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Speech, gesture, touch, sight: why truly intuitive technologies are set to transform your customer interactions forever.

It feels like it's been a lifetime since smartphones started radically transforming the lives of people across the globe.

OK, it's about eight years. Still, now that many of the behaviors around mobile are firmly established - and highly visible - it's possible to take a step back and assess the impact of this revolution.

One way of looking at all this? Yes, mobile has been a revolution in myriad ways, including the explosion in the volume of content available to on-the-go consumers. But the human experience of reading on a mobile device?
Still holding a rectangle. Still looking down.

The average smartphone user checks their phone 221 times a day.
Tecmark, October 2014

The volume of information and digital task-management - news alerts, WhatsApp messages, Uber arrival notifications, viral videos, and on, and on - streaming at consumers today is vast.

But no, this is not simply about too much information: after all, apps can be deleted and behaviors can be stopped - if that's what a user wants.

Rather, the digital revolution has made available too much truly great information and functionality.
Connected people - they, you, all of us - are trapped in a paradox: the digital information and functionality that we love is becoming so behaviorally, socially and cognitively intrusive that it's starting to impact on our relationships, productivity, ability to concentrate - we could go on. And yet we still want more!
No wonder rising numbers of consumers are looking for a new approach.

NO INTERFACE | Determined to feed their ever-intensifying addictions to digital information AND live in the present moment, consumers are demanding new, more natural forms of interaction with technology. That means devices they can talk to, notifications they can feel, information that's a part of the world around them - and much more!

Truly natural, intuitive interaction with technology has always been the dream. That is, interaction so natural, so human, that it needs NO INTERFACE.*

So what's different now? In 2016 NO INTERFACE will finally become a reality, thanks to the powerful convergence of primed user expectation and new technologies that are both fueling and serving the need for more natural interactions with tech.

* This Briefing wouldn't be complete without a nod to Golden Krishna, who coined the phrase, and literally wrote the book on, NO INTERFACE technologies.

So why are NO INTERFACE interactions becoming a real concern for ordinary users (rather than just a tech-geek fantasy)?

Consider: time spent on devices is still rising. Across 30 markets, time spent on mobile devices is at an average of 1.35 hours per day, up from 40 minutes in 2012 (GlobalWebIndex, January 2015).

Something has to give. Consumers know that if they are to continue - indeed, intensify - their love with tech, they need newer, faster and more intuitive ways to interact with it.

Meanwhile, the mainstreaming of contextual, anticipatory services (such as Google Now) has made smartphone users accustomed to the idea that digital services should be unobtrusive. Combined with the rise of effective voice interaction, that has primed device users to expect more NO INTERFACE innovation.

40% of adult smartphone owners use voice search to ask for directions, 39% to dictate a text message, 32% to make a phone call, 23% while they are cooking.
Google Mobile Voice Study, October 2014

Think consumers have more information than they can handle now? Wait until multiple household objects are online and sending notifications.

The Internet of Things, wearable devices and beacon technology are about to send a whole new avalanche of notifications, alerts, data, deals and more to the screens of willing consumers. One indication of the what's to come? Tech analysts forecast that 4.9 billion connected objects will be in use in 2015, up 30% on 2014 (Gartner, November 2014).

But while new technologies are fueling the consumer need for more intuitive interactions with technology, they are also providing new solutions. Yes, there's the tap on the wrist (will it become the standard NO INTERFACE notification?), but also connected objects that respond to voice, Sat Navs that bring augmented reality to driving, tablets that understand gestures (all below) and much more.

Google Panda - a cute digital companion equipped with 'state of the art emotional and conversational intelligence' - may have been an April Fool, but the underlying truth is that consumers are ready for warm, fuzzy, voice-enabled interactions with tech!

NEXT 1/4

A whole new world of notifications.

In a world where devices will tap, pulse and even warm their wearers, you have the opportunity to alert consumers in entirely new ways.
Deals and discounts? News? A simple buzz that says 'we are nearby'? Get it right, and you'll become part of a new ecosystem of intuitive information. Get it wrong, and you'll enrage potential customers.

NEXT 3/4

Complex processes are reduced to ONE TOUCH.

OK, a one-touch interaction isn't truly NO INTERFACE, but it serves the same expectations of speed, convenience and seamlessness.
Amazon Dash buttons will do it for e-commerce, while Xiaomi is partnering with Alipay so that its wearable Mi Band will offer instant one-touch payments. What can YOU reduce to one touch?

NEXT 4/4

Faces become credit cards (and more).

The ultimate NO INTERFACE interaction? Just showing up! Advances in face recognition technology means customers will expect to be recognized on sight. While Jack Ma demonstrated Alibaba's 'pay with a selfie' tech in March, Apple quietly received a patent for using facial recognition to unlock a mobile device. Get ready for customer impatience to ramp up!

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Speech, gesture, touch, sight: why truly intuitive technologies are set to transform your customer interactions forever. It feels like it's been a lifetime since smartphones started radically transforming the lives of people across the globe. OK, it's about eight years.

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Google is set to unveil its MVNO service later today and charge customers for the amount of data they use, rather than sell data 'buckets', according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

There is no official confirmation as to which network operators are selling wholesale capacity to Google, but previous media reports named T-Mobile US and Sprint.

T-Mobile US already offers its customers a way to avoid paying for data they don't use through Data Stash, its data rollover scheme.

AT&T offers something similar, though the offer is not as generous. AT&T's data rollover stretches only to the next month, rather than the maximum 12 months available with Data Stash.

Neither Verizon nor Sprint offer data rollover options, although a Google push on data-usage pricing might well encourage a re-think.

How widely the Google MVNO service will be available at launch is not known at this stage, although Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Google - who also heads up the search engine giant's Android division - insisted at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) that the service would be small scale and was not intended to compete with national operators.

Indeed, according to unnamed sources cited by WSJ in previous reports, the service will be restricted to Google's latest Nexus 6 smartphone at launch, and not work with any other Android-powered device, including older Nexus models.

Pichai stressed, too, that the MVNO would be primarily concerned with innovation, and develop new products and services that network operators might be keen to adopt.

One area of innovation flagged by the Android chief at MWC was making the experience of switching between cellular and Wi-Fi networks more seamless for consumers, as well as reconnecting dropped calls automatically.

"We are working with carrier partners on this, so they know what we're doing", he said. "Our goal is to drive a set of innovations which we think the ecosystem should adopt, and hopefully will get traction if our carrier partners think they're good enough."

The MVNO's Nexus 6 phones, according to various reports, will dynamically switch between Sprint and T-Mobile US networks, depending on which carrier has the strongest signal.

There are no doubt industry fears, however, that a Google-run MVNO will not solely be about technical experimentation, but pose a retail revenue threat to network operators.

Sprint appears alive to that risk. According to media reports, the operator apparently inserted a clause into its wholesale arrangement giving it some protection if the Google MVNO proves highly successful. The contract, it seems, can be re-negotiated if certain thresholds are crossed, although it is not clear if these relate to traffic or subscriber volume.

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Google is set to unveil its MVNO service later today and charge customers for the amount of data they use, rather than sell data 'buckets', according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). There is no official confirmation as to which network operators are selling wholesale capacity to Google, but previous media reports named T-Mobile US and Sprint.

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STEVENS, PA: Brands and marketers should be elevating their gaze from the traditional middle class in the US, which has seen its discretionary spending power eroded in recent years, towards a higher income group dubbed HENRYs, or High Earners Not Rich Yet.

These consumers have household incomes between $100k and $250k, twice the level of the traditional middle-class ($50k-$99.9k) and are, according to Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of a new report, Meet the HENRYs, "the 'new mass market' for marketers and brands up and down the pricing scale".

The number of HENRY households is growing faster than the overall number of households - 11% between 2010 and 2013 for the former compared to 2.5% for the latter - although slower than ultra-affluent households ($250k+) which leapt 32.6% during this time.

Danziger highlighted the importance of the combined spending power of HENRY households.

They may only spend half as much as ultra-affluents on luxury and high end purchases, but their significantly greater numbers (24.3m households) mean that the total value of the HENRY market is about four times that of the ultra-affluent market (3.3m households).

"Marketers have historically felt that ultra-affluents were their ideal consumer, but there simply aren't enough ultra-affluents to keep luxury brands afloat in today's market," she said.

"Instead, luxury brands need to broaden their reach to include these consumers. This creates a unique challenge, as they are now competing with mass-market brands that also need to tap into HENRY spending power."

While this group may be better off than almost 80% of US households, they don't necessarily feel that way, shopping less often and spending less when they do.

Danziger argued that retailers needed to give them a reason to come to their stores and to make shopping less of a chore, offering an interesting, engaging shopping experience that can't be delayed or put off.

Data sourced from Unity Marketing, The Robin report; additional content by Warc staff

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STEVENS, PA: Brands and marketers should be elevating their gaze from the traditional middle class in the US, which has seen its discretionary spending power eroded in recent years, towards a higher income group dubbed HENRYs, or High Earners Not Rich Yet.

