GOOGLE, AMAZON, eBAY, have added great value by organizing everything in the long Tail into a database where it may be accessed. Our perspective is that they are serving the mountaintop of consumers - the ones you see in the store who shop with a list. They know what they want - the book title, the collectible, the celebrity they want to follow. Then there's everyone else. The ones who go to browse and window shop. Smart shopkeepers have learned to find a context to merchandise their goods. For example, storm is coming, here's the shovel, salt to melt the ice, warm gloves, etc. These are the retailers whose customers walk out with more than they went in planning to buy. Smart brands pick television shows or media in which to position their advertising because the context "merchandises" their message.
Our theory is that, the more content choices multiply, the more important context will be to attracting an audience and merchandising sponsor goods and services.
COMRADITY entertainment brands are designed to give people the context with which to focus their attention. For example, BRING BACK THE DAY is a great place to merchandise memorabilia, classic content, or find friends who share the same values, formed "in the day."
Here's some validation for this theory . . .
November, 2008 Ad:tech Panel: Context is King – Finding Information in an Overcrowded World
November, 2006 Spencer Wang presentation: "The Long Tail: Why Aggregation & Context and (not necessarily) Content are King in Entertainment"
