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1TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CONTENT
DIGITAL TRENDS REPort 2015
CHOOSEYOUROWN
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About HotwireContents
Introduction: Choose your own content1. Unified digital
experiences
2. Multiple screens, multiple methods, one story
3. The content car4. Making advertising routine
5. esome chapter title goes here6. Dr Data is around the
corner
7. Theres no such thing as a (digital) free lunch
8. Tech is so not in, darling
9. Moving fashion forward10. Going digital: the road to the
General Election
Conclusion
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Hotwire is a global PR and communications agency dedicated to
helping ambitious companies change their game, build their
reputation, and stand out from the crowd. Our communications
experts work in sector practice
teams to provide our clients with in-depth knowledge and
experience of a number of market categories.
From Sydney to San Francisco, were a team, with a one office
mentality. Our international team works across our 22
locations,
including the UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia
and New Zealand, together with affiliate partners.
We bring the best of our knowledge, skills and experience to all
of our clients wherever they are in the world.
www.hotwirepr.com
#hwtrends@hotwirepr
To find out more, please email [email protected]
2015 Hotwire
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Welcome to our 6th annual report on the trends in digital
communication that will shape the marketing and communications
landscape in the year ahead.
Were delighted to say that this years report is a truly global
effort with contributions from our offices around the world. Wed
also like to say a special thank you to Nicholas Lansman and the
team at Political Intelligence for their insightful contribution on
how digital is changing the
UK political landscape.
As we discussed and debated the trends we expected to shape the
coming year, we kept returning to one concept. In previous years
its been all about how marketers can make the most of new trends
and opportunities.
But in 2015, we think its going to be all about choice for the
consumer. Whether thats choosing the device they use or how they
want to interact with a particular piece of content, its all about
placing power in the hands
of our audience.
The brands and companies that get ahead in 2015 will be the ones
who recognize this choice and do everything they can to create
multi-faceted experiences.
As ever, we look forward to discussing and debating these trends
with the wider world. Whether you agree, disagree or think weve
missed the point entirely, wed love to hear from you just drop us a
line on Twitter: @hotwirepr.
IntroductionBusinesses are spending more time and money than
ever before on generating content. We are drowning in a sea of
pithy blogs, in-depth whitepapers and tongue-in-cheek videos. But
are we all a bit too obsessed with getting as much out there on as
many topics as possible? Wouldnt it be better to take a step back
and give people the choice as to how they want to consume that awe
inspiring opinion piece youve just written?
As marketers and communication pros, were (mostly) pretty good
at understanding our audiences interests and preferences and are
able to apply that knowledge to our content creation, but what
about its delivery?
Whether written, visual or audio, we think choice in content
delivery is going to be one of the most important trends of the
coming year it distinguishes us as individuals in terms of content
consumption and unites us in our desire to control who interacts
with us and how.
Im an individual, and I want a podcast.
Where would we be in marketing if we didnt have a buzzword to
describe a practice or process? Business to Individual (B2i)
marketing is by no means a new concept; its been scribbled on
whiteboards and etched on tablets (the digital kind) in fashionable
marketing meeting rooms across the globe for some time.
The big focus area of B2i marketing is of course understanding
what an individual rather than a mass market will respond to in
terms of marketing collateral and initiatives. On a content level,
its almost entirely focused on understanding what subject areas and
topics are going to get the individual to pay attention to you and
your brand. But then the individual targeting stops there. Sweeping
generalisations are made as to how the content will be delivered.
Oh well this individual is an 18-something male, so he must love
Tumblr, a blog it is then content delivery
decision made. But thats a half-baked approach. The method of
delivery is utterly crucial, and whats more there is certainly no
one size fits all.
Marketers are now beginning to thoroughly investigate the
different ways in which content will be consumed by the individual.
