It’s 2010, which means it’s officially The Future. We’re all using jetpacks to get to work, using teleporters to go on city breaks, talking to family with our watches, that kind of thing.
Well, sort of. Google and Apple taking over the world besides, we’re not quite as advanced as our forefathers imagined. It’s easy to laugh at old science fiction stories, movies and games now we’re here, but some of them really did think we’d be in flying cars by now. Even Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most nerdy celebrated science fiction writers in the world, thought we’d be playing with gas monsters on Jupiter by next year.
So, in the spirit of predicting the future (and because it’s trendy to talk about the next decade), we thought we’d gather ideas about the way On-Hold Marketing might change and develop. Click ‘read more’ to see what we came up with.
The near future
Intelligent remote management systems
Soon, we’ll be launching a new on-hold player that allows us to load new productions onto client hardware remotely, at scheduled intervals, via the net. Web-controlled messaging means no more CDs, USB sticks or otherwise – and it’ll be simple because it’s remotely managed from our office, allowing playlists and music to be constantly updated.
Day parting
Day-parted messages are all about flexibility. So, if it’s 9AM when somebody calls, on-hold messages will say, ‘Good morning,’ and so on. Eventually, clients will be able to manage what their callers hear before and after hours – with a different message for the day and another for the evening. Events and holidays would be covered similarly.
The not-so-distant future
On-hold video messaging
We’re already seeing rapid developments in the industry as telephone technologies grow closer to, and merge with, the internet. We reckon there’ll be a closer relationship between products like Google Wave, video and voice communications. In turn, this could mean that a kind of On-Hold Marketing shifts online if video conferencing becomes more widely used. Who knows: you might be able to SEE advertising while you wait…
The flipside is that more B2B and B2C communication is carried out live, via text, instead of on the phone. Companies like Dell already use live web chat to access and fix computers.
Targeted messaging
We also think that On-Hold Marketing, just like web marketing, will become increasingly personalised. So, you could ring a company, they could match your number to your name on their database, and when you’re put on hold, the messages you hear will reflect the services and products you haven’t used before.
The far-future
Your call, your choice
You’ve made the call to a company who doesn’t believe in music on hold with messages – so you get to decide what you want to listen to. It’d be a licensing nightmare for the company and the supplier, but you’d get your very own, hand-held pub jukebox. And if that sounds really far-fetched, don’t forget you can already get Spotify on your mobile!
Celebrity voice modelling
Call centre staff have their voices digitally altered into the voice of your favourite celebrity — alive or dead. You could be talking about your council tax bill with Arnold Schwarzenegger! And, when you’re placed on hold, Arnie’s waiting for you there, too.
Live on-hold messaging
Neural implants will play on-hold content to individuals at all moments of mental downtime: standing at bus stop, waiting for microwave oven, showering, scratching, etc. No boredom, only relentless information.
The Always-Factor
Phones might be unrecognisable in the future, but the value of a good-old sing-song is eternal. That’s why, whenever you’re asked to wait, scores of television talent show runners-up will be dispatched by orbiting satellites to sing on-hold songs to phone callers in person.
The ultimate on-hold technology
Voiceover artists will merge with playback equipment to become trans-human on-hold-borgs — the only people on Earth who can actually read this sentence aloud.
Have any ideas of your own? Share them with a comment below!