deck teck toy

Q1 2016
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MEC Idea of the Quarter
Welcome back to the latest edition of Stuff We’ve Seen.
Once again, we’ve got a great mix of brilliant campaigns,
superb creative use of technology, some exciting startups as well as the latest news from the world of media,
technology and communications.
We welcome feedback and input from around the
network so if you come across great work, send it our
way. Don’t be shy. No matter how big or small, if there’s
great work we’re doing for our clients, submit it to be
showcased.
Hope you enjoy!
Idea of the Quarter
Integrated Campaigns
and Smart Ideas
Creative Use of
Technology
Interesting Start-ups and
Emerging Tech
Use the arrows on each page
to view more inspiring detail
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IKEA
KFC’s new Colonel
dominates Super Bowl 50
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KFC dominates Super Bowl 50 taking #5
in YouTube AdBlitz
KFC set out to make a splash with the launch of its newest celebrity
face Jim Gaffigan and its new “Nashville Hot” Chicken, during one of
the biggest cultural moments of the year—Super Bowl 50. The goal was
to get as many eyes on the ad as possible without breaking the bank.
Leveraging their expertise, MEC focused on the time and place when
ads are most talked about—post-game on YouTube. In fact, it’s so
popular that YouTube created a special section, YouTube Ad Blitz, where
users can see, share and vote on their favorite Super Bowl
ads. However, to be a part of AdBlitz, you have to be an official Whistleto-Whistle Super Bowl Advertiser and unfortunately KFC was a Pre-Kick
sponsor, which technically didn’t qualify them as an in-game sponsor.
The loophole? With the Pre-Kick, they were given the chance to
sponsor the live stream and get a spot in-game (during quarter 3). This
was half the cost of an actual TV ad and most importantly, it qualified
KFC to be viewed as an official Super Bowl advertiser and take part in
AdBlitz.
Knowing KFC wanted to gain as many eyeballs as possible, they upped
search and social support which ensured people who were searching for
the ad or Super Bowl ads would be exposed to the KFC creative.
As a result, KFC landed in as one of the top 5 in YouTube’s AdBlitz
gallery, reaching 7.7 million views in just 5 days, making them a TOP
Super Bowl advertiser without paying the massive Super Bowl price
tag.
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Bloomberg
Philanthropies Shows
The Power Of Public Art
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Bloomberg Philanthropies believes in the transformative
power of public art
The ability of public art to strengthen community bonds
and drive economic growth is why Bloomberg
Philanthropies invests in public art. It launched the Public
Art Challenge last year, which funds temporary public art
projects that celebrate creativity, enhance urban identity
and encourage public-private partnerships that bring new
investments to neighborhoods. This year, Bloomberg
initiated Light City Baltimore, the first large-scale
international light and ideas festival in the United States.
The event is designed to illuminate Baltimore’s abundance
of cutting-edge talent while fostering discussion and
collaboration among artists, city planners, tech & startup
innovators, philanthropists and those in the culture
profession.
Being a part of the greater good allows brands to initiate
conversations and put the brand at the forefront of
community members’ mind for future events to come. The
success was seen across social and news outlets as a first of
its kind and an innovative approach to bringing together
politics and art.
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INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS
AND
SMART IDEAS
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L’Oréal takes wearables to the beauty counter
The world of wearables is still dominated by
fitness trackers but more diverse examples
are beginning to emerge, such as L'Oréal's
My UV Patch. The initial prototype showed
off at CES ’16 is a simple, heart-shaped
adhesive containing UV sensors that shift in
color when the wearer is exposed to UV rays.
The final product will be launched with a
mobile app the wearer can use to scan the
patch to get useful info on daily sun
exposure—e.g. you’re getting too much sun
and need to seek shade or conversely, you
haven’t absorbed enough and need to seek
out some natural, sun-generated vitamin D.
Wearables are becoming more diverse, more
discreet and more commonplace. They will
continue to spur the quantification of the self
and the consumer’s fascination with personal
data—the black gold of modern marketing.
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McDonald’s latte foam gives a weather report through a
digital billboard
With all the snow that we face during the winter months,
McDonald’s has came up with a fun way to deliver reports
on snowfall at the Whistler Blackcomb resort in Canada.
They created a billboard that uses real-time snowfall data
to synchronize a digital image of whipped cream or foam
levels on espresso drinks to the amount of snowfall in
centimeters. A somewhat similar billboard was produced
last February with a digital billboard for the Egg McMuffin,
showing the sandwich rising into view just like the sun in
the morning.
McDonald's billboards demonstrate that using real-time
data, as simple as weather reports, can lead to a great
campaign. This sheds light on the many ways that brands
can use real-time data and emphasizes the fact that
consumers will find these tactics engaging when it is
relevant.
9
Google’s desktop browser game turns your phone into
a lightsaber
Created to promote the highly-anticipated release of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens, Lightsaber Escape is a Chrome
Experiment (that still functions on other browsers) that
Google made in conjunction with Lucasfilm and Star Wars
visual-effects studio, Industrial Light & Magic. With this
game, your phone becomes a lightsaber handle your
character uses to ward off the enemies on your desktop
screen.