If youve got the time, you could spend thirty minutes reading a
whitepaper on The Merits of Underwater Basket Weaving online, but
you might want to download it as an audio file to be enjoyed on a
crowded commute home or have the finer points of aquatic crafts
presented to you as an engaging video from your desk. The crucial
thing to understand here is that the theme remains the same; the
time is spent on giving people the option as to how they engage
with that theme.
A perfect example of this in practice came from The Economist.
Of course, the publication already provides choice to its
subscribers, with not only a digital and print version of its
newspaper but a
Choose your own content
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CHOOSEYOUR OWN
downloadable audio book as well.
In a recent essay on the future of the book, The Economist
presented the perfect example of Choose Your Own Content in action,
which was a delicious bit of content presented in a way that
allowed the reader/listener to make the choice for themselves as to
how to consume it.
This approach is a shining example of whats to come. Undoubtedly
big media organizations will lead the charge, but other brands from
other industries will follow. Well see a marketing world where
providing choice of content consumption is given as much thought
and time as the topic of the content itself.
Informing the individualBig media will lead the way in Choose
Your Own Content and an extraordinary example of the power of
providing choice has already come from the BBC. In the 1980s and
1990s, the BBC undertook a significant campaign to educate as many
people as possible on the effects, causes and symptoms of
HIV/AIDS.
Whats changed over the 30 or so years since the reporting on
HIV/AIDS is the number of channels available to reach the eyes and
ears of people across the globe.
Of course, TV and radio are playing an important role in
delivering information across West Africa right now. But with more
than 250 million mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa, mobile
is a channel that must be utilised.
Whats interesting is that when it came to raising awareness of
Ebola, the BBC chose WhatsApp as the delivery method for
information and content. They did this, not just because of its
usage (the most popular chat app in Western Africa) but because of
its versatility in delivering the same information in as many forms
as possible.
Compared to the Western world, smartphone penetration is still
relatively low in sub-Saharan Africa, so video and rich media is
not necessarily the best method of delivery. Whats more, literacy
is not a guarantee either. As such, a mix of content needed to be
delivered to ensure
information got through to different individuals with different
consumption habits.
Image, text and audio all had to be utilised. There is no one
size fits all, but it must be applauded that the BBC is not resting
on its laurels in terms of delivering content across channels it
knows best. Rather, its analysing the statistics then marrying
different content types with a single, widely used, platform across
a vastly adopted technology.
A masterclass in content delivery as part of a very noble quest.
A lot can be learned from this. Mobile in particular offers a
variety of opportunities for vital government communications to be
delivered across a single technology via multiple platforms.
Reaching out to citizens in a way that allows them to choose how to
be communicated with should stimulate a more informed and engaged
public. So expect governments to follow in the footsteps of big
media in the way they use different forms of content to get their
message across.
Advertising to the individualIndividual empowerment in content
consumption doesnt stop there.
The world is privacy obsessed and secure alternatives to
data-hungry ad-based platforms are becoming increasingly common.
People are switching off but worst of all, as a brand looking to
advertise your content, you will probably never even know about
it.
In response, behavioral targeting is being replaced in some
corners by incentivised systems that actively encourage users to
opt in and choose their ads. Rather than giving viewers the
opportunity to get back to their favourite vlogger or latest TV
series faster by skipping ads, platforms like Ad Points actively
invite users to watch ads of their choosing in return for set
rewards.
Its far from a silver bullet, and its difficult to measure how
effective these techniques have been so far. But what is clear is
that its increasingly hard to land the right content in your
audiences lap.
Empowering the individual With that in mind, and all things
considered, its time to go the extra mile.
Rather than stopping at the point of identifying and reflecting
your audiences passions and interests in content and across
channels you deem relevant, why not hand over the reins? Want more
for your audience this year? Theyll appreciate you for it.
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The website font is Arial, the apps in Helvetica and the mobile
website varies between the two, seemingly at random.
If that doesnt sound like a big deal, youre failing to give your
audience a unified experience of your brand.
The last few years have seen massive strides in our
understanding of what really constitutes a unified experience, most
notably a consistent look and feel.
