In the not-too-distant future, each of us will have an intelligent agent living in the cloud and following us from device to device, room to room.  It will know us intimately.  We’ll converse with it verbally.  It will know and recognize our friends.  It will interface with media providers via their “apps,” on the fly, to negotiate presentation of content that interest us or that will benefit our situation.

What does this mean to consumer branding?

These intelligent agents will be very efficient filters of content, therefore, every consumer brand’s marketing efforts – not just their products and services – must support a demographic’s lifestyle or routine or social requirements in some way, or fall on the deaf ears of unsympathetic personal agents.

So how does a brand become part of a lifestyle?

As I pointed out in my article on podcasting, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom is a great example of branding via content.  The 60s TV safari show, was the branding centerpiece of an insurance company.  Their content had nothing to do with insurance.  It was about providing a family with value and enriching their lives.  The host was a trustworthy old gent who appealed to dads, while the scary creatures and cute baby animals appealed to the kids.  It was win-win marketing, that fit the customers’ lifestyles, not an intrusion.

So here it is in a nutshell, how consumer brands will survive in the future:

Find the new media geniuses that appeal to your demographic, and get them on your team!  Fast!