Brand Republic, Originally Published April 2004

DMC was asked to review cult author William Gibson’s novel ‘Pattern Recognition’, which offers a snapshot of various emerging marketing techniques.

Pattern Recognition; By William Gibson. Published by GP Putnam’s Sons. 375 pages.

This isn’t the first book to feature emerging trends and phenomena in the marketing industry. ‘e’ by Matt Beaumont was a book set in an ad agency and made up entirely of email correspondence. Gibson’s book however has a much more complex scope, placing its observations about marketing and technology within a wider social and cultural context.

Pattern Recognition is the story of a few weeks in the life of Cayce Pollard, a design consultant who specialises in spotting cool new trends through observing group behaviour. She’s also a follower of an online forum dedicated to “the footage”, a mysterious collection of video files. A forward-thinking marketing communications company - keen to be at the bleeding edge of ‘new marketing’ - hires Cayce to discover the maker of the footage, propelling her into a chaotic global and internal search.

Sadly, stories like these can bring the whole field into disrepute - or at least into the current semi-hysterical debate about deception, disclosure and transparency. There is even a call for a WOM marketing code of ethics to be set up.

The book gives us a snapshot of not only the marketing industry but also society sitting on the latest generational and cultural cusp, or “tipping point”.

To put this into context, much advertising no longer works. We are at a peak of mass consumerism, there’s simply too much advertising, too many fragmented media, and consequently a backlash against advertising and brands.

Pattern Recognition echoes this shift, showing us that the web is not only for information (with its references to Googling and other research techniques), but is now also cannibalising TV as an entertainment medium. Cayce and her cohorts are depicted as having migrated away from traditional media such as TV and print towards the web, along with the rest of the elusive 18- to 34-year-old demographic.

They communicate seamlessly across geographical and time zones, discussing ideas, swapping information and interacting in a way that can only be done online.

In the book, the enigmatic marketer Bigend has grasped this changing behaviour and is fascinated with developing user-driven, “tipping point” approaches to marketing. He epitomises a marketer who is investigating new, untraditional, non-interruptive ways of engaging and inspiring consumers on their own terms.

Real brands that have already acted on it include BMW, Mazda and Virgin Mobile. As Jon Hegarty, chairman of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, said way back in 2001: “We’re not really going to be in marketing, we’re going to be in entertainment.” This is not new thinking, but it has taken a while to be adopted by marketers - although it’s happening faster now that advertising’s falling effectiveness is grudgingly being put under the microscope.

Ironically, Pattern Recognition also shows unintentionally that where consumers go, marketers are keen to follow. Central character Cayce wears a fictional black Buzz Rickson’s MA-1 Jacket which in reality is only available in sage green. But demand generated by the book means that a black version is now in production.

In conclusion, the book highlights how we are all leading increasingly pervasive, global, technology-driven lifestyles. Specifically for marketers, it provides a finger on the pulse of emerging marketing trends that are evolving our industry - an interesting snapshot of current thinking mixed with the possibilities of the near future.

Justin Kirby, managing director, Digital Media Communications, UK