However, this alone is not enough. Offering a unified customer
experience means having far more than the colours and typeface on
each platform or recycling the same
uniform content with a funky way of presenting it on small
screens.
It means more than just talking in the right tone on social
platforms and providing the same functionality on every platform.
It goes deeper than that.
Even now, we regularly come across a checkout process that is
off brand, a mobile app that has a different login process to the
web equivalent, or a web portal with content presented in a format
were not used to. All of these mistakes sound small, after all the
user can still complete the
1. Unified digital experiences
task. But they all create a poor user experience. The lesson?
Dont be those guys.
Brand personalityWith the birth of new technologies and
practices, companies have more opportunities than ever to introduce
audiences to their brand.
In the past we would often find default fonts, images and tones
of voice that were driven by development teams not marketers or
branding specialists.
This often led to clunky interfaces and experiences that were
not only confusing but often actively off putting. Why should we be
expected to put our bank details into a third-party web page? Https
or no https?
The balance of power has changed, and marketers are able to
demand that the design is not only recognisable, but absolutely on
brand. Whether thats your website or a native app, were now able to
manipulate the look and feel to ensure consistency throughout.
Features and functions channel specificity
In last years report, we examined the way customer service
through social channels has become the norm, as a key part of any
brands strategy for that channel. By employing the right strategy,
and taking a joined up approach, these platforms become an
invaluable tool in the battle to stay ahead.
Using a unified digital experience, we can use specific channels
to communicate and present the company to a subset of consumers in
a very targeted way, while
staying true to the core brand message.
Well see marketers learn how to maximize the feature sets of
individual channels. Whether they are experienced alone or in
conjunction with others channels, well feel like the experience is
seamless, and beautiful.
To achieve this, we need to spend time examining the challenges
and opportunities offered by each platform. A joined up business
will examine each of these platforms on their respective merits and
decide which ones to use and which ones to steer clear of. This
will allow them to devise a strategy which retains the identity of
the brand however we choose to engage with it.
Meeting the challenges of 2015To meet these challenges, well
rely on context. Allowing someone to update an order delivery time
via their phone when theyre delayed, for example, is providing a
useful function that will benefit not just the customer but the
company too. Allowing customers to checkout an order they started
building on another device will improve conversion.
Were seeing a lot more time and budget given to creating a set
of strategies for the unified experience, where each strategy works
together to create a digital eco-system with the brand at the heart
of all decisions. 2015 will be the year that sees the companies
that successfully deliver a unified experience flourish. Those that
dont will sink to the bottom, as users reject tired old experiences
which demand more of them than they seem to offer.
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2. Multiple screens, multiple methods, one story
The smartwatch conundrumAdditionally, as smartwatches become
increasingly common, it means people will spend less time pulling
their phone out of their pocket in search of a distraction.
Well have multiple screens on us at all times, but the recurring
itch to check whether we have an unread
notification will be gone, as theyll be right there on our
wrists. So our content needs to be better than ever before, to hook
our audiences attention and make them engage with it, whatever
device they have to hand.
Adaptive or specific?
The challenge now for the comms industry is to figure
out how we take advantage of the possibilities of these new
platforms and how we avoid getting left behind. At heart, this
challenge is about how we create content for an audience which
could be engaging with it from any number of differently shaped and
sized screens.
There are two main
The long awaited launch of the Apple watch confirmed it wearable
devices are here to stay. You may be skeptical, but people were
dubious of the iPod and iPad and we all know how they turned out.
Research by Facebook suggests that more than 60 percent of us
already use more than one device,
and this will only rise as tablets become cheaper and wearable
devices become more widely adopted. With the next generation, its
already happened the average teenager now owns six digital
devices.
So we need to find a way of telling the story we want to tell
whatever device someone is using. Despite
all the evidence, we still cling to the idea that most people
are going to view our stories on a computer or at a push a
tablet.
