Hear from a leading digital planner as she shares her thoughts on the three big trends impacting the industry in 2008.

As we progress through 2008 with the New Year well behind us, it seemed appropriate to have a brief look at where I believe digital marketing might be heading.

Incidentally, I did think that I had noted down all of my 2007 predictions so that I could go back and see just how far off the mark we all were, but I appear not to have been as organised as I thought! From memory I'll lay claim to my three biggest influences on digital marketing as being widgets, Facebook and 'social networking' (which I confess sounds a little loose).

Regardless of last year, as a planner and strategist I now want to predict what I believe will be the three big influences on marketing communications in 2008. These are things that I feel will have a profound impact on the way we'll work in advertising planning.

1. Monetisation of user generated content

Whether the content is comprised of words, static images or moving pictures, 2008 is the year that creators finally get savvy to the fact that they have helped line the pockets of the likes of YouTube and Flickr. At VCCP, we're currently doing some work with Metro newspaper, helping them in the beta-phase of a new site called MeView. It's an interesting concept. You upload original video content and you decide whether you want to add pre-roll advertising to the clip. Then you watch a selection of 10 second thumbnail clips and you choose the one that you want to add onto the front of your content. For every download you get a share in the CPM/CPT advertising revenue. Suddenly you move from being simply a content creator to being a digital media planner, as well as a content promoter as it's in your financial best interests to drive as many people as possible to view the clip. It's also in the best interests of the agencies who produce the pre-roll advertising to make them as good as possible -- otherwise no one will choose their adverts! So expect to see more monetisation examples in 2008.

2. Sideload culture

Sideloading, or the process of moving data between two computers without a local machine being involved, is already big. But in 2008 we will see sideloading become far more mainstream. We now all want to be able to move content from one device to another easily and we're starting to expect that we can readily take photos on a Blackberry and then sideload them straight to a social networking site such as Facebook. From a personal point of view, I hope that this is the year that all this becomes far easier for all of us.

3. Augmented reality

There is a particular quote that I love, taken from the Economist magazine: 'In the early days of the Internet, the idea that it represented an entirely different realm, distinct from the real world, was seized upon by both advocates and critics of the new technology… both groups were wrong, of course. The Internet has not turned out to be a thing apart ... and some of the most exciting uses of the Internet rely on coupling it with the real world.'

To enforce this quote further it's correct to say that the Internet is an overlay to the everyday physical world that we inhabit and not a separate entity. I for one believe that in 2008 we will truly begin to see the connective power of the web being delivered in a complementary manner that benefits all users.
 
So maybe you agree, or perhaps you completely disagree. It would be very interesting to hear you views either way. As for now we need to keep the ball rolling and remember the wise words of Alan Key: 'The only way to predict the future is to build it.'

Amelia Torode is head of digital strategy, VCCP and you can also read her blog here.