While this is more proof of concept than anything else, this
interaction between phone and computer is pretty
ingenious. Most of the time, content creators think in
terms of simply building a mobile experience or building a
desktop experience. However, this Chrome Experiment
demonstrates that it’s possible to merge the two to create
an entirely new type of experience that redefines “crossplatform.”
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GE creates a digital snow globe via Instagram
With so many various Instagram accounts
representing their individual company verticals
(ge_power, ge_renewableenergy, ge_aviation,
etc.), GE saw a unique opportunity to unite them
for a stand-out winter social media campaign.
Their #DigitalSnowGlobe leveraged Instagram
via hashtags to enable viewers to click on a tag
and discover how GE powers many crucial
components of daily life. People who found all
the snow globes were entered into a
sweepstakes for various relevant “GE-powered”
prizes, like airplane or train tickets.
This impressive social execution truly leverages
the native format (images) and technical (image
tagging) aspects of Instagram to surprise,
delight and engage consumers. Advertisers will
do well to take note of this differentiated way of
storytelling and interactivity, while also aiming
to provide tangible value beyond the norm for
involved audiences. With all the talk of ad
blockers, this simple yet breakthrough approach
can elevate your brand in the minds and hearts
of potential customers.
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KLM Airlines lets you to spend your
layover time with a local
KLM prides itself on offering passengers social experiences
to make travels more memorable. Its ‘Layover With A Local’
campaign aimed to improve layover time by introducing
travelers with locals to showcase the city’s cultural offerings.
How it works? The app pairs users based on mutual interests
in their profile, KLM covers the cost of the trip from the
airport, as well as the first round of drinks in hopes of
“ turning your transfer into a trip."
By taking advantage of a time that is usually spent just
answering emails or taking a nap, KLM introduces
passengers to the city and encourages them to stay longer
than just a layover. Travelers get to experience a place that
they most probably would not have otherwise visited and
locals get to show tourists around (and practice another
language!).
Marketers can take notice of leisure times of travelers and
even locals and use it to provide a beneficial experience.
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EcoMedia offers native advertising with a
nonprofit twist
EcoMedia, a division of CBS Corp, affords brands a unique causemarketing opportunity directly through advertising dollars. It
connects brands with a selection from 150 different nonprofits via
native ads purchased through the company.
For instance, when an advertiser purchases an EcoMedia
“WellnessAd”, the money goes toward causes like school meal
programs, healthcare infrastructure and mobile health clinics. In turn,
EcoMedia produces original content about the brand’s philanthropy.
They then deploy across CBS properties including TV, radio, OOH and
digital, as well as partners such as Meredith and Gannett, to amplify
the story. As a next iteration of this, EcoMedia recently introduced
“Viewers to Volunteers” (V2V), a mobile app that unlocks a valueexchange for viewers of EcoMedia content, giving them power to
dictate how advertising dollars can be allocated to causes they care
about.
As EcoMedia shows us, there is a growing movement into more
seamless operationalization of cause marketing. EcoMedia is a truly
unique approach in connecting brands to causes that in turn resonate
and engage key audiences. As programmatic technologies further
automate these types of elements, brands can approach purposedriven marketing with a renewed vigor. Additionally, brands can find
the right causes that best amplify their brand essence, drive scalable
consumer engagement and generate brand love.
13
NASA creates out of this world e-cards
E-cards are so 2001, but Valentine’s Day
space e-cards delivered by NASA is so
2016. Space nerds were delighted to
receive love from outer-space with an ecard that showcased heart-shaped
discoveries made by the Mars-based
Curiosity Rover. The NASA Mars site
featured 12 Mars-themed Valentine’s Day
designs for senders to choose from. Of
course, NASA worked in an opportunity to
share space content with links to Mars facts
and the NASA site.
NASA cleverly used the human element of
love to make their content relevant,
relatable and easy to share. A great
example of a brand creating memorable
moments with and for their audience,
aligning with the intricacies of their
audience’s lives.
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Marriott's virtual reality transports guests
'around the world'
As part of a larger effort as a brand to inspire nextgeneration travelers, Marriott made moves into VR with
their Teleporter program in 2014, which takes guests to
different corners of the globe via a fully immersive, 4-D
sensory experience. This year, the brand is expanding their
offering via VR Postcards and VRoom Service. These allow
guests to immerse themselves in other travelers’ real,
personal experiences of traveling to destinations around the
world. They are available at select Marriott locations, online
and on Marriott Hotels’ dedicated channel via the Samsung
Milk VR platform.
Everyone may be jumping on the VR bandwagon these
days, but when utilized correctly, it can still be a great way
to connect with consumers and spark interest in a brand.
The hotel brand’s VR experiences have been successful at
engaging with potential customers. 69% of those who
viewed the VR in New York said it was their first experience
with virtual reality, and 51% of the New York participants
said that VR Postcards is something they’d like to see more
of at other Marriott Hotels. The initiative illustrates how
providing more content that consumers enjoy can be
successful when building brand love.