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The Apple Watch is Apple's first entirely-new product in five years. I've been wearing one non-stop for a week trying to answer the question: is it worth buying?

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I generally look at Google as a vast machine learning engine that's been stuffed with data for a decade and a half. Everything that Google does is about reach for that underlying engine - reach to get data in and reach to surface it out. The legacy web search is just one expression of that, and so is the search advertising, and so are Gmail and Maps - they're all built onto that underlying asset.

Hence, most of the experiments that Google has launched over the years are best seen as tests to see if they fit this model. Can you apply a vast expertise in understanding data, large numbers of computer scientists and data scientists, lots of infrastructure and a model of total automation and get something interesting and useful - can you get massive amounts of new data in, can you do something unique with it, and can you surface it back out? And, for all of these, are you solving hard, important problems with global scale?

That is, Google tests new opportunities to see if they fit in the same way that a shark bites a surfer to see if they're a seal. If not, you don't change Google to fit the opportunity - you spit out the surfer (or what's left of him).

Naturally, sometimes it turns out that you need other capabilities (radio advertising). Sometimes it ought to be a good opportunity but the friction in actually unlocking the data is too great (Google Health, where there were too many different and reluctant parties involved). Sometimes Google's skills are just a condition of entry and other skills are more important (Google Plus in social), and sometimes the opportunity is just too small (Google Reader). But equally, there are projects for which Google's core skills and needs have fit very well. Maps had little obvious to do with web search and nothing to do with PageRank, but were a big problem where Google's assets could be applied (and of course, a decade later, Maps turned out to have huge strategic leverage in mobile). The same may be true of self-driving cars - this is not a search question, but it is a data and machine intelligence problem where Google is uniquely placed to do things (or at any rate, that's what Google believes).

Android embodies all of this. Originally, it was about reach, in the sense of people being able to use Google. It existed to head off domination of mobile by any third party that might shut Google out (first Microsoft, then Apple) and to enable the expansion of the internet from 1.5bn PCs owned by relatively rich people to, in the next few years from now, 4-5bn mobile phones owned by almost every adult on earth. In both of those aims it's been an enormous success, much more than any other Google side-project. Apple will have a lot of the top 15-20% of the market, but Android will have almost all of the rest and serves to keep Apple honest even on iOS.

Over time, Android has also evolved to provide reach in collecting data as well - you're always logged in to Google on your Android phone, and it knows where you are when you do that search or open that app, and where everyone else who ever did that search was, and what they did next (this is one reason why retaining control of the Android UI, and heading off forks, matters to Google). There's an old computer science saying that a computer should never ask a question that it should be able to work out the answer to - the sensors and other capabilities in smartphones in general and Android in particular massively expand the range of things that Google can work out. So, Android transforms Google's reach both in collecting and surfacing data.

The interesting part, though, is that there are now lots of different kinds of reach.

First, as everyone has talked about for years, the way that mobile moves us away from the plain old web as the dominant interaction model of the internet challenges Google's central ability to understand the structure of online information and to link to it (and sell links to it). Apps cut off Google's reach, both to get data into its systems, since apps are opaque, and to surface data out to internet users, since any search in Yelp's specialist app is a search that wasn't on Google, and such apps are stronger on mobile than on the desktop. Apps reduce Google's reach in both senses. This of course is why (like Facebook) it has been pursuing deep links, and is probably also one reason why it is keeping Chrome OS warm as a standby mobile platform. But it also means that Google has conflicting incentives - as a provider of services, should it try always to make things as part of the web, or embrace the new experiences that apps and everything else happening on smartphones can provide? What would the web search team say if Hangouts became a development platform, for example?

Furthermore, ownership of an actual mobile platform creates more basic conflicts - should Google make a new app for iOS first, given that's where many of the most engaged users are? Should it provide it for 'forked' devices such as the Kindle Fire, if they have enough users, though that erodes a point of leverage for control of Android? For these kinds of questions it's easy to see how individual product managers might have incompatible objectives - the Maps PM probably wants Maps to be great on iOS and might well like it on Kindle, but people thinking about maintaining Google's control over Android clearly would not.

That is, how much does Google need to pull things to the web, or, alternatively, to Android, and how much should it let the logic of individual product teams prevail - and where there's conflict between product teams, who wins?

These are really classic 'strategy tax' questions. A product feature conflicts with the company's overall strategy, so do you leave out the feature (and so pay the strategy tax) or compromise the strategy? To give examples from other ages of the tech industry, Microsoft's Office for Mac and Apple's iTunes for Windows both in theory undermined those companies' core products, but both were the right thing to do for the broader strategy. The question for Google is to work out which part is the tactic and which is the strategy. What kind of reach do you want, and which sacrifices to you want to make?

This problem reminds me of a book published a few years ago by Pierre Bayard, a French academic, called 'How to talk about books you haven't read' ( review). His observation is that the question 'have you read this book?' is actually much less binary than it appears: if you compare a book you read as a teenager 20 years ago and half-understood with a book that's just come out and that you've read 3 reviews of, but haven't actually read, you might know rather more about the latter than the former. There are books you've read and understood, books you've read and half-remember, books you can't remember that you've read at all, and books that you've read half of, or know the key ideas of, or have heard about, or that you know are exactly the same as three others by the same author that you really have read. Reading a book and knowing about a book are not the same thing.

In the same sense, Google needs reach, but mobile means that there are lots of different kinds of reach. Consider someone who has an 'official' Android phone, perhaps even a Nexus, and is completely logged in - so Google has 'perfect' reach to them as an end-point. But, as I wrote here, suppose they live in a quiet suburb and drive only to work and to a few shops, never use Calendar, open Maps once a month and get a few personal emails in Gmail each week. Now contrast that with a 20-something in a big city who loves their iPhone and is not logged into any Google service - but is on this phone for hours every day, uses Google Maps (or maybe just apps that embed it) and is doing web search all the time. What kind of reach does Google have for these two?

Then, consider a farmer in rural Myanmar who's just got their first phone: a $30 Android, with enough spending power to get perhaps 50 megs of cellular data a month, if that. What is that reach worth - what do they search for, what can the information they provide to Google be used for and, to raise the boring, pedantic question, how much are they worth to the advertising industry? Are they a higher priority than extending Google Now to the Apple Watch?

The key change in all of this, I think, is that Google has gone from a world of almost perfect clarity - a text search box, a web-link index, a middle-class family's home - to one of perfect complexity - every possible kind of user, device, access and data type. It's gone from a firehose to a rain storm. But on the other hand, no-one knows water like Google. No-one else has the same lead in building understanding of how to deal with this. Hence, I think, one should think of every app, service, drive and platform from Google not so much as channels that might conflict but as varying end-points to a unified underlying strategy, which one might characterize as 'know a lot about how to know a lot'.

Another way to think about this, perhaps, is the comparison with Internet Explorer. Microsoft was entirely successful in ensuring that its own web browser dominated the internet for a decade or so. But really, whatever browser people ran, they were going to run it on a Windows PC anyway, because what other mass-market global platform was there? So too for Google: what matters is to win at 'search', whatever that means and wherever and however far from PageRank that leads you. Nail that and reach will come to you - get it wrong, or find yourself irrelevant in whatever the new new is (as happened eventually to Microsoft), and nothing else will matter.

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I generally look at Google as a vast machine learning engine that's been stuffed with data for a decade and a half. Everything that Google does is about reach for that underlying engine - reach to get data in and reach to surface it out.

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Has TV finally reached its "boiled frog" moment?

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Two unrelated developments this week both suggest that the long predicted disruptional change for network television may be reaching critical temperature, writes Raymond Snoddy.

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Consumers prefer traditional content providers over new market entrants

NEW YORK; Apr. 13, 2015 - The television's popularity as the go-to entertainment device may be ending, according to "Digital Video and the Connected Consumer," a new research report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN). The television was the only product category to see uniform, double-digit usage declines across different types of media worldwide among viewers of nearly all ages. It is rapidly being replaced as consumers turn to a combination of laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones to view video content.

The report, developed for communications, media and technology companies, found that video consumption - anytime, anywhere - has become mainstream, accelerating the decline of traditional TV viewing. Viewership for long form video content, such as movies and television on a TV screen, has declined by 13 percent globally over the past year and by 11 percent in the United States. Similarly, the report found sports viewership on TV screens declined by 10 percent globally and nine percent in the United States.

Nearly all age brackets reported double-digit declines in TV viewing globally, with 14- to 17-year-olds abandoning the TV screen at the rate of 33 percent for movies and television shows and 26 percent for sporting events. This decline continues for 18- to 34-year-olds at 14 percent for movies and television shows and 12 percent for sporting events, and for 35- to 54-year-olds, at 11 and nine percent, respectively. It does, however, flatten among the 55 and older crowd, at six percent and one percent respectively.

