Last night for dinner I went to Blaze Pizza—my new favorite pizza joint. Why is it my favorite? It’s simple really—I am able to customize my pizza exactly the way I want it.
It’s sort of like the Burger King “have it your way” on steroids. I am able to watch and instruct the “pizza artist” similar to how you would at Subway, except I don’t get stared down when I ask them to add more black olives. In the end, I get exactly the pizza I want—the pizza I have convinced myself I deserve.
For lunch today, I went to Which-Which, a sandwich shop that hands you a Scantron-like form for you to fill in exactly what you want—so that they can craft your sandwich to your individual specifications. Perfect!
Tonight, I plan on heading to The Counter, a burger joint that utilizes a similar customizable Scantron menu, and churns out a burger (or a salad for the herbivores amongst us) precisely the way you want it.
Lastly—although I probably shouldn’t for a myriad of reasons – after dinner tonight I will head to Yogurtland so that I can enjoy the feeling of total control over the amount and types of toppings I want on my fro-yo. At Yogurtland, gone are the feelings of guilt for asking “Could I please have just a few more Oreo crumbs?” or “could you mix some chocolate yogurt with some lemon cream for me please?” Instead, I – the consumer – am in the driver’s seat. I take control. If I want a lemon cream chocolate swirl with a pound of Oreos on top – the Yogurtland employees can’t stop me. After all, don’t I deserve to get exactly what I want? I’m the one paying for it.
The trend here is obvious —we live in a world where customization and individualization increasingly reign supreme. A world, where we as consumers know what we want, and want it precisely the way we want it. It is this trend that brings me to what I have come to know as The Ominous Omnichannel.
According to a recent study by RSR Research, 51% of retailers say consumer expectations outpace their ability to deliver cross-channel experiences. Let’s think about that figure for a moment—the study wasn’t measuring the desirability of these experiences but rather, simply the ability to deliver experiences across multiple channels, or as the en vogue put it—in the Omnichannel.
It’s understandable. I get it. In order to deliver even remotely consistent experiences across even digital channels, let alone both on and offline channels—there is going to be quite a bit of heavy lifting involved. We sacrifice effort for consistency, spending hours coordinating our advertising efforts across every form of media imaginable. It gives me a headache to think about it. Is this the future of advertising? Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe it could be easy as… CAKE.
CAKE allows advertisers to tie in best-of-breed technology to meld together all of their channels. Even if CAKE itself lacks the functionality to provide a specific solution, we can always guarantee, as we often say in the office – “there’s an API for that!” (Keep your eyes open for an upcoming blog post on this topic.)
For example, let’s say an advertiser wants to track the performance of a banner ad created to drive brand-awareness. The ad wasn’t built to convert in the traditional sense. However, by employing a “CAKE link” our system will track that user and should they end-up making a purchase through the affiliate channel—CAKE will let you know if they do—we’ll help you track the efficacy of your brand campaign.
The best part about this is that CAKE enables you, as a marketer, to customize your campaigns the way your customers want them. No need to place invasive ads within important content. Give your customers what they want—the experience they want across all channels—and do so without sacrificing your ability to track and optimize. So tonight as you sit down for a meal, hopefully a meal crafted just the way you want it—consider a fine dessert; consider CAKE.
