Instant Gratification

The world of search engines seems to move faster than you can say, “Froogle on Google.” We’ve become accustomed to broadband-enabled search and I fear I may have become a little spoiled.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a call with one of my reps, another colleague or at home on my cell phone with my parents while simultaneously searching for background information, a detailed article or that recipe from dinner the other night. I turn to my trusty search engine to seek instant detailed information on everything. My searches are returned promptly and that’s the way I like it.

Now that I think about it, all of my tech gadgets are quick, streamlined, with personal navigation and they all give me that instant gratification I’m seeking. Think about the frustration that occurs when you have one of those days when your cell phone takes a little too long dialing or when the server at work is running a little slow. “C’Mon!” you curse.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the ole’ boob tube. Yeah, it’s definitely advanced in the last 30 years. But a recent iMedia article, The “Googleization” of TV, got me thinking about the delayed gratification of this medium in the sense that I don’t have as much control over what I want to see and when I want to see it.

The article points out that searching for your favorite show, actor, channel or game on TV should and could be done with the same ease and promptness as online. It also suggests the possibility of an iTunes-like homepage with tags such as recommendations, recent searches, what’s hot, etc. Now, that’s more like what I expect from my personal electronics.

As a marketer, these types of search-enabled advances in TV could bring about a whole new ad opportunity, looking closely at contextual ad messages. It could be very fun for this media manager and creative content maven. And for the consumer, it just might be another way to become even more spoiled as we reach that sublime moment of instant gratification.