"We are seeing a definitive pendulum shift away from traditional TV viewing," said Gavin Mann, Accenture's global broadcast industry lead. "TV shows and movies are now a viewing staple on mobile devices of all shapes and sizes, thanks to improved streaming and longer battery life. The second screen viewing experience is where the content creators, broadcasters and programmers will succeed or fail."

To that point, the report found that more than a third (37 percent) of consumers own a combination of smartphones, laptops/desktops, and tablets. Among those who plan to buy a TV, 61 percent expect to buy a connected TV, and 25 percent are planning to buy a 4K TV, an increase of seven percent over last year. These purchasers report that they use these devices to access all kinds of content on a daily basis.

As consumers view more content online, the quality of online service is becoming a growing concern. According to Accenture's analysis, 89 percent of consumers watch long form video on connected devices, but many report issues with their viewing experience. The primary complaint among more than half (51 percent) of respondents watching online video was poor Internet service. They complained about too much advertising placement (42 percent); buffering, or the time it takes for video to start playing, (33 percent); and loss of sound or distortions during play (32 percent). At the same time, respondents said they would pay for online video service if it included greater content variety, less advertising, and better video quality.

The research also found, however, that traditional broadcasters have a strong advantage over new market entrants, as respondents showed a preference for the dominant TV broadcaster, satellite and cable providers versus newer Internet providers. When consumers were asked if Pay TV channels or Video on Demand services from brands like Apple, Netflix and Google were an appealing offer, they scored those options scored significantly lower than traditional broadcasters.

"New entrants, regardless of their brand, will have to prove their service quality to consumers to capture significant market share," said Mann. "Consumers prefer established brands, and broadcasters need to capitalize on this while the iron is hot by aggressively investing in multi-device platforms and securing partnerships that leverage their footprint into the mobile space. A simple repackaging of the same programming available anywhere may not do it. It needs to be unique and special."

Viewing is happening simultaneously across multiple devices, with 87 percent of consumers using more than one device at a time. Globally, the smartphone is the most frequent companion device scoring 57 percent overall. This trend is particularly strong for millennials, with 74 percent of 14- to17-year-olds using a combination of TV/smartphones during viewing. This is not the case in North America, where a laptop/computer was used more frequently for simultaneous viewing (59 percent vs. 42 percent for smartphones).

"Understanding consumers and ensuring decision-making is centered on consumer insights will be increasingly key to success," said Mann. "This relentless focus on consumer optimization will have an impact on all elements of a broadcaster's business, from content decision-making to implementing converged operating models and exploiting the data advantage. The future leaders in media and entertainment will be those who listen to the audience and can tailor their content and services to this new reality."

Methodology
The research was conducted online in October and November 2014, with 24,000 consumers in 24 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

The sample size in each country was representative of the online population, with respondents ranging in age from 14 to 55 and over. The survey polled respondents about their usage, attitudes and expectations related to digital device ownership, content consumption, broadband constraints, digital trust and the Internet of Things.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 323,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Contact:

Gary Morgenstern
Accenture
+1 862 579 7662
gary.a.morgenstern@accenture.com

Anthony Suarez
Burson-Marsteller
+1 212 614 4331
anthony.suarez@nof9.com

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The World's Love Affair with the TV May Be Coming to an End, Accenture Report Finds | Accenture Newsroom

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Consumers prefer traditional content providers over new market entrants NEW YORK; Apr. 13, 2015 - The television's popularity as the go-to entertainment device may be ending, according to "Digital Video and the Connected Consumer," a new research report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

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Fire Stick becomes 'fastest selling' Amazon device

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Fire Stick becomes 'fastest selling' Amazon device

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Fire TV Stick, Amazon's answer to Google Chromecast, has become the company's fastest-selling UK device ever, after becoming available for pre-order on 24 March.

The £35 Fire TV Stick, which starts shipping today, plugs straight into the HDMI socket on a TV, allowing users to stream video from popular services such as Amazon Prime Instant Video (previously Lovefilm), Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

Customers can also rent or buy over 50,000 films and TV episodes from Amazon Instant Video, including new releases and blockbusters, and Fire TV Stick also offers access to music, photos, and games.

"For just £35, Fire TV Stick delivers powerful performance and access to a vast selection of content, apps and games," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Amazon Devices EU.

"The phenomenal demand has made Fire TV Stick our fastest-selling device ever in the UK in the first week after going on sale, and we think our customers are going to love it."

With a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a separate GPU the Stick can screen full HD video. A feature called ASAP also starts buffering the video that it thinks you're about to start watching, to avoid any delay after pressing play.

The device uses the same Fire OS as the original Fire TV, which is Amazon's modified version of Google's Android. This allows Amazon to promote its Prime Instant Video service heavily on the device's user interface.

Recent research by analyst firm Strategy Analytics revealed that 54 per cent of Amazon Prime subscribers in the UK use Prime Instant Video at least once a week, compared to only 44 per cent of US subscribers.

"In contrast to countries such as the UK and Germany, Americans are more likely to subscribe to Amazon Prime for free 2 day shipping than for Prime Instant Video," said Leika Kawasaki, Strategy Analytics' digital media analyst.

"For example, Americans are twice as likely as Britons to cite free 2 day shipping as 'very important' in deciding to subscribe and they're less likely to use the video service regularly."

Part of the reason for Amazon Prime Instant Video's popularity in the UK is that the popular DVD rental and video streaming service Lovefilm was absorbed into Prime Instant Video in 2014. Lovefilm had around 3m subscribers across Europe.

Fire TV Stick is available at Argos, John Lewis and Tesco, and can be ordered online at www.amazon.co.uk/firetvstick.

WATCH: Amazon's 2014 in 60 seconds

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Fire TV Stick becomes Amazon's 'fastest-selling UK device ever'

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Fire TV Stick, Amazon's answer to Google Chromecast , has become the company's fastest-selling UK device ever, after becoming available for pre-order on 24 March. The £35 Fire TV Stick , which starts shipping today, plugs straight into the HDMI socket on a TV, allowing users to stream video from popular services such as Amazon Prime Instant Video (previously Lovefilm), Netflix and BBC iPlayer.

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Are businesses ready to serve connected consumers?

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Are businesses ready to serve connected consumers?

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Perspectives from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

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Perspectives from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

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We deliver vital business intelligence to executives the world over. With access to over 650 expert analysts and editors across 200 countries worldwide, underpinned by an unrivalled in-house survey panel that bolsters the qualitative and quantitative analysis, we uncover novel and forward-looking perspectives.

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This free report, the final in the IPA's in-depth Know the Value of Media project, analyses how placing media at the heart of an organisation can driv

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Google algorithm changes in favour of mobile- impact on brands

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Google algorithm changes in favour of mobile- impact on brands

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Google: new search algorithm will favour mobile-friendly sites

The changes mean the company will now boost sites that display well on mobile devices in mobile search results, and downgrade those that do not.

The tweaks mark the biggest change to Google's algorithm since Panda and Penguin, which respectively judged sites according to quality and linking practices.

The company warned the latest update would have a "significant impact" on rankings, leading some search experts to refer to the changes as "mobilegeddon".

Nick Fettiplace, SEO expert at Jellyfish, warned: "Advertisers whose websites do not cater for mobile may start to see fluctuations in their organic performance as soon as April 21st, when the roll-out of the new algorithm begins."

Argos passes, M&S fails

Google has built an online test for brands and publishers to check whether their sites qualify as mobile-friendly.

Major brands including Argos, Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons all pass, while Marks and Spencer failed.

According to Darryl Adie, managing director of retail tech firm Ampersand, this boils down to M&S using separate URLs for its mobile and desktop sites, and failing to flag the relationship in the code.

He said: "It's hard to say exactly when it will begin to effect M&S' mobile rankings, but it will if the retailer does not address this soon."

Mobile is becoming increasingly important for brands, with data from IMRG and Capgemini showing that mobile accounted for 40% of all UK online retail sales in Q4 last year. These figures include sales from apps as well as mobile sites.

Mark Steel, digital operations director for Argos, noted the importance of mobile for the business.

He told Marketing: "Mobile is already a really important part of our overall revenue mix with over 28% of total sales coming from mobile channels during our recent Christmas trading period, and this continues to grow as more of our customers are shopping with us using mobile devices."

He added that the company had redesigned its homepage on mobile in recent months and overhauled the check-out experience to make the site easier to navigate on different devices.

He said the company expected its mobile site to continue to "perform well" after Google's changes.

Importance of mobile

According to Google, half of all searches globally come from mobile - yet many brands have failed to keep up with the shift in consumer behaviour.

A report from the IAB last year found that most big UK brands have a mobile presence, but a significant number across travel, FMCG, retail and finance do not.

Lukasz Zelezny, head of SEO at uSwitch, said the changes would push brands to build a better experience for customers.

