Dan Kimbrough touches on several trends he thinks will continue in 2017 such as this bit on AR/VR:
2017 will see AR & VR make great strides to becoming how we experience and interact with the world around us.
I agree we’ll see great strides in this area. I’m especially bullish on AR. But I still believe we’re a long way from it being "great".
On live streaming video he says:
2017 will be the year we see live streaming go from a novelty for the masses to a tool for the business savvy.
I’m 100% on board with Dan here. Live streaming video has seen steady growth in terms of viewership and capability for nearly a decade but we are just now seeing this as a ubiquitous feature in nearly every communication service. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Slack, Messenger, iMessage, Instagram, etc. all have a live streaming video feature now. With just a phone you can reach your audience. It is an extraordinary time for that medium.
Back to Dan on personal branding:
2017 will be the year that brands willing to showcase themselves, their voice and their personality, will dominate.
He references my friend Gary’s daily vlog. Gary isn’t the first to do this, not by a long shot, but he may be the first to do it with a camera man (the excellent DRock) and several editors – giving his vlog a very specific feel and an "ease" for him personally that makes it sustainable. One of the most popular vloggers on YouTube, Casey Neistat, recently hung up his hat. It wears you out.
I’m uncertain if we’ll see this segment of the market grow too much, however, I do think we’ll see entire company brands built on top of personalities more in 2017 than we did in 2016. Think Kim Kardashian, Jay Z, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson – each of these individuals have built companies worth hundreds of millions and billions of dollars on top of personal brands. We’ll see a lot more of this as social media gives people, as well as companies, enormous capability to tell their story.
And finally, Dan on video:
2017 will be one of the last years to adopt video as part of your marketing strategy if you want to survive.
His urgency isn’t unwarranted. Now is better than ever to jump into using video as a marketing tool. Both live and well-edited pieces. However, I think we’re going to see video grow, and not shrink, come the next decade. Video formats and Internet connectivity will both improve to a point where video will be as "expensive" to view as images are now. As it stands, some people are limited by their mobile carrier plan and their device’s capability to display rich video content on-the-go. These limitations will disappear over the next 5 years for most of the developed world which will only expand the video viewing market.
Great list of predictions from Dan. I’m glad he shared them on his blog.
