“Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Up until now, the talking mirror that seals Snow White’s fate at the hands of the Wicked Queen has been the stuff of fairytales. That was until LG unveiled its own magic mirror, which uses Android to run an app that analyses your complexion.
Visitors to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March could ask the mirror for a diagnosis on the condition of their skin via a touch display. They would then receive advice complete with recommended cosmetics and other related content. It even lets you make an appointment with a dermatologist – presumably in an attempt to stop you going around poisoning apples and offering them to people with better skin.
LG’s inroad into the internet of things highlights the evolution of smart wearable technology, which is moving from tracking health and fitness to tracking skin care and beauty. The future of trackable technology will infiltrate the vehicles we drive, the smartphone apps we use, the clothes we wear and the living environments that surround us.
At London Fashion Week in February, fashion label Ralph Lauren unveiled its new polo tech shirt, which tracks and streams real-time biometric data directly to a smartphone or tablet. It tracks distance, calories burned, intensity of movement, heart rate and stress.
Meanwhile in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, highlights included remote valet parking assistant technology from BMW, which allows the driver to issue a self-parking command through their smart watch once they’ve left the vehicle, and also recall the car from the garage. Hyundai also showcased a smartwatch that can start or unlock a Genesis luxury sedan with the tap of the finger, while Audi focused on the future of in-car infotainment systems.
As the convergence of fashion, beauty, lifestyle and technology takes hold, brands will have a greater ability to cultivate behaviours and mindsets based on the tracking of daily habits.
There is no doubt that the future of media, data and content marketing now extends to our phones, watches, glasses, wristbands and all mobile devices. As it proliferates, brands need to have fully mobile-integrated strategies in place that consider all elements of its evolution.
As media agencies, we need to not only consider how trackable mobile technology works for individual areas, such as location-based marketing or mobile commerce. We also need to plan how these touch points can connect organically, where we need to attribute investment at certain points along the customer journey, and how we’re able to optimise data and content to reach people in ways they want to be reached.
Ultimately brands recognise now more than ever that to sell products and build loyalty, they need to provide real-time, meaningful value that improves people’s overall lives on a daily and consistent basis.
Rori DuBoff is global head of strategy for Havas Media Group
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