This year’s international CES in Las Vegas was an experience. On show was a multi-sensory, multi-platform world connected through sensors, robotics, high-fidelity systems and smart wearable technologies.
After such an adrenaline-charged beginning to the year, many of us are full of inspiration and anticipation of what’s next. Here are five areas of interest for marketers in 2015.
Custom connectivity and creativity
Not every consumer wants to be connected to everything around them all of the time. So as marketers, we should focus on consumer choice, control and expression. What value can you add to the consumer’s life through technology? How can products enable personal creativity and productivity? And how can you use data to inform better decision-making and improve consumers’ real-life experiences?
Responsive environments
Enabling these more connected, personalised ways of living are what some commentators are calling “responsive” environments. These are the screens, sensors and digital interfaces that are becoming commonplace everywhere around us. From the living room to the bathroom, the car to the sidewalk – screens, wireless networks and sensors will be accessible everywhere.
Ultimately, screens and sensors will be built into walls and into the very structure of our lives to create frictionless and integrated ambient experiences. Our surrounding spaces will become more personalised, automatically optimising audio, temperature, light, messages and more based upon our individual needs.
Alternate and enhanced realities
This is about blending the physical and digital worlds to enhance life experiences. Whereas virtual reality (VR) is a fully 360-degree immersive view of an alternate world, augmented reality is an added layer of relevant content that doesn’t replace the real world that you experience. These technologies will ultimately merge into one to create more immersive storytelling and learning experiences. No longer is this about gaming; enhanced realities are impacting areas such as retail and travel, enabling shoppers to 3D-visualise and customise product choices or potential travel destinations.
Content as currency
In 2015 and beyond we will also see the fusion of content with tech to connect to people’s passion points. Whether it’s higher fidelity systems, 3D, 4k, live streaming, user-generated or brand-created, content is what differentiates a commodity product from a meaningful experience. Brands, tech and media companies will need to collaborate more to find new talent, new models of working and new ways of connecting with consumers through quality, modular content.
New mobility
This will be a big area of interest for many public-facing industries, such as commerce, automotive, retail, travel and creative production. New technologies such as drones, electric scooters, autonomous cars, robotic helpers and automatic bikes are enabling more versatile ways of moving, managing and exploring remote spaces.
Location-based marketing will be critical to this, as marketers look for new ways to reach people on the go. This may be through video, global positioning system notifications, sponsored routes, targeted coupons and offers, digital signage or mobile commerce.
In this new world of mobility, VR and custom connectivity, the future of marketing and media looks exciting. Technology alone will not deliver meaningful impact for consumers, but with smart use of content and data, along with a true consumer-centric mindset, we can succeed in creating meaningful connections.
Rori DuBoff is global head of strategy at Havas Media Group
This advertisement feature is provided by Havas Media Group, sponsors of the Guardian Media Network’s Organic marketing hub.