Therefore, as comms professionals, we need to get comfortable
with telling the same story in multiple ways, using different
formats and platforms.
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approaches here.
The first is to take the adaptive work that is now considered
the norm in the web industry and look at ways to take responsive
design one step further. The alternative is for brands to create
content specifically for different devices using their knowledge of
their audience to determine the correct form their story should
take.
Businesses that opt to experiment with creating content
specifically for a screen size or device need to start asking
themselves how they can adapt existing storytelling techniques to
smaller screens. Could mimicking comic panels or flip books be the
answer, for example?
Counting on cardsIf were going adaptive, then we need to take a
long hard look at how Twitter and Google are innovating with
cards.
Max Tatton-Brown of Econsultancy described cards as the mobile
language of the web and this is spot on. If we view them as our
building blocks, figuring out how to break our content down into
the smallest accessible form possible, we can build from there
up.
That might mean starting with
the preview youd see on a smartwatch, then figuring out how your
message comes across as a tweet with an embedded image, then a blog
post or a video, right up to white papers and microsites. Whichever
device you then view a link from, youll be served the relevant
card, with the right content for the device youre using.
Dreaming a little bit wouldnt it be cool if you could just swipe
to transfer content from one screen to another? Youd be able to
view a card as a preview on your smartwatch then swipe it to the
screen youre working on.However we approach these new challenges
2015 will see the comms industry having to take a long hard look at
the way it tells stories. In a world where a tweet could be too
long, video and imagery will take their rightful place alongside
the written word forming the building blocks of great content which
savvy marketers will blend appropriately depending on the audience
theyre targeting.
The power of the glance A valuable source of inspiration is how
the media is approaching this challenge. Newspapers have long been
experts in conveying information in a tiny number of words or
through imagery just look at big splash front pages and the power
of headlines.
So how are they approaching the challenge of designing for
smartwatches? Writing for Nieman Lab, Dan Shanoff argued we need to
start treating the glance as the basic subatomic unit of news. Dan
argues that responsive design cant solve the challenges we face
when creating content for so many screens and instead we have to go
specific.
The last major shift in length the news industry faced was the
tweet how can we tell a story but also tease more information in
140 characters?
The challenge is now doing the same in an inch of real estate
where even a tweet is too long. Can we tell stories in six seconds?
The BBC has tried with Vine, but can every news organization make
that jump?
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3. The content car
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The connected car has been touted even longer than the dreaded
self-ordering fridge. In 1966, the creators of the original
Batmobile built a car for the TV series that not only had a
computer but a ships compass and a BatNav system built into the
dash.
For years, we have been told that technology, with power akin to
a small datacentre, will end up in our beloved Toyota Corollas
somehow. Yet here we are still struggling to get our mobiles
connected to the hands-free. And thats if you even have a car
modern enough to sport Bluetooth.
We should admit that back in 2011 we predicted that app stores
for cars would take off in 2012. OK, we may have been somewhat
overly optimistic on that one, but there have been a few serious
developments in the last three years which were confident mark the
dawn of a real shift in connectivity in our cars.
Automotive agilityFirstly, were beginning to see real intent
from automotive brands (or Original Equipment Manufacturers/OEMs if
you want to sound really clever). While the technology industry
moves apace, the automotive sector cruises at a much slower speed.
Development cycles are typically five to seven years and decisions
for large scale changes often seen in concept vehicles are likely
to get heavily watered down in production models.
Put into perspective, much of the
technology in cars sold today was probably chosen before the
iPad had even gone on sale for the first time. This causes a huge
disconnect between the technology we use every day at home and work
and the legacy systems were forced to use when we step into our
cars.
Reducing this cycle for driver-facing systems is now a key
objective for the auto brands not least because there is still a
significant race to differentiate their cars in a highly
competitive market. However, any technology chosen must be designed
to stand the test of time, albeit with software upgrades along the
way.