He told Marketing: "It is very likely that, going forward, a responsive design will become a standard solution in business.

"That will be a good thing as a responsive design for mobile handsets and tablets is something that massively improves user experience.

He added: "You may or may not like Google's requirements but from a wider perspective, Google and the websites who rely on it play on the same team [and care] about the same customers."

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Brands face Google 'mobilegeddon' after search changes

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The changes mean the company will now boost sites that display well on mobile devices in mobile search results, and downgrade those that do not. The tweaks mark the biggest change to Google's algorithm since Panda and Penguin, which respectively judged sites according to quality and linking practices.

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THE FUTURE IS NOW! Jawbone + AmEx payment

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THE FUTURE IS NOW! Jawbone + AmEx payment

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Want to buy a latte with your fitness tracker? If you use an American Express credit card, now you can. Today, AmEx announced a partnership with Jawbone that it claims will make it the first wearable fitness technology brand to accept mobile payments.

Jawbone's new Up24 retails for $199 and lets American Express cardholders pay for things by tapping the bracelet against payment readers in stores.

The tracker has an NFC-or near field communication-chip that syncs with a new app Jawbone will launch this summer. After downloading the app, consumers log in with the same password and user name they use on AmericanExpress.com. From there, they pick the right credit card to transfer money to the Jawbone.

American Express' wearable move is interesting amid the hype around Apple Watch-which will have similar features-and a brewing mobile payment war, but it's not the first time AmEx has explored new ways for people to pay. Here are three other ways cardmembers can pay:

McDonald's

On the opposite end of the brand spectrum, AmEx also partnered with McDonald's last year to let diners pay for meals with reward points.

When you swipe your credit card at the cash register, the screen shows how many points you've earned. Clicking through finishes the payment, and 100 points is worth $1 of free food.

The program also links with American Express' mobile app.

Verifone

Similar to the McDonald's program, AmEx members can swipe their credit cards in 7,000 New York cabs.

Once a rider chooses to pay with a credit card, a prompt on the checkout screen shows how many reward points are needed to pay for the ride.

Uber

Last year, the financial company inked a deal with the ridesharing app so that loyalty program members can pay for their rides using reward points.

Uber's deal also lets people double their reward points by booking their ride on the app. Other brands like Starwood Hotels have since used Uber for similar marketing promotions.

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With Jawbone Partnership, AmEx Offers Another Nifty Payment Option

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Want to buy a latte with your fitness tracker? If you use an American Express credit card, now you can. Today, AmEx announced a partnership with Jawbone that it claims will make it the first wearable fitness technology brand to accept mobile payments.

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STEP INSIDE ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS WITH GOOGLE

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Google has opened the doors to Abbey Road Studios! Explore, discover and play inside the iconic British recording studio.

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Uploaded by Havas Portugal on 2015-04-15.

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Understanding the key role of sensory characteristics in delivering consonance and satisfaction across all touchpoints will help new and existing brands to stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Marketing to the senses

This article is part of a collection of articles on multisensory marketing. Read more.

In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of maximising the emotional impact of advertising, branding, product experience and packaging to take advantage of the mainly non-conscious shopper and consumer decision-making process. Emotions are cued by sensory characteristics and all touchpoints should be aligned in order to catapult brands beyond mediocrity. This realisation represents a major advancement in the way we think about sensory characteristics and the manner in which they influence purchasing behaviour.

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Marketing to the senses: A multisensory strategy to align the brand touchpoints | WARC

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Understanding the key role of sensory characteristics in delivering consonance and satisfaction across all touchpoints will help new and existing brands to stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace. This article is part of a collection of articles on multisensory marketing. Read more.

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Red Bull - brand becomes publisher becomes media owner

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Red Bull - brand becomes publisher becomes media owner

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CHICAGO: Red Bull Media House is giving third parties the chance to tap the content expertise which fuels the marketing for its namesake energy drink - an opportunity that has attracted brands like adidas and Nokia.

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Humanoid showcased that can make eye contact and engage in conversation

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Humanoid showcased that can make eye contact and engage in conversation

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Aye, robot? Amazingly lifelike humanoid that can react to facial expressions, engage in conversation and even make eye contact

Robot has been drawing crowds at Hong Kong electronics event this week

It can recognise and respond to human facial expressions in natural way

Known as Ham, the head was designed by US firm Hanson Robotics

Made using soft-bodied mechanical engineering and nanotechnology

With his lively eyebrows, winkled cheeks and eyes that follow you around the room - this state-of-the-art robotic head is menacingly lifelike.

The humanoid, known as Ham, has been drawing in crowds with his incredible range of facial expressions at an electronics event in Hong Kong this week.

The head, designed by American robotics designer David Hanson, is able to answer basic questions and can also be used in the simulation of medical scenarios.

Ham is currently on exhibit at the Global Sources spring electronics show at AsiaWorld Expo - the largest event of its kind in the world, with more than 4,000 booths displaying the latest gadgets.

The head is created with malleable material called Frubber using soft-bodied mechanical engineering and nanotechnology.

It contains realistic pores that measure just 4 to 40 nanometers across (there are 10million nanometers in one centimetre).

Using specialised software the machine can recognise and respond to a number of human facial expressions in a natural way.

According to Hanson Robotics's website, the humanoids can actually see your face, make eye contact with you, and understand speech to 'engage you in witty dialogue'.

Such reactions are a major feat of engineering, according to chief designer David Hanson, the founder and and president of Hanson Robotics.

It is not the first human-looking robot that his firm has created either. An earlier version of Ham drew headlines as it was sculpted to look like Albert Einstein, complete with a bushy moustache and a shock of white hair.

The Einstein humanoid made facial expressions by using multiple motors - which whir into action and subtly adjust multiple points of articulation around his mouth and brown eyes.

Mr Hanson sees robotics as his calling and works on many fronts, from sculpting features to developing artificial intelligence.

To advance to the next step of producing robots for everyday applications in entertainment, health care and education, he decided to move to Hong Kong with his family - his wife Amanda and their son Zeno.

The city has a booming robotics community with a high amount of expertise and design infrastructure and new technology can be developed at a lower cost than in the US.

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Amazingly lifelike humanoid has incredible range of facial expressions

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Robot has been drawing crowds at Hong Kong electronics event this week It can recognise and respond to human facial expressions in natural way Known as Ham, the head was designed by US firm Hanson Robotics Made using soft-bodied mechanical engineering and nanotechnology With his lively eyebrows, winkled cheeks and eyes that follow you around the room - this state-of-the-art robotic head is menacingly lifelike.

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Spotify: brands will be able to target ads using playlist data

It will enable brands to tap into the "mood" of a consumer based on the playlists they listen to, such as "workout" or "chilled", and when and where they are listening.

It will also enable brands to target ads based on age, geography, genre and language.

Jeff Levick, chief revenue officer at Spotify, said: "Music is an integral part of life, day in and day out. Our new targeting solutions give brands unprecedented ways to reach streaming consumers."

Spotify is ramping up its commercial offering. In 2014 it launched sponsored video ad products and the brand has experienced a 380% year-on-year hike in mobile ad revenue, it said.

The brand kicked off its first TV ad in the UK in October during ITV's The X-Factor, supported by social media activity and dedicated playlists.

It asked consumers to share stories about personally significant songs.

Recommended

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Spotify will enable brands to target ads based on the 'mood' of music fans

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It will enable brands to tap into the "mood" of a consumer based on the playlists they listen to, such as "workout" or "chilled", and when and where they are listening. It will also enable brands to target ads based on age, geography, genre and language.

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UK: This year will see a tipping point in the media consumption habits of UK adults as the (non-voice) time spent on mobile devices overtakes that spent on desktops and laptops.

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Dove: new campaign is contrived and misses the mark says Zak Media Group's Tom Ellis-Jones

There are many things wrong with Dove's new Choose Beautiful campaign; it's hard to know where to start.

While I take a deep breath, here's a recap for those that haven't seen it yet.

Dove, the campaigner for real beauty, has travelled to London, Delhi, San Francisco, Shanghai and Sao Paolo to challenge women's perceptions of themselves. In this so-called 'social experiment' it placed two signs above doors into shopping centres - one labelled 'Beautiful', the other 'Average' and let women make their choice.

The message is clear.The result unfortunately is not.

It doesn't come close to the original groundbreaking Campaign for Real Beauty

It's a predictably paced, faux-inspirational piece built around a shallow conceit that makes the brand feel insincere and irrelevant.

So what's the problem? Let's get the trivial things out of the way first.

As an idea, it's OK but it's not big. It doesn't come close to the original groundbreaking "Campaign for Real Beauty" or the genuinely powerful and moving "Sketches" that won Dove a well deserved Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes in 2013.

The casting feels contrived

It's also badly executed, devoid of authenticity and the edit feels contrived. As a social experiment, it claims to be observing real people but the casting seems so perfectly engineered that it begs the question: how much was it choreographed?

