, browsers and experiences such as the
iPad (especially if it’s successful) that give advertisers and agencies
and agency creatives more and more compelling places to play. This is
yet another harbinger of opportunities that are not yet to come but
that are here, now, for brands and agencies willing to fluidly
collaborate.
3) At a very broad
level, what are all the different ways you can see the iPad giving publishers and
content producers an advantage in advertising?
It’s only one
device — though a very high-profile one to be sure. One advantage the iPad gives publishers and
content producers is the sheer size of the iPad audience and those who
cover and market to that audience. There is tremendous opportunity to
partner and show they are highly motivated to serve up their wares —
however and wherever the audience wants it.
Moreover, this is
a HUGE learning opportunity. We can track, test and measure response,
behaviors and trends through the iPad and learn what customers want —
both in the form of the technology and in the content they acquire
there. I, for one, can’t wait to see how many iPads end up in the hands
of affluent business travelers in lounges and airplanes. Is it really
fast enough and powerful enough for the fat middle of the gaming
marketplace? Will this be, as I suspect, the beginning of the “it”
thing that students really need and want to carry in their backpacks
all the way through to college? Will device proliferation speed up
cloud computing, so I can get my stuff and my programs on any device I
carry, cheaper and faster?
4) I spoke to one publisher who thinks the future of advertising is going to be more interactive.
Ads will look more like mini-sites that we WANT to visit rather than
click away from. Do you agree, and where does the iPad fit in here?
I
agree. Sites are where the action will be — more so than apps. It’s
not the ads, it’s the brands that people will want to engage with (or
click away from). The question then is, how must a brand make its
presence felt on any device or better yet across all them, seamlessly,
so the audience allows them “in” to their world: why should I let you
in or care that you are already there? I own the delete button, pal.
Prove yourself. The iPad is another door to me.
5) Sports Illustrated magazine famously debuted its
iPad-compatible living magazine in a YouTube clip I saw. Does Apple get
a cut of the advertisement associated with that special SI magazine? If
so, does that violate net neutrality?
Though I’m not sure
about the specifics but we must accept that there must be some kind of
exchange of commerce if we want meaningful content on our various
screens or in our ear buds. Net Neutrality to me is a myth. We pay one
way or another for access (whether via the device, the carriers, cable,
etc. or via advertising revenue or both) and content is going to cost
something, unless we move into a world of user-generated content and
nothing else. Personally, I want and expect more and am willing to pay.
The market should and will adjust to demand.
6) Let’s talk books for a second. How could the iPad and similar products
change or revitalize the book industry in a way the Kindle hasn’t?
I’ll
buy the new Twilight book and watch a preview for the next film. I will
Facebook the trailer to my friends and swoon. I will post exclusive
photos I got from the book purchase to my TUMBLR blog. I will listen to
the soundtrack endlessly while I read. My friends will tell me that
SohoDolls just released a new track for the next film on their MySpace
page and I will jump to get it before they take it down. I will buy two
more books based on the recommendation of “friends” I’ve never met but
who wrote about the book I’m reading in a way that I understand, in a
voice that resonates with me. I will recommend all my favorite books to
friends who can instantly take me up on the advice and who will write
to me “as they are reading it” telling me what they think. All of this
will happen in so fast it hurts. It’s not just about the book anymore.
7) What are you most excited about for the next iPad?
Let
me have my phone there too, but one number so I can pick which one is
on. Faster chips and more memory. It still lacks a number of features
that would let me dump my laptop altogether – using multiple features
at the same time, Flash capabilities for better games. What about
medical information to and from my doctor on the tablets? Imagine going
to the doctor and leaving with all my info and CAT scans and
prescriptions and directions and follow up info on the device. SKYPE. A
front facing camera and SKYPE. That will change the world.
8) Could
the iPad fail? Is it possible that Apple has smelled a space in the
market between smartphones and laptops that simply doesn’t exist — that
smartphones are better for mobile browsers and laptops are better for
workers and the iPad will make something that fails to compete with
both?
I don’t think you fail if you continue to innovate and
listen and learn and activate the knowledge gained fast. Newton and
AppleTV didn’t kill ’em. The iPad won’t either. And it’s all leading to
the Apple iChip they imbed in my arm! This is just a baby step toward
that.
