I was musing over my next blog post and toying with various marketing phrases, 'the next big thing' was one I had scribbled down but wasn't that fussed about, then Pokemon Go landed.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've enjoyed seeing hoards of teens and fans roaming the streets hunting the pocket monsters and the topic resurfaced. I love it when this stuff happens, it all just snowballs, it's a marketers dream.
There are suddenly numerous businesses around the world having meetings about how they can jump on the bandwagon, how can they soak up some of the momentum that the App is currently enjoying. When brands transcend into the national news agenda you know something big is happening. There will probably even be a number of uninformed individuals coming up with a phrase around the boardroom along the lines of "can we create our own version", forgetting the years of development work and money that went into the global augmented reality phenomenon.
Remember when the mysterious world of the internet was the next big thing, then this strange thing called social media that would never last. We got to play with smaller things like QR codes appearing everywhere briefly and numerous other toys to give our brands an edge.
It's worth remembering that it's always the originator that benefits the most, whilst imitation is flattering it won't have the same effect, for that brief moment though there will always be a scramble to get on board.
Think of Flappy Bird, remember that? An App with huge success, such a basic idea and pulled from sale by the developers creating extra demand. Suddenly variations started to appear to cash in on the craze, but none as popular as the original.
The next 'big thing' will be big, of course, it will for those it's aimed at. Many publications and insiders will try to predict success and there may be many things that tick a box, but you can't predict what will spark the imagination. There's no indication what the next big thing in marketing will be, in what sector it will appear in and what the impact on peoples lives will be. But, it's always a treat to find out.
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