Integration of physical and digital drives marketing strategies

Who would have thought it. The global social giant, Meta, the first one to make us stay glued to our smartphone screens, has decided to go on the road. A promotional tour between America and Canada is stopping at all the major shopping centres linked to the stars and stripes retail giant Walmart. At each stop, a branded caravan allows fans to experience immersion in the new Batman video game. Virtual reality enthusiasts and onlookers thus enter an immersive zone inside the vehicle with the simultaneous presence of other objects related to the game scene. The highlight of the experience is the opportunity to put on a Quest 3S visor and play the game, before possibly purchasing: the cost is $300 and includes the game. Meta will continue the tour in New Jersey and then go on to Dallas and Texas. Paradoxes of the connected worlds: spotting it at the entrance of supermarkets crowded with shoppers and shopping trolleys has a certain effect. Yet being there on physical channels can make all the difference. After all, it is what conveys the evolution of omnichanneling, that mode of positioning on a plurality of channels with specific formats. But today that multi-touchpoint presence hybridises online and offline spaces. This is also how marketing evolves. Even the best companies in Statista and Il Sole 24 Ore's Leader Growth 2025 ranking operate in a multi-channel logic: the marketing and communication sector is worth 5.4% of the companies in the ranking.

"In the post-digital era, companies should have realised that being present in all channels and touchpoints continuously, effectively and efficiently is an almost utopian ambition. The fragmentation of touchpoints and the resources required to manage each interaction make it imperative to revise the approach from omni to opticannel. With opticality the goal is no longer to be everywhere, but to be in the right channels, the ones that really matter for each individual customer,' says Giuseppe Stigliano, author of the book 'Retail Revolution', translated for the Italian market by Roi Edizioni. This approach implies care in selecting the most relevant channels to maximise objectives, adapting the strategy according to data on customer behaviour and preferences. "Opticanality means not only being present, but doing so with relevance and intelligence, reducing the dispersion of resources and enhancing every interaction," Stigliano points out. In a market marked by increasingly blurred attention spans, making your mark becomes a titanic task.