So I dug a little deeper.

Sure enough, scroll all the way down the #choosebeautiful Twitter feed, beyond all the largely positive, if PR-generated, comments since the campaign launched on April 7 th and you will find a post dated back in October. This was posted presumably when all this was being shot, by Dezi Soley, an actress based in Oakland, CA "feeling blessed en route to Doors/ Choose Beautiful documentary set".

These are all terrible clichés being dressed up as a genuine social experiment

Check back to the edit and sure enough, there's Dezi in the very opening shot of the San Francisco shoot, looking up at the two signs in front of her, pretending to interrogate her perception of her own beauty.

Oh dear.

Now go back and watch through the remaining 3.5 minutes and tell me it's hard not to seriously question it's authenticity; the two friends sat on the sofa, the mother and daughter, the woman in the wheelchair being pushed triumphantly through the word "Beautiful". These are all terrible clichés being dressed up as a genuine social experiment.

Don't get me wrong: there's a credible message here. But let's not pretend it's anything other than an advertisement.

This campaign poses a bigger social question

However, these executional critiques are trifling issues, believe it or not, compared to the much bigger social question this campaign poses.

For that, let's return to 2004 when Dove first launched its "Campaign for Real Beauty". It was a groundbreaking, category-defining piece of work. With it, Dove not only challenged the entire beauty industry by portraying women with 'real' curves and body shapes but it encouraged women everywhere to have the confidence to be comfortable in themselves.

The highly awarded 'Sketches' from 2013 was also a masterpiece where the brand sought "to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety."

Beautiful? Average? What about ambitious, talented, funny, intelligent, creative, and entrepreneurial?

But "Choose Beautiful" fails to strike the same chord. And the inherent problem is that the conversation has moved on while Dove hasn't.

In launching a campaign that forces women to label themselves simply as 'Beautiful' or 'Average', Dove is defining women purely by their beauty.. Isn't that what feminism has been fighting so hard against?

Surely we now live in a post-feminist world where this conversation shouldn't even be happening? And yet here is Dove, dragging us back to a place where women have to confront a question about something that should frankly be irrelevant.

Beautiful? Average? What about ambitious, talented, funny, intelligent, creative, and entrepreneurial?

Investigating the campaign content further, I found an interview with director, Paul Dektor, who talks about his interest in the project because he has two young daughters who, he says will have to go through these same issues as they grow up.

Really? How depressing.

In a post feminist world, women, and indeed the watching world, shouldn't be confronted with such a banal choice

I also have a young daughter who's six years old. And my hope is that when she's older she won't have to go through this because she'll be accepted for being a confident, happy, and intelligent young woman.

But on this evidence that kind of progress is going to be massively limited because brands like Dove persist in reinforcing this tired trope, and reducing women to the sum of their appearance.

I wouldn't choose either door

My reaction to this campaign has been so strong that I can't quite believe all the positive comments that are being bestowed on it.. But once all the paid- and PR-generated chat dies down, I'll be interested to see what the actual consumer feedback will be.

Because if it was me, I wouldn't choose either door.

Just like one of the women in the edit.

Although, in its typically contrived way, this woman was edited into the narrative in such as way as to suggest the choice between Beautiful and Average was too overwhelming for her; like her self-esteem was so shot to pieces that she couldn't bear to make that choice.

I'd like to think that actually she chose not to take part at all. Because in a post feminist world, women, and indeed the watching world, shouldn't be confronted with such a banal choice.

Recommended

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Dove's 'faux-inspirational' campaign renders the brand insincere and irrelevant

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There are many things wrong with Dove's new Choose Beautiful campaign; it's hard to know where to start. While I take a deep breath, here's a recap for those that haven't seen it yet. Dove, the campaigner for real beauty, has travelled to London, Delhi, San Francisco, Shanghai and Sao Paolo to challenge women's perceptions of themselves.

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Time spent on mobile passes PC for the first time

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Time spent on mobile passes PC for the first time

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Browse articles featuring eMarketer's latest data and insights on digital marketing.Topics include mobile, video, search, ecommerce, social, ad spend and more.

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Coca-Cola has scrapped its UK-centric website in favour of its existing global platform, Journey, as it looks to pull together all aspects of the brand with a focus on both branded and non-branded content.

Coca-Cola Journey will include original content designed to tell the story of Coca-Cola as well as cover universal topics and social causes. The editorial style of the platform focuses on providing informative educational content and follows the drinks giant's move to harmonise its four distinct brands (Red, Life, Zero and Diet) into one marketing strategy.

In Great Britain Coca-Cola Journey will feature an interactive Q&A section in which consumers can read about its ingredients, products and business. Consumers can also submit their own questions to the site, which will then be answered by the brand's consumer response team.

To launch the platform in the market the brand has called on ambassadors Rita Ora and Will.i.am to deliver exclusive content signalling Coca-Cola's ambitions for Journey to move more towards multimedia and curated content.

The drinks giant is also investing in videos and graphics, and will work with a range of journalists, bloggers and writers.

While Journey will still house corporate content such as press releases and company reports, its layout, design and editorial focus will now more closely resemble a digital magazine rather than a traditional company website.

Stanislas Magniant, digital communications director, Coca-Cola North West Europe, called the platform the "anchor of our digital storytelling strategy".

"The launch of Journey also gives us the opportunity to shift the way we communicate online," he said. "Through Journey we want to bring to life the stories about our company, our brands, our employees and our actions around the world to tell our story in its entirety. We also want to make our stories more appealing, relevant and engaging to people by using the right multimedia content to bring them to life."

The launch of Journey in Great Britain also marks the merging of the @CokeZone Twitter feed with @CocaCola_GB this month.

Coca-Cola launched Journey in the US in 2012 and is available in Germany, Morocco, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.

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Coca-Cola scraps UK website and focuses on global storytelling via Journey platform

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Coca-Cola has scrapped its UK-centric website in favour of its existing global platform, Journey, as it looks to pull together all aspects of the brand with a focus on both branded and non-branded content. Coca-Cola Journey will include original content designed to tell the story of Coca-Cola as well as cover universal topics and social causes.

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Absolut Vodka has collaborated with the Andy Warhol Foundation, immersive theatre company Punchdrunk and Somethin' Else to create an immersive digital game as it looks to tout its connections with artists and the creative arts.

To promote the launch of the Absolut Andy Warhol limited edition design bottle, and the 28th anniversary since the first collaboration between the vodka brand and the artist, Absolut wanted to explore new forms of storytelling through digital and gaming experiences.

The result is Silverpoint, a game - launched today on iTunes - that features eight of Warhol's rarely seen blotted-line 'Silverpoint' drawings, a style he used early in his career.

During the game players will be met with what initially looks like a regular video game before being directed to collect stars and unlock a mystery story, featuring an experience from Punchdrunk.

Speaking to The Drum Adam Boita, head of marketing at parent company Pernod Ricard said that art, artists and collaboration is "fundamental" to the Absolut brand.

"Absolut Warhol was our first collaboration back in 1986 and thus our association with art was born. Since then we've collaborated with many artists including Keith Haring, Damien Hirst and Jamie Hewlett to name but a few."

The outcome of the initiative, continued Boita is, "to ensure that Absolut is seen as cutting edge working with partners and artists who push the boundaries of the creative arts to further cement our legacy past, present and future."

Paul Bennun chief creative officer at Somethin' Else hinted to The Drum that the Silverpoint experience will use iBeacon technology to incorporate real-world experiences into gaming, and said the project shows the potential for digital media's role in storytelling and how a genuine collaboration between content creators and brands can result in effective branded content.

"When far sighted brands like Absolut, who really are committed to making stuff audiences are going to love, start working directly with agencies or companies that can deliver on that promise then the rewards are potentially very great," he said.

"From an audience perspective you want to know that the thing you are playing with, or listening to or interacting with is honest, that it is real and it's been done for the right reasons by people that love what they do rather than cynical reasons just to flog something."

Bennun added that brands are increasingly realising that the traditional model of agency relationships aren't necessarily providing the value needed and said that creative agencies should pair up with content agencies to generate that value for both brands and consumers.

"Many of the creative agencies, even the huge ones, they know advertising inside out, and they are set up to do advertising. But advertising in that traditional sense is less effective than content but they've got a hammer banging an advertising shaped nail and they can't really do content like organisations like ours can."

Somethin' Else and Punchdrunk will utilise the R&D project to create further projects outside of Absolut with more activity involving the brand to be confirmed.

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Absolut hopes to position itself at 'cutting edge' of arts with digital storytelling app featuring Andy Warhol

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Absolut Vodka has collaborated with the Andy Warhol Foundation, immersive theatre company Punchdrunk and Somethin' Else to create an immersive digital game as it looks to tout its connections with artists and the creative arts.

