There are a number of inspiring businesses and brands that are pumping out some killer content and using technology in interesting new ways every day.
I know that you're probably thinking there's no possible way that an Ikea catalogue could possible be anything close to being considered 'killer content', but I think if you check this out for yourself that you'll agree with my thinking that this is pretty cool.
What they did
Ikea's 2014 catalogue launched as a perfect marriage of traditional media and technology.
At first glance, the 2014 Ikea catalogue appears to be nothing beyond a traditional printed catalogue. When you dig deeper, you'll see that they have included Augmented Reality functionality for several of their furniture pieces to allowing readers to use their mobile devices to see what those pieces would look like in their own homes.
Check out the following video for a demo of how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDNzTasuYEw
Why it's killer
Catalogues are typically nothing to write home about. Page after page of products, descriptions and prices. That's typically just about it.
Augmented Reality is normally used in gimmicky ways by brands, and the payoff for scanning the AR marker often leads to a disappointing experience.
In this case, however, Ikea has transformed what would otherwise be a fairly standard catalogue into a meaningful experience for their consumers. It's fun, share-worthy, provides a great deal of utility, and I can see this working to shift consumers further along their purchase path.
Fantastic!
What can be applied to your business?
Add value by providing utility
Typically when we think about value provision to our consumers, we think about entertainment, education, or tangible offerings. There can be a great deal of highly relevant value that we can provide through offering utility to our consumers. Think about ways that you can make your consumers' lives easier through the tools and resources you can create for them.
Integrate technology with traditional media
Most consumers have a smartphone within reaching distance at all times. Use this to your advantage and integrate technology with traditional media to tell your brand story in a more compelling way, increase the quality of consumers' experience with your communications, or engage them in a two-way dialogue. No longer should you view traditional media as being a solitary communication channel primarily for generating awareness. You should see it as a catalyst for deeper engagement and involvement.
Every consumer touch-point is an opportunity to delight
You should view every consumer touch-point as an opportunity to delight. If you don't, you're missing out on opportunities that your competition will capitalize on in due course, and I promise you they will. It would have been easy for Ikea to release an uninspired catalogue, but they didn't, and here we are talking about them. Dedication to delighting your consumers at every touch-point is how you will develop and sustain a reputation for excellence.
There is creative opportunity in everything you do
There is always opportunity to do things in more interesting, creative, and impactful ways. Never should you dismiss components of your business as being boring or uninspired. If you find yourself thinking this way, then you're just not thinking hard enough about how to approach those components of your business with true creativity.
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What do you think of Ikea's AR 2014 catalogue? Have you seen any killer content recently that you'd like to share?