Marketing in the digital era: the rise of the second screen

Abstract

The main aim of the following dissertation is to provide a thorough representation and analysis of the current media environment and give an in depth look at its very revolutionary impact on the advertising and marketing techniques of businesses, both from an international and an Italian perspective. This all-new media environment has, without a doubt, triggered the need to create and subsequently adapt to all-new advertising mediums and techniques, above all the so called "second screen", which is namely the use of a computing device (usually mobile, as smartphones and tablets) in order to provide an enhanced viewing experience for content on another device (usually television); this responds to the new customers' needs and expectations of a more integrated and interactive, and simply more full experience, and has proved to be a business opportunity not to be missed for companies, both in the media environment and in other business fields. Failure to do so, might end up bringing about strategic issues for companies. In order to comply with this objective, many real-world case studies and examples are presented, altogether with a proper analysis of the underlying changes in the narrative techniques that are used in the new advertising environment, above all, mixed-media storytelling. In particular, as for the section concerning the Italian media and marketing panorama, a case study has been built, providing real-world data analysis and a snapshot of its current state, altogether with a particular focus on the De' Longhi/Kenwood case of an actual second screen campaign that was carried out in the past year, as a companion to the television shows "Bake Off Italia" and "Molto Bene".