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Boomerang boarders - new target for brands

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Boomerang boarders - new target for brands

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It's the time of year when the housing market is expected to pick up as spring traditionally sees a surge in buying and selling, however property data from Experian reveals that 12.1% of all UK properties coming onto the market now cost in excess of £500,000, while 37% of people cannot afford to buy property in the area in which they live. That figure rises to 54% in London.

As house prices accelerate far ahead of wage and employment growth, marketers targeting UK households must refine their communications to account for the substantial number of young adults returning from university to live with their parents - the 'Boomerang Boarders'.

The classification is drawn from Experian's segmentation tool Mosaic, which condenses over 850 million pieces of information to divide the populations into 15 categories and, within these, 66 prevalent types of consumer. A Boomerang Boarders household is defined as "long-term couples with mid-range incomes whose adult children have returned to the shelter of the family home".

Experian calculates that there are around 1.56 million Boomerang Boarders in the UK and that this group has grown in recent years as a consequence of the recession, rising property prices and the fall in young people buying homes. Brands are urged to take note of these consumers given their relatively high disposable income and money saved through living with their parents.

Richard Jenkings, lead consultant at Experian, also argues that brands should adjust their strategies to account for the growth of "multi-generational households" in which purchasing decisions are increasingly shared between parents and their adult children. "Marketers can tap into that by pitching for that collective decision making," he says.

Jenkings believes that the economic conditions that have facilitated the growth of Boomerang Boarders as a demographic group will continue for the foreseeable future.

"There was a steady increase in owner-occupation throughout the postwar period for a variety of reasons, but in the last 10 years it has run in the opposite direction, which is quite a major change," notes Jenkings. "It's partly because we haven't built enough houses and partly because first-time buyers have found it increasingly difficult to afford."

Experian defines Boomerang Boarders as primarily young adults who have returned home after studying at university or college. Unable to get on the property ladder, this option allows young adults to save for a mortgage deposit while also contributing to the overall household income.

The Mosaic breakdown claims that Hempstead Valley in Kent is the UK town with the highest proportion of Boomerang Boarders, followed by Ormskirk in Lancashire, Basildon in Essex and Bexleyheath in London. Parents are likely to be aged 56-65 and on a mid-range incomes of £40,000 to £49,000. They typically live in suburban three- or four-bedroom homes that they have occupied for over 10 years.

Jenkings believes that marketing aimed at households will have to become more nuanced if it is to cater for the presence of different adult generations. He claims, for example, that many furniture retailers promoting their Bank Holiday sales tend to appeal to families as collective decision makers, rather than to individuals within the family.

"You see it in some TV ads where there is a dialogue between different generations," he says. "But in a lot of ads it's still a bit archetypal - advertising never quite seems to catch up. The imagery used or the family situation always seems a little stilted, but I think we're beginning to see some [brands] trying to represent different types of households in their adverts."

Experian identifies a separate consumer classification named 'Bank of Mum and Dad' that has emerged as a result of the challenging economic climate facing young adults. According to Mosaic, this classification refers to "well-off families in upmarket suburban homes where grown-up children benefit from continued financial support".

In such cases parents are likely to be aged between 46-55 with a household income of between £70,000 to £99,000, sometimes significantly higher. The report suggests that mortgages are nearly paid down in these households and that parents are in a position to directly pay towards their children's deposits on their own homes.

It claims there are around 1.5 million people within the Bank of Mum and Dad group in the UK, with Camberley in Surrey the most likely UK town to host them. This is followed by Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, Brentwood in Essex and Bracknell in Berkshire.

"In truth there's a spectrum of the population whereby many households would help their kids," admits Jenkings. "But the Bank of Mum and Dad are the most extreme example - the ones who are in a better position to help. If you're a marketer it's good to be able to pick people out and know who you're pitching to."

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Boomerang Boarders' spending power offers new target for marketers

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It's the time of year when the housing market is expected to pick up as spring traditionally sees a surge in buying and selling, however property data from Experian reveals that 12.1% of all UK properties coming onto the market now cost in excess of £500,000, while 37% of people cannot afford to buy property in the area in which they live.

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2015 election countdown: will ad tech help revolutionise campaigns?

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With less than a year until the general election, digital out-of-home advertising platforms offer political parties the chance to tweak policy messages like never before. Glen Wilson explains why

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The UK's political system is dying, but digital technology offers an alternative

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Politicians can reverse the public's disenchantment with politics, but only once they fully embrace the digital age

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Twitter's Periscope allows brands to give live behind-the-scenes content

When it comes time to rank the buzziest marketing buzzwords of this century, then 'real-time' and 'always-on' are almost certain to place in the top ten.

Are we chasing speed for the sake of speed like a crazed pack of Clarksons (and look how that ended), or is there a genuine need here that we're looking to fulfil?

Whether it's communicating a key message to an audience, or a one-on-one conversation with a customer, the drive to immediacy and responsiveness has been unrelenting for the best part of a decade.

Now, as Twitter enters the live-streaming fray with Periscope, and Facebook introduces a whole new breed of Messenger apps, we might have just hit terminal velocity.

So maybe now is the right time to ask ourselves: are we chasing speed for the sake of speed like a crazed pack of Clarksons (and look how that ended), or is there a genuine need here that we're looking to fulfil?

A first step to answering that question might be to take a look at how these new tools are already being used.

Branded reportage

Twitter's live-streaming app has already been picked up by a handful of early-adopter brands and assorted celebrities like Mountain Dew, Spotify, DKNY, Jamie Oliver, and Jimmy Fallon. With the output being mainly the freewheeling, behind-the-scenes reportage that you might expect from brands who are looking to 'connect in a very real way' with their fans.

In both cases the gap between organisation/brand and the customer/audience has shrunk considerably

Meanwhile, over on Facebook, fashion retailers Zulily and Everlane are two of the first companies to begin using Messenger as a 'customer connection' tool. Not only can customers purchase items from the app, but also exchange receipts, shipping updates, offers, feedback and queries in one, consistent chat thread.

It's true that in both cases the gap between organisation/brand and the customer/audience has shrunk considerably. But while Periscope simply ratchets up the sense of 'this is the real me' authenticity that made the old school text-based Twitter so valuable for the bigger names; Facebook Messenger is on its way to creating a singular identity for business customers to interact with, no matter what that interaction might be.

Arbitrary business silos

At first glance it seems to be the latter that could be the genuine game changer. It moves arbitrary business silos out of the customer's way and gives brands the opportunity to talk to their audience in an environment and at a pace where they feel most at home. These feel like real advancements to the customer experience that could only by stymied by organisational inability to scale to a version of 'always on' that doesn't mean up to an hour's lag between contact and reply. And when you think of the streamlining and centralising of channels and resources that would result, that upfront effort suddenly looks very worth it.

These feel like real advancements to the customer experience that could only by stymied by organisational inability to scale to a version of 'always on' that doesn't mean up to an hour's lag between contact and reply.

With its Messenger-for -Business Facebook has delivered what could be a scalable, flexible, intuitive and (most importantly) eminently useful suite of tools that benefit both customer and business.

'Oreo-moment'

Socially-enhanced live streaming, at least as far as brands are concerned, feels more like a solution looking for a problem. Its value and its attraction will be dependent on spontaneity and serendipity, two things that brands aren't exactly used to working well with. For brands to achieve their 'Oreo moment' their product, context, audience, message and platform will need to perfectly align, but before that happens expect to see an awful lot of shoe-horning of old ideas into new channels.

As customer perception of a brand becomes increasingly dependent on their interactions with it, and utility and convenience become the killer apps in the battle for loyalty and advocacy, Facebook has made a large and clever play to own the platforms we'll be using to deliver that experience.

The big question is: how big a slice of your customer communications are you willing to give over to one large, unpredictable entity?

Recommended

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Periscope and Meerkat? It's time for brands to keep it real

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When it comes time to rank the buzziest marketing buzzwords of this century, then 'real-time' and 'always-on' are almost certain to place in the top ten. Are we chasing speed for the sake of speed like a crazed pack of Clarksons (and look how that ended), or is there a genuine need here that we're looking to fulfil?

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Robotic lawnmower in development and angering astronomers

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Robotic lawnmower in development and angering astronomers

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According to a number of FCC filings, robotic vacuum maker iRobot is working on an automatic lawnmower - and they're irking radio astronomers. The project, which is still under wraps, uses low power radio beacons to delineate the corners of your yard, ensuring your robotic mower doesn't scoot into the back forty. Unlike other automatic systems - which use wires or barriers to keep the robots corralled - the beacons emit in the 6240-6740 MHz range.

This, according to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), is used to spot methanol - "interstellar wood alcohol" - in space, the presence of which means a star is being born. The FCC even states that "all practicable steps shall be taken to protect the radio astronomy service from harmful interference."

