A Look to the Future in My Last Blog of 2016
I like to be data driven. And the fact is, readership falls off considerably from now until well after the first of the year. Travel, holidays and end-of-year business all keep people from blog reading. I get it.
Yet, over the holidays I want you to contemplate 2 changes that are going to impact our marketing lives and our lives in general: Virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Artificial intelligence is manifesting itself in devices that work like the Star Trek computer: You ask a question and you get a thoughtful answer. Not a straight search response, but a curated response to your question. “Siri, give me an idea for blogs for 2017.” This will change our search world in ways we can’t even comprehend right now. However, ask Google how AI will change your world and get ready for the answer.
Virtual reality is just as progressive in changing our world and world view. VR is coming on strong because it only takes a piece of cardboard and a smartphone to experience VR. According to Google, “every single video on YouTube can be viewed in VR, making it the world’s largest library of VR content.” With VR, we will have “presence.” That is the feeling of actually being there—looking around corners, observing from different angles. Imagine how impressive a concert or a football game would be if you could really see all around you during the game. But you have to start videotaping things in 360 degrees now if you want to experience any of today in the future.
2017 is going to be fantastic. VR and AI will open worlds to us unknown before. The experiences will be unbelievably immersive. But your story will still need a strong hook. You will still need to take people beyond what Google call’s the “that’s cool” moment.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.