On the Wings of a Dream

Monday, 7 November 2005 - New York, USA

Dream Wings Kevin Roberts

Presentation Summary

A speech held at the Ad:Tech Media Marketing Conference: No holding back. In the 21st Century you need to embrace technology and the future. It’s time for the convergence of sight, sound and motion. Sisomo is a part of our lives, more than ever before, and, along with Lovemarks, is the only way to win in the Attraction Economy.


My first Ad:Tech was San Francisco May 2000. Five years ago. A life-time ago. The year the bubble burst. Fifteen websites servicing your pets. I-don’t-need-my-toothpaste-delivered-dot-com.

Like all biological clean-outs, the aftermath has been pretty exciting and we’re in a much better place. The strong survived. The smart thrived. The dreamers are back. The possibilities have never been greater, more embraced and anticipated more eagerly.

Five years on. 2005 is another strategic inflexion point. Everything is coming together. This is the era of sisomo, the convergence of sight, sound and motion. Stone. Industrial. Manufacturing. Information. Even Ideas. These Five Ages have now been supplanted by sisomo.

Chances are the person sitting next to you works in a different business from you, but you’re related. You all work in sisomo. You’re all sisomovers with sisomojo.

Five years ago my message to Ad:Tech was that emotion is at the heart of every business. Today my message is exactly the same, with two significant advances: Lovemarks and sisomo.

My home is New Zealand and I work in the world. In New Zealand we have a special combination of sight, sound and motion that quickens the senses, elevates the mystery, challenges the self, and scares the hell out of the opposition.

We’ve survived the Information Economy, the Knowledge Economy, the Experience Economy and the Attention Economy all in a decade.

Now get ready for the Attraction Economy.

People are around 80 percent emotional, around 20 percent rational. Human emotion is the principal currency of the Attraction Economy.

The Attraction Economy is founded on a simple truth. Consumers make their choices based on emotion. Neurologists and economists have proved this. Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion leads to action.

The future belongs to those who can make emotional connections in the market. Not just the best products or the fastest services, but the closest and longest-lasting emotional connections. Passion. Loyalty beyond reason.

The Attraction Economy is a paradox. It’s about emotion and technology.

Being digital has fuelled the Attraction Economy. From Silicon Valley in the 1970s, it’s ringing the world with new connectivity, interactivity and mobility.

Industry borders have eroded. We’re in an and/and world. Entertainment and media and telecommunications and marketing. Everywhere and all the time.

The Attraction Economy is big and getting bigger as a new order takes shape. By 2006 communications spending is expected to go past the trillion-dollar mark.

The Winners in the Attraction Economy? Those who get to the future first and fast.

The Attraction Economy is Ad:Tech’s home ground. And a huge opportunity for inspirational ideas; to focus on consumers without the CRM strait-jacket. The opportunity for metrics based on attraction.

This room is packed with Attraction skills: creative, IT, content, architecture, navigation, production, aggregation, media, ideas, orchestration, advertising, sales, delivery. Amazing new hybrids. Magic at the moments of truth.

Here are two principal ways to win in the Attraction Economy.

1. Win In The Attraction Economy With sisomo.

What makes The Attraction Economy run? sisomo. Sight, Sound and Motion on screen.

sisomo is a new word for a new world. And it’s the title of our new book launching right here, right now, this very instant. sisomo brings the high impact, emotional world alive on the screen.

sisomo made TV one of the great inventions of the twentieth century, and the greatest selling medium ever. And it still has awesome power. Television takes up by far the most time [240.9 minutes] of the average American. The computer comes in a distant second [120 minutes].

As television becomes more game-like, mobile phones more television-like, and in-store screens more movie-like, sisomo kicks in. The gift of sisomo is to put technology in human terms.

You’re all Ad:Tech players. You know if you’re not on screen, you’re not in the picture.

What’s the big story of the next decade? Many more screens with serious sisomo. Broadband, wireless and the internet are making it happen.