The best part? The NRAO and its astronomers are talking back to iRobot in the FCC comments. For example:

￼iRobot: "Use of the iRobotRLM [robot lawn mower] will increase lawn mower safety. An estimated 1,517 lethal accidents occurred with lawn mowers through the years 1997 to 2010. It is reasonable to assume that many of these injuries and deaths would not occur if consumers used a robotic mower. More than 17 million gallons of fuel, mostly gasoline, are spilled each year while refueling lawn equipment. Abattery poweredRLM will reduce emissions, gasoline spills, fires and other such accidents."NRAO: "iRobot cited multiple statistics of grim accidents and spilt gasoline to assert the public benefit of approving its wireless robotic lawn mowers. However, there is already a competitive market for robotic lawn mowers using wire loops [buried edge wire], which has somehow failed to stanch the stream of ghastly accidents and spilt gasoline that iRobot associates with the mundane practice of lawn-mowing."

Given that Colin Angle, founder of iRobot, has a MS in Computer Science and a deep background in artificial intelligence and robotics, it's clear that this is a battle of the megaminds. It will be interesting to see both the new product - purported to be called the iRobot RLM - and how Angle and his team prevent the masking of interstellar wood alcohol spectrography. You can check out the entire document here.
via Spectrum

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iRobot Is Working On A Robotic Mower That's Angering Astronomers

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According to a number of FCC filings, robotic vacuum maker iRobot is working on an automatic lawnmower - and they're irking radio astronomers. The project, which is still under wraps, uses low power radio beacons to delineate the corners of your yard, ensuring your robotic mower doesn&#...

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Virtual drum kit makes music from thin air

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Virtual drum kit makes music from thin air

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Charge your electronics with 'smart' clothing fabric

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Charge your electronics with 'smart' clothing fabric

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ACS Nano

Options for a wearable, portable charging solution include a jacket with solar panels stuck on the back and shoes that collect kinetic energy -- but a new type of fabric taps into something we usually find undesirable -- static electricity.

Created by a team led by materials scientist Sang-Woo Kim at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, the material consists of a two layers of fabric, one of silver-coated fibres, the other containing zinx oxide nanorods coated with polydimethylsiloxane. The layers rub together when they move, which can be triggered by natural, day-to-day motions.

This produces something called the triboelectric effect, which is also responsible for the static electricity caused when, say, you rub a balloon on your hair, or silk on glass. When the two materials rub together, electrons transfer between the surfaces, which creates a positive charge one one side and a negative charge on the other.

When the materials are separated, this creates a small electric current -- something you might have felt arcing from your hand when you reach for a metal doorknob after walking on carpet on a windy day.

Not every pair of materials produces this effect, or walking down the street would be a different experience: part of the work for Professor Kim and his team involved finding the best pair of materials for producing optimum levels of static charge -- the silver and the nanopatterned polydimethylsiloxane, a type of silicone. The 100-nm zinc oxide nanorods increase the contact area, which leads to greater friction and therefore greater power output.

ACS Nano

According to the paper, a four-centimetre square piece of silver and nanopatterned polydimethylsiloxane cloth was able to produce an output voltage and current of around 120V and 65 μA respectively, while the non-nanopatterned polydimethylsiloxane produced voltage and current of 30V and 20 μA when paired with the silver under the same compressive force of 10 kgf.

When four layers were stacked, this produced an output of 170V and 120 μA -- and, over 12,000 cycles, there were no significant differences in the output voltages of the multi-layered fabric.

Attached to a jacket sleeve, the cloth was then used to successfully power six embedded LEDs, a small LCD and a keyless car remote inside the jacket. When the wearer moved his wrist, this produced enough power -- without the help of any external power sources -- to turn each of these devices on, although only one at a time.

Obviously it has its limitations. It could not, in its current state, power a smartphone, although perhaps paired with a battery pack, it could store the power generated for emergencies. One could also not wear an entire garment made out of the material -- a silicone jacket would get rather sweaty.

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Motion-powered 'smart' fabric could charge your electronics

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Options for a wearable, portable charging solution include a jacket with solar panels stuck on the back and shoes that collect kinetic energy -- but a new type of fabric taps into something we usually find undesirable -- static electricity.

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Sensor allows you to control smartphone by stroking your hair

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Sensor allows you to control smartphone by stroking your hair

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Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET

The feeling of being stuck in a threatening situation is one known to many women -- and sometimes, reaching for an emergency help app -- such as Circle of 6 -- could potentially cause more danger. But what if there was a means whereby a natural gesture could trigger an app without alerting anyone nearby?

Hairware by Beauty Technology designer and Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro postdoctoral researcher Katia Vega is designed with safety in mind -- a hair extension woven with capacitive wire to act as a remote touch sensor to interact with a smartphone app. A hairclip with a Bluetooth module and Arduino microcontroller would allow the hair to communicate with the user's phone.

"We add new functionalities to hair extensions, turning them into a seamless device that recognises auto-contact behaviours concealed to outside observers. Therefore, Hairware brings the opportunity to make conscious use of an unconscious auto-contact behaviour," Vega wrote on her website.

"Hairware acts as a capacitive touch sensor that detects touch variations on hair and uses machine learning algorithms in order to recognise user's intention."

This means that various touch types could communicate different things to the app. One touch could open the app; a second touch, or a long stroke of the extension, could activate an app's function -- sending a message to a friend, for instance, or take a discreet photograph.

"Artificial hair extensions were chemically metallised for acquiring electrical conductivity and also keeping a natural colouration. We added layers of non-conductive hair extensions that are added for isolating the hair from the skin. Also, these layers improved the capacitor sensor values," Vega explained.

"Each time the user touches the top, middle or tip, the capacitor sensor differentiates these values. The circuit compares an output that transmits the pulse and an input, which receives the pulse. When a finger touches Hairware, it creates a delay in the pulse, and this delay is recalculated by the microcontroller."

The proof of concept works: at the Intelligent User Interfaces 2015 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, Vega presented a paper on the hardware and software implementation of the device. Additionally, attendees were invited to test Hairware by using it to take selfies.

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Clandestinely control your smartphone by stroking your hair

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The feeling of being stuck in a threatening situation is one known to many women -- and sometimes, reaching for an emergency help app -- such as Circle of 6 -- could potentially cause more danger. But what if there was a means whereby a natural gesture could trigger an app without alerting anyone nearby?

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And using his "live stream" images the firefighters were able to get the grass fire under control in Swansea, south Wales.

Mr Thyer said: "I could see the orange glow of a mountain fire. It was obviously a big one, and as I had the helicopter and camera equipment I decided to see if I could help.

Stills from the video show the extent of the blaze (Wales News Service)

"When I got there we approached the fire chief and showed him the kit, and he was happy for me to help."

The BT engineer had been out with his friend Kevin Nedin, 32, taking pictures of Morris Castle and were on the way home when they spotted the fire.

The pair were able to help the four fire crews which spent Wednesday night tackling the fire as it consumed 50 acres of mountainside.

They also got a breathtaking video of the Gelliwasted mountain in flames - from 200 metres in the air.

The bird's eye view helped firefighter kill the flames quicker (Wales News Service)

Virgin media worker Mr Nedin said: "Although it was dark, we were able to give the firefighters a bird's eye view of where and how the flames were spreading across the mountainside.

"It was nice to be able to help the crews in their work."

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Drone footage helps firefighters tackle blaze

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And using his "live stream" images the firefighters were able to get the grass fire under control in Swansea, south Wales. Mr Thyer said: "I could see the orange glow of a mountain fire. It was obviously a big one, and as I had the helicopter and camera equipment I decided to see if I could help.

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Vibrating pen could help sufferers of Parkinson's disease

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Vibrating pen could help sufferers of Parkinson's disease

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Students have created a vibrating pen designed to help patients with Parkinson's disease.

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Old Spice takes crowdsourcing to new leve

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Old Spice takes crowdsourcing to new leve

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Old Spice is tapping into the gamer community, which clearly overlaps with its own target, with an interesting campaign on Twitch -the live social video platform for gamers-in which viewers get to control a real human being dropping in a forest for three days.

Beginning Thursday at 10 a.m. PT, visitors to twitch.tv/oldspice will use the site's chat feature to send commands to the man to perform. Users will work together to unlock achievements or activities for Nature Man. ("Arm wrestle an obviously fake bear? Hear stories from a wise tree? Stumble across interesting and good smelling characters? The scenarios are endless-and completely up to the participating gamers," says Wieden + Kennedy, which built the experience.)

Beyond that, well, we'll just have to see how it unfolds.

"Old Spice is thrilled to bring an outdoor gaming experience like no other to our fans and the Twitch community," Kate DiCarlo, communications manager for P&G beauty care, tells AdFreak. "We're always looking for new ways to entertain and build brand loyalty with our fans, and Twitch is the perfect partner to help us reach the gaming and livestreaming culture in an authentic way. Plus, with scent names like Timber, Amber and Citron, we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our new nature-inspired Fresher Collection."