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CREATIVE USE OF
TECHNOLOGY
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Samsung believes virtual reality can
change fine dining
Samsung has shown how head-worn virtual reality
can elevate the dining experience by providing
beautiful images and scenery to diners as they eat. As
one enjoys a glass of wine or a fresh Chilean Seabass
they feel as though they are on a vineyard in Tuscany
or transported to the depths of the ocean,
showcasing how VR can create a dining experience
unlike any other.
While the quality of food is the backbone, VR is a
medium to create a greater sensory experience,
allowing restaurant and other food industry
companies to stand out from the crowd with
innovative technology and unique experiences.
Providing new ways to emphasize and bring out the
best of an experience or product will make brands
shine among competitors.
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MGM bets big on the gamification of
movies
MGM Studios recently invested $18m in Interlude,
a startup that is developing technology that
enables users to interact with video and change
the content experienced according to their
preferences. Think of it as a ‘Choose your own
adventure’ in video format. MGM plans to
re-release the classic 80’s film War Games with
Interlude technology and it’s likely that we’ll all be
choosing our own endings when we access them
on demand.
Modern consumers crave personalization—even
movies, a long standing bastion of the one-sizefits-all content model are going to become
bespoke experiences. The fact that a brand like
MGM is investing in this kind of technology
underscores the fact that it’s imperative to offer
consumers more choices and the opportunity to
take control of the content they consume.
18
Ford develops mobile relationships to
serve the future
Ford is pushing towards being more than a carmaker,
they’re expanding their scope to serve as a mobility
company that helps consumers “move easier”. Scheduled
for an April launch, Ford partnered with various mobile
companies to create The FordPass, a service app made for
both Ford owners and non-owners alike. Attempting to
bring together various transit services under one easy-touse platform, the app will include: FordGuides–a free-ofcharge personal mobility concierge, FordPay–a
commerce element, FordPerks –a rewards system and
FlightCar –eventually to be utilized for ride sharing, car
sharing and multi-modal transportation. To bring the
program full cycle, Ford is investing in physical spaces
across the globe called FordHubs where customers can
experience Ford’s technology first-hand.
Ford is taking a stab at solving for the future—a future
where self-driving cars and car-share programs will quite
likely be a regular in consumers’ lives. As consumer needs
evolve, Ford understands the implications of remaining
relevant to everyday transit decisions. Through a
collection of personal, digital and physical solutions, Ford
is repositioning their business to provide mobility options
for a connected and smarter world.
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Beatie Wolfe leads the way in physical
experiences in a digital-led world for the
music industry
Beatie Wolfe, a singer/songwriter known for seeing music
differently, is pioneering tangible-digital formats to engage
fans and evolve the musical experience. Wolfe’s first album
was released in 2013 as a 3D hologram, requiring an iPhone
placed into a special mirrored plastic device. Although it can be
downloaded, Wolfe also released her latest album through a
series of high-tech business cards that can be read by a
smartphone using NFC technology – tap each card to an
enabled phone and you’ll be taken to a site where you can
discover new songs. To take the physical experience of her
music even further, Wolfe commissioned a gold jacket stitched
with the ‘encoding’ of one of her songs. The jacket is also NFC
enabled, tapping it provides the track and a music video to the
wearer.
The manner in which we consume music has changed
drastically over the years. With digital-only album releases
becoming a popular tactic for many main-stream recording
artists, the conversation around the look and feel of music in a
digital-age has the music industry relying on the intersection
of creative vision and technology advancement.
How can you use technology to further the physical-digital
experience of your client’s brand and/or product? What does
your client look, feel or sound like to consumers in a digitalfirst world?
20
Glamour provides fashionable weather
forecasts in collaboration with Apple
Glamour Magazine and Apple teamed-up to unveil COAT?, an
app that tackles weather-related wardrobe worries. Do I need
a jacket? Is it too cold to wear this skirt without tights? Is it a
hair up kind of day? COAT? has a recommendation ready. The
app accounts for temperature, precipitation and any other
inclement weather to recommend the perfect outfit for your
day. Once within the app, users can browse coat, hair,
accessory styles and more, depending on what categories
selected.
As a trusted source for fashion and beauty advice, Glamour
honed in on providing utility to users by considering readers’
needs and solving for an everyday question: what to wear?
Through knowing most readers check their phones for
weather updates to assist with daily wardrobe decisions,
Glamour was able to seamlessly integrate their brand into the
day-to-day routines of COAT? users. The key is knowing your
audience and providing value that they can rely on. With
technology at the palm of our hands there are limitless ways
to play a role in consumers’ lives.
21
BBC is testing TV shows that adapt to your tastes and
personality
BBC has unveiled an experimental project that creates
video stories that are edited in the moment to suit
individual viewers’ tastes and personalities. The project
called ‘Visual Perceptive Media’ arose from the earlier
audio-based radio drama which was based on the
listener’s location and time of day. The video project
begins with a personalization process that is conducted
via a mobile app; it tracks your music taste, asks you
questions about your personality and assembles and
edits various elements like scenes, characters
perspectives and soundtracks for tailored video drama.
The possibilities are endless and this specific project
shows first-hand how personalization of online video
can play out. With the data analytics available today,
marketers can use this type of technology to their
advantage and make sure their consumers get content
that they will truly welcome and appreciate by
personalizing their messages.
