This is part two of a five part series of the major trends VivaKi leaders see for 2012. Read Part 1. For the remaining trends, please continue to visit VivaKi.com or stay up to date via Facebook or Twitter.

Whether it’s through interactive offerings like Peel – which provides a recommendation engine for television shows based on what you already watch and like – or through the multitude of connected devices, including televisions, consumers will have more opportunities to customize their entertainment options like never before. The on-demand nature of being able to find any piece of entertainment at any given time, anywhere, has upended the traditional media model…and the advertising that goes with it. “More advertisers will be looking to agencies to deliver more targeted advertising on the TV through connected TVs and set-top boxes. Video advertising shown on streamed content on TVs will also increase significantly in 2012,” says Marco Bertozzi, Managing Director of VivaKi Nerve Center, EMEA. VivaKi’s EVP, Director of Innovations Tracey Scheppach also believes that 2012 will be a huge year for addressable advertising, as more and more TVs become connected to the internet and all media becomes IP-enabled. According to a report by DisplaySearch, almost 50 percent of televisions will be connected to the internet by 2015.

Moving forward, we’ll see more clients demanding that they reach consumers with the content that’s relevant to them, and only them. This will give greater influence to platforms that can deliver relevant messaging to relevant consumers like Audience on Demand and ASq. “Customization of everything at anywhere means not only the consumer’s power to select, define, create and customize content, but also the demand to receive only relevant communication and content related to personal interest,” says Guillermo Taffet, VivaKi Country Chair (South America).

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This is part one of a five part series of the major trends VivaKi leaders see for 2012. For other trends, please continue to visit VivaKi.com or stay up to date via Facebook or Twitter.

As social media has increasingly dominated consumers online experience these social sites have also increasingly become the place where consumers turn to for brand information, recommendations and purchases. We all know that ‘recommendations from friends’ is consistently cited as the most important force in choosing one brand over another. Today these recommendations increasing live online. This maturing relationship requires a new understanding of influence and a new technique for reaching the influential.

Though social media is making the process of tapping into these relationships easier and faster “the days of getting influencers to tout products for nothing or for a nominal gift card are numbered… Influence is a now a measurable function of relationships and is being monetized.” So says Michael Wiley, VivaKi’s Chief Social Media Officer. He cites Klout as one example. The site is quickly becoming the standard for measuring influence. At the same time in the media space, the power of Facebook to target ads based on people’s likes (and dislikes) is giving rise to stronger, more relevant messaging. As Facebook moves forward this year, Drew Heuning, Social Operations Manager for VivaKi Nerve Center, envisions increased adoption of Facebook “verbs,” which will break the industry focus away from a fixation on fans while also allowing individuals to more accurately express their relationship with a product or item.

But the true value of Facebook to tap into influence is in the way it leverages our friends. “Facebook has invented the second-strongest Internet performance driver after search: your friends’ recommendations,” says Daniel Saada, VivaKi Country Chair (France). The use of friends’ recommendations for products and services is growing (who hasn’t asked for a referral through Facebook for something), and the idea is being adopted by platforms such as Yelp, which will put your known users’ reviews above those from anonymous posters to give you more relevance, as well as new player Pinterest that allows users to look only at what their friends are sharing.

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VivaKi is home to some of the best paid, earned and owned experts in the world; so we decided to tap into this wealth of knowledge to examine what trends will most affect the marketing world in 2012. We amassed the opinions of thought leaders from across the network – from individuals such as Chief Executive Jack Klues to VivaKi Country Chair Guillermo Tafet to the Nerve Center’s Marco Bertozzi- and consolidated their predications for what the coming year has in store. Across the questionnaires, press commentary, blog posts, OpEds, whitepapers and more that we looked at, a number of themes repeated themselves.

Over the next two weeks, we will be looking at these 5 themes that were consistently raised by our leaders:

- The New Definition of Influence
– Customized Content and Storytelling
– New Ways of Working
– Melding of Mobility & Location
– From Data to Insights

Check back here for more information on each trend or look out for our announcements on Facebook and Twitter about each new post.

UPDATED Feb 9, 2012 with links to all posts.

Last week, VivaKi hit Vegas in full force to attend the 45th annual Consumer Electronics Show. With over 400 agency and client attendees, VivaKi hosted a unique three-day agenda that gave guests access to VIP tours of the show floor, exclusive sneak-peeks and insights into this year’s hottest trends and exclusive opportunities to network with some of the industry’s leading companies and start-ups. A huge thanks to our sponsors who made this experience truly worthwhile for all attendees, including: AOL, Buddy Media, CNET, Facebook, MediaLink, Pandora, Popular Science, Rovi, Scripps Network Interactive, ShareThis, Sharethrough, Sony, Syfy/PSFK, Turner, Videology, VivaKi Ventures, Wired, YuMe.

Many of our thought leaders from around the globe were in attendance at CES this year and participated in the VivaKi Bright Lights, Big Ideas agenda. Below are a collection of some of our favorite recaps from them about the show.
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VivaKi is taking CES by storm this week with a delegation of over 400 agency execs, clients and media partners. We’ll be on the show floor checking out the latest tech devices, networking with the hottest start-ups and sharing our thoughts on the industry’s upcoming trends.

You can keep up with all the action at CES on Twitter – Look for #vivakices and check out the coverage from @vivaki or any of our below agency Twitter handles:

@digitas
@performics
@starcom_usa
@smgxperts
@mediavestusa
@razorfish
@moxiepulse
@zo_us