The stream will run from 10 a.m. to sundown PT on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

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Old Spice Will Drop a Man in the Woods and Let Twitch Viewers Control Him for 3 Days

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Old Spice is tapping into the gamer community, which clearly overlaps with its own target, with an interesting campaign on Twitch-the live social video platform for gamers-in which viewers get to control a real human being dropping in a forest for three days.

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Google patents ability to control robot army

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Google patents ability to control robot army

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After getting a patent for giving robots personalities last month, Google now wants to unleash an army of Rodney Dangerfield bots on the world.

In a patent awarded today, the company outlines a system for "allocating tasks to a plurality of robotic devices." This sounds innocuous enough-it could mean linking a series of factory robots together, or perhaps a gaggle of Roombas to clean a large house-but the potential is much greater. Google's patent outlines methods for connecting a series of robots over the cloud to complete tasks, but it doesn't put a limit on how many robots could be managed at once.

The patent suggests that the robots could be controlled by a smartphone-Google's mobile operating system is called Android, after all-with tasks doled out based on each robot's ability to complete them. Someone could theoretically control the botswarm from anywhere in the world. As the patent puts it:

"The plurality of robotic devices of the system may be configured to receive information from the computing component via the network associated with instructions for performing one or more tasks."

There are certainly legitimate applications of this that Google might have in mind. For example, making sure all of its self-driving cars can communicate with each other and be monitored from a central source seems like a (literal) no-brainer. Applying this task management system to other Google ventures, such as its robotics arm Boston Dynamics, the potential seems a little more worrisome. Hopefully we will not require the services of a skeptical Will Smith to combat Google robots in the future.

The timing on this patent is perfect: The UN is currently meeting to decide whether to restrict or possibly even ban the development of autonomous lethal weapons, and what level of "meaningful human control" such weapons should have. A Google representative told Quartz that some patent ideas "later mature into real products or services, some don't," but did not say if the company had any plans to raise a robot army. At the very least, the company could work on a robot soccer team that isn't terrible.

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Google has patented the ability to control a robot army

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After getting a patent for giving robots personalities last month, Google now wants to unleash an army of Rodney Dangerfield bots on the world. In a patent awarded today, the company outlines a system for "allocating tasks to a plurality of robotic devices."

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A London-based company has launched a prototype "robo-chef" for the home.

Moley Robotics is demonstrating its concept at this year's Hannover Messe - a big trade fair for industrial technology held annually in Germany.

The cooking machine learns by capturing the movements of a human in the action of preparing a meal.

These movements are then turned into commands that drive a sophisticated pair of robot hands.

Tim Anderson, the 2011 BBC Masterchef champion, is training the robo-chef.

At the Hannover Messe, he has got the machine making a crab bisque.

"It's the ultimate sous-chef," Mr Anderson told BBC News.

"You tell it to do something - whether it's a bit of prep or completing a whole dish from start to finish - and it will do it. And it will do it the same every single time."

The product is still two years away from market. Moley wants to make the unit slightly more compact, and give it a built-in refrigerator and dishwasher.

The robot could then do everything from assembling and chopping all the ingredients, doing the cooking on the hob or in the oven, and finishing up by cleaning the dirty pans.

"We want people to be comfortable with this device," says Moley's Mark Oleynik.

"It's not an industrial device; it's not a device that works at 10-times normal speed. No, it's a device that moves like you move, and at the same speed as you do."

Appetising apps

The goal is to produce a consumer version costing £10,000.

It is likely find a ready market in the urban apartment where space is at a premium.

The vision is to support the product with thousands of app-like recipes. The motion capture capability would also allow owners to share their special recipes online.

A key innovation is the hands. Produced by the Shadow Robot company, they use 20 motors, 24 joints and 129 sensors to mimic the movements of human hands.

Shadow's Rich Walker believes his robotic appendages will ultimately cope with some of the uncertainties of cooking, such as when beaten eggs decide to peak.

"Something would change; we would see it in the sensor data. Maybe something gets stiffer or softer," he explained.

"We should be able to sense that and use it as the point to transition to the next stage of the cooking process."

Robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) were identified by the UK's coalition government as one of "eight great technologies" that could help to rebalance the British economy - along with the likes of satellites, synthetic biology and so-called "big data" applications.

The potential for RAS is thought to be immense. A recent report by the McKinsey consultancy estimated that advanced robotics could generate a potential economic impact of between $1.9tn and $6.4tn (£1.3tn to £4.4tn) per year by 2025.

But the use of robotics in the home is currently in its infancy.

The setting is not one that many people immediately think of when considering autonomous systems.

That will have to change if robotic chefs and other applications are to be accepted and embraced.

And, in time, it will believes Prof David Lane at Heriot-Watt University.

"It's interesting to note that Dyson is launching its robotic vacuum cleaner in Japan - a traditional early-adopter market," he told the BBC.

"But people more generally are taking the baby steps towards accepting this type of technology.

"The example I always like to give is the Docklands Light Railway in London: everyone gets on it and doesn't think twice that there's no driver, no human, at the front.

"The UK is in a good position to take advantage of the new wave of robotics that is coming.

"It's small, agile, disruptive start-up activity that is going to grow big - and that's where we have to put our energies."

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A London-based company has launched a prototype "robo-chef" for the home. Moley Robotics is demonstrating its concept at this year's Hannover Messe - a big trade fair for industrial technology held annually in Germany. The cooking machine learns by capturing the movements of a human in the action of preparing a meal.

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thought piece?

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Dove Has Women Walk Through Doors Labeled "Beautiful" Or "Average" In Latest Campaign

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Once again, soap is acting condescending. This post has been updated.

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Birds Eye: dolling out cash from giant frozen billboard

The food brand, best known for its fish fingers and peas, created a giant 20ft ice block with coins and notes frozen inside to raise awareness of food waste and encourage consumers to use their freezers.

The four-tonne ice block, which took over one month to freeze and eight days to build, contained £700 cash - the amount Birds Eye claims consumers would save if they froze surplus food instead of binning it.

Passers-by were able to pluck out the cash as the ice melted in the sun.

The activity was designed to launch Birds Eye's new marketing campaign -iFreeze, iSave, which aims to show people they can save money by freezing food. The brand has created a digital hub with freezer tips and a TVC will run until May.

"We're incredibly excited by this campaign as we understand the pressures families are under to save money," said MD Andy Weston-Webb.

"Reducing food waste by making the most of the freezer will not only help families to do so but it will also help the UK to become more sustainable and resourceful, something we're very proud to be a part of."

Brand: Birds Eye

Agencies: Havas Worldwide, Havas Media, Mischief PR, Live & Breathe and Jam

Recommended

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Birds Eye freezes real cash in giant ice billboard stunt

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The food brand, best known for its fish fingers and peas, created a giant 20ft ice block with coins and notes frozen inside to raise awareness of food waste and encourage consumers to use their freezers.

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Wearable consumers shun high street for online shopping

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Wearable consumers shun high street for online shopping

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LONDON: Wearable technology is posing a major problem for high street retailers because current and potential buyers are shunning them in favour of buying online, according to new research.

The latest Wearables Tracker from YouGov, the polling firm, found three times as many wearables owners bought their devices online rather than in a bricks-and-mortar store.

Based on responses from more than 2,000 consumers, almost two-thirds (62%) said they bought their device online, with Amazon the most popular site (31%), compared with 22% who bought in-store.

Total Retail

It is a similar story for those considering whether to buy a wearable device with 56% saying they think they will purchase online.

YouGov also found that 72% of current owners researched devices, of whom 16% visited a store to check out the wearable device before buying.

However, the report suggested there is still an opportunity for retailers among those considering to buy. Even though 56% said they thought they would buy online, 47% of those who intend to research the product said they would visit a store.

YouGov director Russell Feldman accepted the new technology posed a dilemma for retailers because wearables are an "odd beast" in that they are both high-tech versions of existing goods but also an emerging and distinct category.

This made it difficult for retailers to decide where best to display them - perhaps the jewellery section or maybe consumer electronics? - but Feldman said retailers need to find the answer because otherwise it will lead to shoppers getting confused.

"Although we are likely to see many consumers grazing in-store and then purchasing online, were retailers to be better at showcasing these devices to consumers it is likely they would at least increase their share of this lucrative market before it slips away from them completely," he said.

The warning is timely because the survey coincides with the online launch of the Apple Watch, which is being made available for pre-order to consumers in the UK and eight other major markets.

The first offline sales in the UK will take place at Selfridges and Dover Street Market in London. Elsewhere, it will be sold in luxury stores in cities such as Paris and Tokyo.

Data sourced from YouGov, City A.M.; additional content by Warc staff

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Wearable consumers shun high street | WARC

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LONDON: Wearable technology is posing a major problem for high street retailers because current and potential buyers are shunning them in favour of buying online, according to new research. The latest Wearables Tracker from YouGov, the polling firm, found three times as many wearables owners bought their devices online rather than in a bricks-and-mortar store.