Wireless horsepowerThe second major development that may spur on
a new wave of connectivity in cars is the growing adoption and
availability of 4G LTE. This wireless broadband standard is
forecast to reach 40 percent penetration in Western Europe by 2016
having been available in Asia and the US for a few years already.
During the autumn of 2014, one of the UKs mobile operators, EE,
announced the roll-out of so-called 4G+ in urban areas, allowing
for download speeds of up to 150Mbps.
What on earth will we do with all that bandwidth? Well, luckily
you dont need to decide because there are already numerous service
providers fighting tooth and nail to help you eat it up. Were
beginning to see the race for quad-play (i.e. a single service
provider selling fixed voice and broadband as well as mobile and
pay-TV in a single package) really hot up
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with BT/EE and Virgin Media having joined TalkTalk in the UK,
and this could lead to some interesting deals or consolidation
during 2015.
The impact of this bandwidth battle and reshuffle is really
interesting for the connected car market, mainly because this is
exactly where well also begin to find a newly captive audience for
all of the content that the service providers want to push out.
Firms such as CloudMade are beginning to get more vocal about the
streams of content which can be delivered to cars and just like you
have in your living room today, and in 2015, we will begin to see
content created specifically to be delivered into cars. At first
this is likely to be for mobile devices already sharing a cars 4G
connection, but before long, well see high-end models integrating
modern touchscreen technology as well.
The auto-advertBut what is really driving this all? Where theres
content, there is advertising and where theres advertising there
are brands willing to part with large sums of cash in order to
reach an affluent, geo-specified audience that is only going to get
more captive over the next few years. Although driverless cars may
seem like a futuristic
dream now, cars launching in 2015 will feature technologies such
as Super Cruise, allowing for semi-autonomous driving on motorways
or in traffic. This truly is a roadmap toward jumping into a car
which just takes orders on where to travel next.
In 2011, 64 percent of the UK population traveled by car (as a
driver or passenger) to work every day at an average of just under
10 miles each, which could possibly be between 30 and 60 minutes of
driving time depending on which part of the country you live
in.
Even a rough calculation shows that about 40 million people fit
in the 16-74 year old age bracket surveyed by the RAC and, of
those, 25 million travel 30-60 minutes in a car each day. It doesnt
take a genius to work out that this represents an enormous
opportunity for brands looking to engage.
As a marketer, think seriously about how your content will play
out in the connected future and what you would do with it if you
suddenly found yourself with a direct line into every car on the
road. Whats more, brands are more interested than ever before on
where you are and what youre doing in order to serve you with the
right content.
One of the technologies were due to see on our roads is Super
Cruise. GM is pioneering the technology that will allow for
semi-autonomous driving where hands-free lane following, automated
breaking and speed control become part and parcel of the motorway
driving experience.
All of this is powered by a technology pick-and-mix of GPS,
radar, sensors and cameras.
While this is not the fully automated experience people are
anticipating, this is a leap towards driving becoming less of a
participative activity. What on earth are we going to do with all
that free time in a car? Watch some adverts of course!
Super Cruise: The next leap forward
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18 19
Foursquare was supposed to be the next big thing in social media
and advertising.
By tracking where users were, brands could supply them with the
right offers at the right time. The problem? It required too much
conscious effort on the part of the end user. Rather than being
seamless, they had to remember to check in every time they visited
somewhere. As marketers, we cant and shouldnt rely on data that has
the potential to be so inaccurate.
Right now, brands advertise online, but they dont always expect
you to move away from Facebook to go to their online store and buy
a new pair of jeans they understand consumers better than that. The
trick is in influencing your purchase decision so that you end up
purchasing their product, either online or in-store.
So why do we still advertise online? In
large part its awareness helping shuffle people down the sales
funnel. But we can and should be taking advantage of the
opportunities offered here.
Breaking down the barriersThe best advertising should be
frictionless, appearing at the right time to the right person. In
2015, well start to see that become a reality, thanks to services
like Google Now becoming increasingly popular.