22
Toy Fair 2016 showcases smarter and more technologically
advanced toys
This year’s Toy Fair in New York took place from February
13th to 16th and had many must-see products. The 113th
trade show included a town made of Play-Doh, a pen that
draws 3D plastic, a coding caterpillar and many more
products from large brands like Mattel and Hasbro as well
as smaller companies such as Wonder Workshop and
GoldieBlox. However, the fair was dominated by
newcomers to the industry causing an uptick in more
innovative toys. There was a major focus on toys that
encourage coding through sequencing, and critical
thinking or dolls that celebrate all bodies and ethnicities.
Innovative toys are the future, encouraging more
opportunities for education and a reach toward a new and
younger audience. Celebrating diversity and educational
growth will make toys and brands stand out. Moreover, in
this hyper-social age, marketers will be successful with
toys in which kids can build a community, such as 2014’s
Rainbow Loom success that allowed children to share
their projects on YouTube. This illustrates that marketers
will be success with children and parents when they
consider social aspects, educational aspects and diversity
aspects.
23
Mattel’s new autonomous toy car is steered by
a live cricket
Mattel has found a way to make the ageless childhood hobby of
bug collecting relevant to today’s tech-savvy children. Mattel’s
Bug Racer is controlled by a live cricket scurrying around the
vehicle’s cockpit, steering right or left depending on which side
the insect is moving to. Using an included grasping tool, kids can
introduce their cricket to its fancy new see-through habitat
which features a living area, a dining area for feedings and a
magnified cockpit. Should the creature be too reckless behind
the wheel, the car also has an auto-drive mode that takes control
away from the 6-legged driver.
Amongst a glut of smartphone controlled toys, it’s difficult for a
technology-based toy to stand out, but Mattel has found a way
with this unorthodox electric car. The product of their
experimental “Toy Box” division, Mattel hopes that creations like
this can help counteract falling demand for their once dominant
Barbie and Fisher Price brands. The Bug Racer demonstrates that
experimentation and innovation is essential to any company’s
success, not just those in the tech industry.
24
The next big pain management drug:
Virtual reality
Virtual reality has exploded in popularity in the past several
years, taking hold within the healthcare space. Firsthand
Technology and University of Washington scientists have
developed VR games that can be used by hospitals and
patients to reduce the often excruciating pain of procedures
like cleaning and caring for open wounds. Beyond positive
patient feedback, clinical data has actually show dramatic
reductions in pain with these patients using the VR
distraction. For many patients, this provides a more positive
alternative to habit-forming pain management medications.
Advertisers have been clamoring for virtual reality, aiming to
get in on the ground floor of “the next big thing”. Yet, brands
need to carefully consider what unique benefits and value
they can truly provide consumers through this platform. Are
there pain points in the consumer journey or more broadly in
the consumer experience that your brand can use VR to
alleviate? As VR continues to grow, questions and more will
arise, and brands that are truly honed in on the needs and
desires of their audiences will rise to the top.
25
Google’s Cardboard Camera App takes VR-ready 360
photos in seconds
Google’s Cardboard App is now allowing all who have
the app to go ahead and create their own virtual reality
experiences. With the app, taking a 360-degree
snapshot is as easy as picking a subject to photograph,
pressing record and spinning around in a circle. The
addition of this feature follows the release of Jumper, a
360 camera rig.
The opportunity for wider adoption of creating VR
content makes the VR experience become a
mainstream experience. The broader spread content
not only gets people excited about VR but takes the
possibilities of the future of VR to new heights.
Marketers who realize that VR is becoming a
opportunity for all consumers will be ahead of the curve
and be noticed before others jump on board.
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INTERESTING START-UPS
AND EMERGING TECH
27
Leakserv gets revenge on revenge porn
Revenge porn—the posting of personal, often explicit content
without the permission of the person is a harmful and growing
phenomenon. Exacerbated by the always-on digital and social
media culture, revenge porn and other forms of cyber-bulling can
cause seemingly irreparable, emotional and psychological harm to
victims. Leakserv, a tech start up based in the Netherlands, aims to
truly address this through services that sniff-out and issue
takedown requests on their customer’s behalf.
While revenge porn is largely a consumer-facing issue, brands can
quickly fall victim to misuse and distortion of a brand identity in a
similar fashion. While consumers hardly have the access to robust
PR & legal teams and negative-buzz tracking technology that
brands have, there are constantly evolving ways in which
consumers negatively impact brands. An example of one way that
affects video assets is “freebooting”, where a user can download
and re-upload a brand’s video to their profile, stealing viewership
from a brand. Facebook, in particular has run into issues with this,
as they continue to evolve their quickly growing video capabilities.
While Facebook is establishing guidelines and tracking to better
address this, the issue underscores the need for brands to
familiarize themselves with third-party technologies that provide
more comprehensive solutions for brands.
28
The Right Cup makes water that smells
and tastes good
A flavor experience resulting from the combination between
scent and taste gives water an entirely new flavor profile. With
the sense of smell responsible for 80% of the flavor
experience, The Right Cup inserted aromatic flavors into the
cup’s structure. By doing this, The Right Cup successfully
manipulates the brain with smell. The cup’s design embellishes
the aroma’s flavors with a unique design that positions your
nose right over the opening, allowing your nose to pick-up the
fruit smell while you sip the sweet-tasting water.
