"Alexa"
Just over a week ago Amazon announced a new product available to buy in the US called Echo. If you missed this rather low-key announcement, it launched with a four-minute long advert which feels a bit like a film trailer about a wacky dad who buys a robot for his kids.
Echo is a connected always-on device for your home which is "designed around your voice". It allows the user to perform Siri-like voice commands such as searches, playing music or setting alarms after saying the wake word, "Alexa".
At the moment it is a fairly unique product but offers little more than a modern smartphone with Siri or Google Now. Yet not being tied to a phone may be a plus point for Echo as Amazon wants to position it as central to your home, and with regular updates it has the potential to kickstart the 'connected-home' era.
The battle for the living room just got bigger
Voice search and voice commands are certainly not new. Smartphones have already been mentioned, but there is also Xbox's Kinect which lets you control your Xbox with your voice. The new Amazon Fire TV box has voice search and another product, Ivee, can control your home's connected devices through voice commands.
Amazon Echo has the potential to usurp all these and become the main controlling device for your home for two reasons; the familiarity of Amazon's brand, and the ability Amazon has to sell additional Echo-connected products. You can imagine a future where you ask Echo if your food is nearly cooked in your Amazon-bought oven, or get Echo to switch on your lights before you even walk upstairs. Brands no longer just want to control your living room, they want to control your whole house.
Marketing to the senses
New ways of interacting with brands and products will inevitably mean new ways to communicate with consumers. As this article points out, there has been an increase over the last few years of brands using sensory marketing techniques to fully engage their customers. From smartwatches that touch you, to sound and visually augmented food, technology is becoming more important in marketing a brand.
Virtual reality could be one avenue that brands look towards to engage their customer's senses. To make a big impact however, it is unlikely to be through expensive headsets like Occulus Rift but on platforms available to all. Take Google Cardboard which is a DIY approach to virtual reality. For less than £10 you can build or buy a cardboard headset which holds your Android phone and gives you a no-frills virtual reality experience through an app or web browser. There are a number of applications for this sort of technology; you could easily imagine virtual product demonstrations or exploring the room of a potential hotel you want to book all through an app. John Lewis has been one of the first brands to use Google Cardboard in their recent Monty the Penguin Christmas campaign.
Reviews from the heart
Wearable tech is going to lead to an increase in the amount of data both companies and brands can collect from us. Even now manufacturers are saying they need a better ability to analyse data from their connected devices.
Wearables are being made with the ability to analyse your mood from the sound of your voice (courtsey of will.i.am!) or track your body's response to exercise through your sweat, and companies are starting to integrate this type of information into products. Biogram for instance stamps an Instagram photo with your heart rate when the shutter is pushed, measuring your true excitement levels wherever you take a photo. Could this type of data potentially become the next wave of customer reviews? Given that 84% of consumers around the world say they trust word of mouth above all other forms of advertising, biometrics might become the ultimate reviewing tool for brands. A poster for a horror film could show the average heart rate of viewers rather than critic's stars for instance. Or a bed supplier could actually prove that their mattresses give you the most relaxing nights sleep. It may be a way off yet, but if biometric wearables go mainstream someone will use all that collected data for something.