The average American spends more time using media devices – television, iPods, mobile phones – than doing anything else. Except sleeping.

The future is sisomo on all screens from the web to your mobile phone, your TV set to your games player.

The Family of Screens is not an excuse to get more complicated. Screens with sisomo tap into technology through the eyes of consumers. sisomo is about senses, not circuits.

Game machines need 30,000 to 50,000 polygons to express emotion. Or, they need a compelling story and a gripping purpose.

sisomo demystifies technology and unleashes creative potential across all screens. The content flows where the consumer goes.

There are no rules or formulas.

Whether you’re telling your story on a mobile phone or a mega-screen in Times Square, emotion is what makes it memorable and inspiring.

Like the launch this year of the 2006 Lexus IS. Ask people to send in their photos. Now picture a mosaic image of the IS made up of 100,000 of those photos. Then put the mosaic up on the Reuters outdoor board in Times Square. Three storeys high.

Marketing and advertising, communications and media are being reinvented. Broadcast media have lost their monopoly on sisomo. We have open fields ahead full of creativity, interactivity, big ideas, design, smarter customization.

  • Consumer-created sisomo. Starting with George Masters and his famous ad for the iPod Mini.
  • Music-inspired sisomo. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. MTV still sets the pace.
  • Pop culture sisomo. Saatchi & Saatchi’s global urban youth culture unit GUM meshes advertising and entertainment to attract young consumers. How about your own hip-hop band, your own game, your own TV show, your own nightclub experience?
  • sisomo-rich transactions. Be entertained as well as informed at the check-out.
  • Mobile-enhanced sisomo.
  • And sisomoed games. Now a $28 billion industry.

Just buying a company or forming an alliance won’t cut it. To create sisomo that sizzles, you need stories, well told.

2. The second principal way to win in the Attraction Economy is with Lovemarks.

Brands were struggling under the weight of the “er” words – brighter, thinner, stronger, cheaper.

Now the Attraction Economy has killed them stone dead.

The big news? The Attraction Economy loves Lovemarks.

From Products to Trademarks. From Trademarks to Brands. From Brands to Lovemarks. Lovemarks are the future beyond brands.

  • Lovemarks are built on Love and Respect.
  • Lovemarks are imbued with Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy. Stories and dreams, icons and inspiration. Super-rich sensuality. Empathy and commitment.
  • Lovemarks inspire Loyalty Beyond Reason.
  • Lovemarks are owned by the people who love them. Consumers not companies.
  • Lovemarks can be anything that people care deeply about. At www.lovemarks.com we’ve attracted about 9,000 stories of consumer emotion. Shoes. Shirts. Cities. Bags. Books. Bikes. Love makes the world of business go around.
  • Lovemarks move from Irreplaceable to Irresistible.

Take a brand away and people replace it. Take a Lovemark away and you’ve got a rebellion.

I’ve said there are two ways to win in the Attraction Economy – with sisomo, and with Lovemarks. Here are three things to get really serious about tomorrow:

  1. Get your people together and set up a sisomo division. If you’re like most companies your sisomo capability is dispersed. Bring the sisomo magicians together. All your screen-based communications. The story tellers, the production people, the technicians, the marketers and the sisomotivators. Give them new focus and a renewed purpose. And don’t forget they’ll need inspiring sisomo titles.
  2. Move on from permission to attraction. The principle of permission marketing is that you ask consumers. In attraction marketing they’ll come looking for you. Again and again. This will happen if you are attracted by Lovemarks, their experiences, events and stories. Get emotional. The emotional elements of story will drive value. Characters, storylines, chatter, drama, music and mystery (and that’s just the news!). Humor will be vital. The more connected we become, the more these elements will matter.
  3. The world of technology is amazing, but we need it to help us become more human. Watch out for cocoon technology that isolates us so that we forget the connections that give our lives meaning. Enjoy the real world. Go to a park. Breathe fresh air. Read a novel. Love what matters most. Call your Dad.