The world’s first scented cup was designed to make drinking
water more enjoyable and aimed to simplify and compete
against fruit-infuser water bottles. Scented solutions,
identified as scent-marketing, has been known to prompt
strong emotional reactions. By using scents, brands can
potentially connect with consumers on a deeper level,
resulting in a more memorable experience. Scent-marketing
is not a new tactic – used by The Body Shop and Starbucks in
the past –but it’s the innovative technology that helps to take
scent-marketing to the next level.
29
Seed is a smart bottle that tracks your water intake
Joining other crowd-funded products, Seed is a
Bluetooth-enabled smart bottle that
encourages people to drink more water.
Featuring an LED touch screen, Seed displays
water temperature, reminds you when you
need to drink and tracks storage time to notify
you if your drink is stale. It also connects to
health apps such as Apple Health.
Smart water bottles almost seem like an SNL
joke, taking the “internet of everything” idea
to the extreme by solving for a problem that
evolution has already accomplished via the
sensation of thirst. But the fact that these
products keep getting crowd-funded suggests
that we have yet to reach a tipping point in the
quantification of every facet of our lives. It’s
clear that smart devices will continue to
expand and diversify, increasing the amount
and variety of data that can be mined and
analyzed.
30
People.io finds consumers who are eager
to communicate with brands
Designed to address the hardships created by ad-blocking, People.io
launched a platform giving consumers the power to license their data to
brands. This marketplace platform allows consumers the ability to control
when, where, how often and from whom they are willing to receive marketing
messages. Encouraged through an incentive-based strategy, consumers will
use the platform to earn credits by sharing information and engaging with
personalized content. Consumers can then exchange credits for products and
subscriptions from their favorite brands.
The idea here is to provide brands with the opportunity to buy advertising
that can connect directly with potential consumers who want to listen.
Creating a fairer value exchange for consumers and developing a trusting
environment for interactions between brands and their audience, People.io
works to cultivate deeper engagements that are certain to leave a positive
experience for both parties.
31
Convivial introduces an augmented reality book that
requires no apps or glasses
Convivial has created a DIY tutorial on how to make an
augmented reality book that requires no glasses or
phone screens, all that is necessary is a Kinect, a
projector and a computer. The screen-free AR
experience requires coding to create accurate tracking
and augmentation that allows the computer to identify
the page and track the relative location and position of
the AR content. The final product, which is impressively
built with familiar devices and does not need any
soldering or hardware tampering, is beautiful and
exactly how augmented reality is imagined to be—
visible to the naked eye.
Creating an AR experience that does not require
wearables enables more opportunities for the
technology to progress. Without the add-ons that are
often necessary, consumers and marketers are not held
back and can seamlessly experience AR. The future of
AR and others like it will probably provide an
experience where additional screens are not necessary.
32
Reality Editor changes how you connect your home
A common lament about the burgeoning
Internet of Things is that there is no one
operating system tying all these new digital
nodes together. Reality Editor, an iOS app
designed by MIT’s Fluid Interfaces Lab, aims to
change that with a simple drag and drop UX that
enables you to link digital objects in your home
by simply drawing a line between them on the
screen.
The Connected Life may become a reality
sooner than we think, bringing with it new
streams of data with which to contextualize
marketing communications and content.
However, the real takeaway here is that in an
increasingly complex digital world, simplicity
and user friendliness trump all else.
33
Will your TV be the center of the connected home?
Samsung thinks so
Connected household objects range from
refrigerators to thermostats are entering the market
fast and furious. Yet unlike smartphones and PCs,
there’s no operating system for the Internet of
Things leaving consumers at a loss when trying to
actually connect the disparate elements of their
connected home. This dilemma was the impetus
behind Samsung’s acquisition of start-up,
SmartThings, in 2014. SmartThings technology has
since been integrated into Samsung’s latest line of
smart TVs with the goal of turning the TV set into a
command center for the digital home of the future.
It’s now commonly accepted that formerly analogue
household objects will have digital dimensions of
some kind in the near future, like a phone charging
nightstand. The missing link in this primordial soup
of digital everything is an operating system and
central hub to link them all together and manage
the flow of information from one to another. But it’s
still the early days– the only thing we’re relatively
sure of at this point is that the control panel for your
personal internet of everything is much more likely
to be your phone than your TV.
34
Sunshine App allows communities to forecast the weather
Tapping into barometric pressure sensors in the iPhone 6
and [some] Android smartphones, Sunshine - a new free
app, relies on a crowdsourcing model to offer up-todate, localized weather forecasting. The app also
encourages users to provide updates through a gaming
element that exchanges points for engagement,
increasing the users’ weight and titles on the ‘local
leaderboards.’ In addition to user reporting and phone
data, information from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration fuels predictive algorithms
producing an interactive map that delivers 18-hour
forecasts – or “Nowcasts” as Sunshine calls them. For
added convenience the app sends push notifications to
assist users with morning wardrobe decisions.
