Contrary to the popular belief, the concept of marketing is not new. Marketing exists since ancient times. In China and India, sellers were trying to persuade the buyers using their communication skills. In Rome, gladiators got paid to wear products. So, wherever the big audience was looking at, the marketers have seen an opportunity. When we put it this way, in principle nothing has changed.
However, this is not entirely true. Marketing has been evolving in 20 year cycles since 1920s as we saw rise of sales era, marketing department era, marketing company era, relationship marketing era and finally to social media marketing era in 2010. Of course, this is all very simplified and we could argue that cycles have become shorter in the last couple of decades, but let’s leave that to academic circles. The important thing here is to notice that marketing has been evolving dynamically and obviously will continue so.
So, the real question here is: What’s next?
Digital marketing, video marketing etc has evolved over the years. According to a survey, viewers consume 95% of the content that they watch in video format – highest as compared to other formats. No wonder companies spend lacs on making attractive video ads. But with prolific competition, the attention span of a consumer has become lesser than that of a goldfish(8 seconds)! So, what can you do differently to catch their attention?
Enter Drones!
Creating high-quality visuals, physically delivering products to customers, or just adding a “wow” factor to their campaigns, these Unmanned Arial Vehicles(UAVs) are now being viewed as a “tool in the toolbox” rather than just another tech-toy.
Using drones for marketing caught attention when in late 2016, prior to the first show at Disney World, Intel demonstrated a new generation of the platform, launching 500 drones at once. During the Superbowl 2017, Intel partnered with Lady Gaga as 300 of Intel’s Shooting Star drones flew behind the Rockstar transforming into multi-colored stars and the U.S. flag. And just when it had the attention of the millions, it transformed into its Intel logo. At the end of the Pepsi Halftime Show performance, Intel also created a 10-second spot with the drones by transforming its own logo into Pepsi’s.
However, Intel wasn’t the first brand to use drones. In 2014, Coca-Cola partnered with Singapore Kindness Movement to launch “Happiness from the Skies,” a campaign designed to give back to the Singaporean migrant workers who were building the city’s high-rises. With a fleet of drones, Coke delivered cans of soda and handwritten “thank you” notes from the community to these workers in the sky.
As of 2021, many brands have already started realising the potential of this flying marketing assistant. For instance, Red Bull also recently signed an exclusive deal with GoPro, which allows the companies to share content and establishes GoPro as the sole action camera provider for Red Bull – to help it capture the ride of a biker, surfer, snowboarder, or skateboarders to make viral sports videos — as Red Bull is known to do — without missing a beat.
GE, as one of the world’s leading technology companies, is bringing #DroneWeek to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how it’s helping Rio de Janeiro prepare for the Olympics. By using drone technology, GE is also finding ways to peel back the curtain on its own projects and engage audiences around topical events.
We are not away from a world when we see drones carrying banners in the sky of your favorite brands.
The latest image of drones forming a giant scannable QR code in the Shanghai skies in April 2021, prompting viewers to download and install the game on our smartphones is still fresh on our minds. The marketing genius was used to commemorate the first anniversary of a Japanese video game’s launch in China using about 1,500 drones. The brilliant aerial dance of the drones brought the characters of the role-playing game Princess Connect! Re:Dive to life and narrated how the game worked.
Then we have tech-giants like Amazon, who recently received FAA approval for using drones for commercial deliveries. As an e-commerce platform that revolutionised home deliveries as it spent millions to bring down the delivery time from two days to one day, Amazon is set to take the next step with 30-minute deliveries with the help of drones. Enhancing logistics and automating supply-chains, Amazon knows how to use quick deliveries as a marketing tool.
There are many others exploiting drone deliveries as their marketing crowns. Wing, Alphabet’s drone delivery company, found that between February 2020 and April 2020, in Australia, the use of its service increased by 500%.
This is corroborated by the fact that the global drone package delivery is expected to grow from $0.68 billion in 2020 to $0.99 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.5%. The growth is mainly due to the increasing demands of contactless delivery during COVID-19 and social distancing. The market is expected to reach $4.40 billion in 2025!
Long story short, drones have proved that for marketer, sky is the limit – literally!
The days when marketing was all about “needs and wants of the customers” and the mantra of marketers was ‘The consumer is king! Find a need and fill it’ are long gone. The approach has now shifted to delivering satisfaction better than competitors are – or rather grabbing eyeballs of your customers before competitors do. And drones are just the right amount of flying distraction you need!
With the high costs associated with this new star in the town, we can expect Amazon, Google, Apple and some others to continue running the game initially and providing technology to drive the world of marketing. What does it mean for the rest of us? Well, to adapt, as always.
If you are still here and not busy looking out of your window to spot a flying advertisement, don’t forget to share our content with your friends.
By: Anmol Gupta | Isha Garg