Last week I attended the 2012 ANA TV & Everything Video Forum. Below is a summary of the knowledge I gained from the event.

Ralph Santana, SVP & CMO, Samsung Electronics NA, who gave a great overview of how new technologies are changing consumer behavior so that marketers need to experiment and re-calibrate. His main points are: 1) technology is creating new possibilities, which is 2) changing consumer behavior, therefore 3) marketers need to react.

1) Technology: Technology is a creating an "everywhere" world via: a) The proliferation of screens everywhere, b) the fact that most content is free, cloud based, and can be accessed at any time on any device, c) experiences are highly interactive, social viewing with other people is increasing, and devices (Santana is from Samsung after all) will soon recognize you when you enter a room.

2) Consumer Behavior: This technology is changing the consumer experience of video. According to eMarketer video consumption is at its highest ever. Simultaneous device usage is pervasive and frequent (Nielsen Q2 2011) - 68% of smartphone users are using their phone while watching TV and tablet data is almost the same (70%, and 42% of that 70% is "on a daily basis").

So what does the increase mean? Santana predicts that consumer behaviors are going to change as a result of secondary screens in the following ways.

There will be more:

• Shared experiences (citing 10,245 tweets/second during the Super Bowl, 2x what it was last year),
• Co-viewing (with third party apps like GetGlue and TV Dinner)
• Discovery (the NFL app during the game included history, stats, etc.)
• Cross-platform participation, allowing users to influence the story (which is still nascent)
• Real-time research (looking up information during the show and commercials)
• Co-creation for online/web based shows (also still nascent).

Santana shared some examples of campaigns that are addressing some of these needs like Pillsbury's Holiday 2011 "Crescent-Wrapped Brie" commercial with Shazam's new "for TV" service (read more), which unlocked Pillsbury related content like recipes and how-to tips. Another was GAP with GetGlue and ET, where checking into shows gave you rewards like coupons for GAP's new fall line.

3) Marketers Call to Action: What does all of this mean for marketers? Santana goes on to connect the dots, and he outlines two main calls to action: Experiment and re-calibrate! He advocates for experimentation and learning in real-time as tactics emerge. (Easier - of course - if your own CMO understands this).

Re-calibration is a bit more complicated. Santana says we need to rethink old paradigms of a) communication and b) storytelling.

a) Communication: Santana argues that marketers do not need to use ALL touch points - it's too expensive. He says the old 360 model is too media-centric. Samsung has created a new communications model that is based on consumer behavior FIRST, and that behavior determines the chosen media. Of course the brand idea is always in the center, but the process you go through is consumer centric. See below for a sketch of this idea.

b) Storytelling: Santana also advocates for a recreation of storytelling by making stories more collaborative with consumers, allowing more involvement and interaction. He says that brands need to be more dynamic. As brands we need to put ourselves in the center of the story, but it should be the consumers'. Consumers creating their story of their experiences with our brand will help us tell our stories. Therefore there is a journey from storytelling to story sharing to story making that brands need to make. These stories will naturally be multi-screen and the line between content and brand gets blurred. Santana's conclusion to marketers is that we need to be experimenting, rethinking communications, and rethinking how we're making stories/content. Throughout the rest of the event, this theme resonated. Brands need to involve consumers in the conversation, since they are leading us into these new technologies. Brands who are leading in video are involved in content creation, publication, monetization and optimization.

A few other important points that came up as needs during the event include:

• Scale will occur with technology and when we make organizational changes that merge planning, execution, and measurement so that integrated planning happens upfront.
• The first thing we’re hearing from buyers is a need for data: consolidation of data sets to make sure you have one picture that crosses the channels. BUT expectations need to be set. Right now much of this is experimental, i.e. Social TV (according to Mike Proulx, SVP, Director of Digital Strategy, Hill Holiday, who just co-authored a book called “Social TV,” the term is used both when discussing the convergence of social media and TV as well as encompassing connected TV and TV everywhere) is only a 1-2% incremental build/extension that creates richer experiences spanning from TV to other platforms. HOWEVER, as Santana pointed out, the consumers are there so we need to follow...

Perhaps we need to think about this more. I just had a similar conversation with Chris Cunningham of appssavvy, who said, "The most innovative opportunities for brands to leverage today aren’t backed by enormous amounts of data." Is video everywhere (or social or local or mobile or any new technology) a performance based or direct response medium, or rather, a convergence and branding opportunity? Does the focus on measurement stifle the marketing community's growth and momentum building in this area? We need to embrace and share our learnings so the industry can move forward and "follow the consumer."

Request an invitation to the iMedia Video Summit March 25-28, 2012 in San Antonio, TX to continue the conversation. Check out the schedule here, and invite your creatives and content producers to join a special In-Focus track just for them on Tuesday.

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