Although this app is still in the beta-phase, it highlights
how we can use technology to inspire new solutions for
old and familiar problems. Most weather forecasts are
not localized and to replace the moments when
weathermen call for rain on sunny days, Sunshine plans
to provide weather predictions more accurately through
having enough users sharing data – approximately three
per square mile. The key to this concept is the rate at
which users change their behaviors from checking the
weather to reporting the weather themselves.
35
Make way for the next generation of Google Glass
Google officially ended the Glass Explorer program
in January 2015 leading to endless industry jokes
about Brin & Page’s big white elephant. However,
the prescient marketers that said it wasn’t the end
of Glass, just a redirection, were proved right when
FCC filings in December ’15 gave us a glimpse of
new Glass designed for the enterprise. Waterproof,
foldable and more durable than its consumer-facing
predecessor, ‘Glass for Work’ is reported to be
shipping to hundreds of pilot companies for use in
design, supply chain management and many other
as yet unforeseen enterprise activities.
There’s no question that AR and VR are here to stay
but given the cost involved in consumer adoption,
both are poised to find their early success in the
enterprise where they will accelerate product
development and revolutionize the delivery of
goods and services, including brick and mortar CRM.
It’s more than likely that most consumers will have
their initial interest piqued by VR & AR when they
encounter Glass-equipped sales people in brick and
mortar stores.
36
All you need is love (Moji’s)
It is official: Emojis are just about as famous as the
Beatles…well sort of. Paul McCartney recently put his
musical genius to work in the form of emoji’s, via a unique
partnership with Skype. In celebration of Valentine’s Day,
the icon (pun-intended) was tasked with imbuing custom
musical overtones into themed Skype “audio moji’s.”
Dubbed “The Love Moji’s,” these bite-sized images
proved both fun, yet challenging, to create, even for the
timeless rock star. “You suddenly realize you’ve got to
compress a musical interpretation of an expression into
less than five seconds,” McCartney said in a statement.
The task that challenged a master of the musical arts is
one that faces brands every day – namely the shrinking
palette of storytelling. Seven-second Vines, ephemeral
Snapchat messages, one-word hashtags, looping GIFs
and a baby-thumbnail-sized emoji’s all speak to the fact
that micro-content is standard communication for
audiences today. With social platforms now mass media
and messaging app usage spiking, advertisers need to
actively test how best to leverage these varied formats to
simply keep in lock-step with consumers. With
production efficiency in mind, brands should examine
existing or “in-the-development-queue” assets that can
be cut-down and repurposed to best fit the modern mode
of these micro-media channels.
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CECO Home provides stable connection
for connected homes
For us to consider connected homes a possible reality of the
future, we have to address one huge issue – what are we
going to do if the power goes out? The answer is easy. A
home automation company named iSocket Systems has
created a cellular connected home called CECO Home. The
connected home monitoring system uses 3G technology to
communicate with the outside world. The concept is based
on a multi-plug that operates as a cellular router for other
smart home devices, improving the stability of the entire
connected system. It combines two secure modern
technologies: Cellular and Thread – Thread being a lowpower, IP-based wireless networking protocol. To motivate
further innovation within the connected home vertical,
CECO Home bares an open API for developers.
While most other players use cellular as a backup, CECO
Home has found their uniqueness in using cellular as their
main ingredient. This solution points to a possible change in
our connectivity patterns, although right now WiFi is the
standard for in-home internet connection, cellular networks
will continue to play a role in the evolution of IoT and smart
homes.
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Chrome for Android can now talk to physical objects in the
real world
Google’s Physical Web is a feature that allows phones to
connect with devices around them, like bus stops or parking
meters, and receive information directly without using
another app. When you approach a beacon for the first time,
you’ll receive a notification with the option to turn on the
‘Physical Web.’ If you choose to do so, you’ll automatically
receive information from beacons you encounter in the future
as well. The beacons aren’t just for outdoor use either, as
evidenced by the 1,500 beacons Google put in place at this
year’s CES to help people navigate the expo.
The Internet of Things is making objects around us smarter,
but there isn’t a standard way of interacting with them, with
many such devices requiring the download of a custom mobile
app. Chrome’s Physical Web helps to lower the barrier by
eliminating any extra steps needed for a user to receive a
beacon message. For marketers, this technology is a simple
way to guide consumers toward stores or even particular
aisles, or encourage seamless sign-up for a subscription
service.
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Babypod: You’ve heard of wearables, but what about
insertables?
Are there any lengths expectant parents won’t go
to make their kid smarter? Apparently not, as
evidenced by Babypod, makers of a speaker that
pregnant woman can insert in their nether region
to directly deliver music and other sounds that
encourage neural development to their fetus.
If you think wearables aren’t here to stay, think
again. Generations that have grown up digital are
more than at peace with attaching tech to their
bodies and thanks to the rapid evolution of
biotechnology, they’re more than likely to
embrace putting it in their bodies as well.
Subdermals, insertables, retinal implants, 3D
printed cyborg kidneys—it’s all coming so you
might as well sit back and embrace The Borg.
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Enforce good gaming posture with EyeForcer
While it’s tempting to let your child play a little too long
on his or her iPad, beware of Gameboy Disease, a new
and widespread phenomenon in which children who
overindulge in electronics develop Quasimodo-esque
spinal deformities. Enter The EyeForcer, from Medical
Wearable Solutions, a wearable that emits warnings to
the gamer through his or her device when good posture
starts to decline. If the wearer doesn’t literally shape up
after a few warnings, the game or video will shut down.
The slow but steady adoption of the quantification of
the self is training consumers (even the smallest of
them) to understand that their every movement
produces data and that sharing that data with a brand
can be to their benefit. Today’s children are growing up
immersed in this understanding of data as currency and
are far more likely than their parents to share it freely
with the brands they trust for content and experiences
of all kinds.
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Say ‘hi’ to the real smartwatch - Dokiwatch
DokiWatch may be the most advanced smart watch
on the market that you haven’t heard of…likely
because it’s made for kids. The bulky wrist-worn
device offers video calls (no phone tethering
required) and a digi-pet interactive activity tracker.
Several key safety features like an S.O.S. alert mode
and geo-fences that let parents know where their
children are will certainly grab the attention of
parents. Debuted at CES this year, DokiWatch has
already blown through their crowd-funding goal of
$20K by generating over $375K in support. The
device is scheduled for release in July of this year.
Echoing Inspector-Gadget-like features, the
DokiWatch represents what is sure to be a dynamic
and more immediate evolution in the wearables
space. Brands would do well to consider how the
mobile video consumer experience will continue to
shift to the point where vertical video is now joined
by “micro-square” screen of smartwatches. Simply
using big-screen video creative – namely, TV ads –
may be operable today by simply turning your phone
horizontal. However, the smartwatch screen will
prove more difficult to adapt to for brands that have
not already sought out ways to leverage
screen/platform-maximizing creative.
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Thync: On-demand relaxation & energy
What do you need to get energized or relaxed? Well now there’s
a wearable for that. Thync is a small sensory device that uses
slight electrical currents and vibrations to stimulate relaxation or
rejuvenation for the wearer. Thync operates through a
triangular shaped plastic node attached to one’s forehead via an
adhesive strap extending from the back of the neck. It’s
accompanied with a smartphone app that operates as the “vibe”
control panel. While echoing the slight awkwardness of Google
Glass, this device is a cool wearable technology that has the
power to alter your state of mind for the better.
Wearables like Thync will provide a uniquely symbiotic
opportunity for brands willing to (carefully) connect with
consumers. With these types of wearables scaling up, the role of
next gen native advertising (perhaps a Thync Red Bull “hypervibe”) and value-exchanges (a free pack of Thync straps courtesy
of Massage Envy) will begin to perpetuate. Furthermore, new
wearable technologies like Thync provide marketers a glimpse
into how the data economy will drastically shift in the very near
future. The new walled gardens of biometric data players will
rival the Facebooks and Googles of the world as the predictive
marketing demand for these unique data sets grow. This also
increases the need for adequate privacy constraints due to the
intimacy of personal data that these technologies have access
to.
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How tech’s big 3 are getting ready to
read your emotions
We take for granted the fact that Apple, Google and Facebook
almost certainly know everything about us, but now these
companies are looking to use Artificial Intelligence to get to
know our feelings as well. Google’s vision for the future of
search is all about leveraging AI to deliver contextually
relevant solutions to users automatically. Apple will use newly
acquired technology to enable Siri to read your facial
expressions via the iPhone’s front-facing camera, interpret
them and assist you with whatever your need without a word
needing to be said. Facebook wants to use AI to improve the
predictive accuracy of the Facebook newsfeed algorithm to
deliver contextually relevant content and advertising.
In order to get in front of AI integration into popular platforms,
marketers need to consider a predictive search strategy by
integrating with applications like Google Now and Maps. By
doing so, they will establish an emotional connection between
their brand and what the consumer ultimately wants or needs.
Brands should also think about providing consumers with
high-value, contextually relevant content, versus splashy high
profile ideas. While not a new concept, this can be
accomplished in a new way by interpreting facial expressions
into emotions.
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Ocean is a battery-powered wireless server that fits in
your pocket
Ocean is a full server that is the size of a mobile phone, it fits in
your pocket and has a build in battery that lasts about two days. It’s
pre-loaded with Linux, 1GHZ dual core CPU, 1GB of RAM, USB 3.0,
a 4200mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and Wi-Fi. The Ocean unit can
function as a customized router, or even a hub for your home IoT
projects. As if Ocean did not offer enough, their mobile and
desktop app will directly connect and can be controlled by your
devices, making this small portable technology extremely useful
and versatile.
The versatility of this technology is impeccable; it can become a
source to collect data, a USB interrogation tool, in addition to a
headless mobile web server for developers. The portability and
multifaceted nature of this device and devices like it, illustrate that
technology has no limit, making it known that innovative ideas can
make a difference and the IoT is a reality.
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Samsung patents roll-able, foldable, bendable screens for
phones and tablets
Having publicly demonstrated non-rigid screens in the past,
Samsung is moving further in this direction by filing patents
for flexible smartphone screen technology. The first of three
designs is a roll-able phone that looks a like a scroll, allowing a
large screen to fit in a compact tube shape when not in use.
The second design features a hinged tab that covers the
screen when not in use, but nearly doubles in size when
opened. A third design calls to mind clamshell designs of
dumb phones, except the screen itself folds over, granting
users quick access to apps while the phone is in a “closed”
state.
Flexible screens allow users to have the best of both worlds,
screen size and portability, without having to worry about the
all too common cracked screen problem. This technology also
has the power to change the way people interact with their
devices, creating a more tactile experience. Content creators
will be challenged with adapting to these new methods of user
interaction - no easy task after almost a decade of static
smartphone screens.
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Yondr allows venues to create phone-free
spaces
Living in a mobile-driven world is great, but creates an
inevitable disturbance at concerts, live shows and at other
times when authenticity, privacy or exclusivity is desired.
Yondr solves this problem with pouches that disable
smartphones. Upon arrival at a venue, phones are placed in
a Yondr case, and once they enter the phone-free zone, the
cases lock. Although attendees maintain possession of their
phones, their phones are disabled and they can enjoy the
experience without distraction and if they really need to use
their phones, they can step out of the phone-free zone to
unlock the case.
This simple technology has great reach because it enables a
powerful moment of removing distractions. The removal of
a smartphone also stops people constantly trying to
document or broadcast where they are and makes people
more engaged. All in all, this will remove illegal or pre-edited
distribution of events by smartphones and also it will create
a more impressionable audience.
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Diebold allows you to self-checkout from your smartphone
Diebold – a company best known for its work in
ATMs – revealed a new retail checkout concept,
merging an ATM and a self-checkout within a mobile
solution. The concept is simple—consumers use the
mobile wallet app to scan items while they shop.
Once a consumer is finished, they simply tap their
phone at the self-checkout unit and pay via the
preloaded card information saved in the mobile
wallet. The checkout terminal can also function as an
ATM, providing consumers with a cashback option.
Diebold connected the dots between banking and
retail to simplify the in-store shopping experience,
delivering speed and convenience. This concept also
has the potential to create numerous possibilities for
brands in terms of custom advertising experiences,
engaging mobile campaigns, streamlining
membership rewards programs and most
importantly, access to valuable consumer data.
Although there is still a lot of details to work out –
like people forgetting to scan items before leaving
the store – the future of retail is very mobile.
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Never take another wrong turn with Walc
While most navigation apps rely on algorithms and
satellite imagery, the Walc app takes a more organic
approach that appeals to a human being's very visual
sense of direction. Data crowdsourced from users of the
app is used to create directions based on businesses and
other landmarks that the walker can actually see—think
“Turn left at the Starbucks on the corner” vs. “Turn left in
100 feet”.
Consumers are increasingly willing to share personal
data to improve the content that they—and others—
consume and this proclivity can be leveraged by
marketers to create customer experiences that appeal to
them on a more human and ultimately relevant level.
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Artificial intelligence rises in Silicon Valley and beyond
Elon Musk, Peter Theil and other Silicon Valley heavyweights
have ponied up $1 billion to start a research firm called OpenAI
Inc. But in an oddly altruistic twist, this organization has been
intentionally set up as a non-profit. While aiming to eschew the
shackles of shareholders and collegiate grant-writing typical of
these types of projects, Open AI has been set up to have the
highest transparency to the public about the technology’s
capabilities instead of prioritizing its commercial possibilities.
While Musk’s publicized concerns for a dystopian future of bad
A.I. (a la The Terminator and I, Robot) , Tesla and other
companies among the high-profile investors are sure to benefit
from first-views of the output from Open AI.
With A.I. on deck as the “next big thing” for the marketing
industry (leading off is VR), all major players are beginning to
position themselves to be the lead horse in the marketplace.
Open AI’s role as the noble alternative to Google’s DeepMind,
Microsoft’s SwiftKey and Facebook’s growing AI capabilities will
be interesting to observe in the long-run. While AI is rife with
potential advertising benefits in the form of unparalleled big
data crunching and enhanced predictive marketing, deployment
transparency with audiences and prioritizing consumers will
remain paramount. Additionally, brands should consider
internal processes that could potentially benefit from the
applications of AI, such as logistics, supply chain and product
development.
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SOME OF THE SITES WE’VE BEEN LOOKING AT
Below is a small selection of the sites that we’ve been looking at. If you know of other
great sites to seek inspiration, please share.
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www.mashable.com
www.contagiousmagazine.com
www.trendexplorer.com
www.adage.com
http://recode.net
www.influxinsights.com
www.trendwatching.com
www.cnet.com
www.techcrunch.com
www.emarketer.com
www.bbc.co.uk/technology
http://www.fastcocreate.com/
www.digitalbuzzblog.com
http://www.fastcoexist.com/
www.psfk.com
http://www.wired.com/design/
http://www.adverblog.com/
http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/
For more information, please contact:
Whitney Fishman Zember
Whitney.fishman@mecglobal.com
A special thank you to our contributors:
Angel Grant
Felicia Carmichael
Kimberly Zar
Patrick Foglia
Rachel Pasqua
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