Of course, this only works if we make it personal. Knowing how
individuals reach the final decision to purchase is invaluable for
marketers. Companies like Google and Amazon are best positioned to
offer this by building up a picture of our search habits, they can
quickly determine if youre someone who goes on instinct or someone
who does their research looking at reviews, alternatives and best
prices.
What well see is a two-step process identifying user habits
based on their routine, likes and dislikes and then secondly the
distribution process. Mess up the first and it doesnt matter how
good you are at the second it just wont work.
Putting the process into actionThe first part of this process is
for brands and marketers to learn how to effectively analyse the
data captured by geolocation tools. Our phones already capture a
tremendous amount of data about us the question is, how do we use
this?
Again, it only takes a quick look at Google Now to see how
useful this information can be and how it can be conveyed to the
end user.Once were able to track where potential consumers are and
how they tend to behave, we can deliver them the right
information
4. Making advertising routine
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20 21
advertisers to utilise geolocation.
It doesnt need to be a huge amount even 10 percent off will
serve as a reminder that you were thinking about buying something
and could right now if you just walked a few feet to your left.
Most importantly, it doesnt feel like unwelcome advertising. Its
an offer thats relevant to you, right now, through a service youre
already signed up to. We expect services like Apple Pay and Google
Wallet to increasingly evolve in this
at the right time. Or if theyve searched for information on a
particular shop and we know its on their route home it makes
perfect sense to serve some kind of reminder when theyre passing
by.
Smartwatches are built for this.Platforms like Foursquare might
not be the next big advertising tool. But if you could get a
notification with a voucher pop up on your wrist when youre walking
past a store which sells those jeans youve been eyeing up, thats a
powerful way for
direction, providing you with more opportunities to get special
offers and the like, rather than simply functioning as an NFC
payment mechanism.
It wont just be advertisers taking advantage of this. Industries
such as health are investing and innovating heavily in digital,
with knowledge of your daily routine and habits and the data that
can be gleaned from these underpinning a large chunk of their
future plans.
One way brands are putting routine-based advertising into
practice is through geofencing. By setting a virtual fence around
your store ads are only served when someone steps within the
predefined-perimeters of the fence. It could be set to a few
hundred feet or several miles, depending on how widely you want to
advertise.
What matters is that the advert is only shown when people are
close enough to care and that they are served with content that is
personalised to them. The geofence provides the distribution tool,
leaving the marketer responsible for the content.Microsoft is one
company already making impressive use of this technique, combining
audience specific targeted creative campaigns with location based
distribution to raise awareness of their bricks and mortar stores.
By using a 10 mile geofence around their physical stores, Microsoft
saw an 89 percent lift in footfall amongst groups of consumers
served the ads.
Using geofencing to drive footfall
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....
It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a
hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic
Empire.
During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to
the Empires ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space
station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.
Pursued by the Empires sinister agents, Princess Leia races home
aboard her
starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people
and restore freedom to the galaxy
It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has
been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the
Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them acrossthe
galaxy.
Evading the dreaded
Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by Luke
Skywalker
has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of
Hoth.
The evil lord Darth Vader,obsessed with finding youngSkywalker,
has dispatchedthousands of remote probes into
the far reaches ofspace....Luke Skywalker has returned tohis
home planet of Tatooine inan attempt to rescue hisfriend Han Solo
from the
clutches of the vile gangsterJabba the Hutt.
Little does Luke know that theGALACTIC EMPIRE has secretlybegun
construction on a new
armored space station evenmore powerful than the firstdreaded
Death Star.
When completed, this ultimateweapon will spell certain doomfor
the small band of rebelsstruggling to restore freedomto the
galaxy...
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of
trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly
battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping
to the small planet of Naboo.
While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this
alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly
dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in
the galaxy, to settle the conflict....
There is unrest in the GalacticSenate. Several thousand
solarsystems have declared their
intentions to leave the Republic.This separatist movement,
under the leadership of themysterious Count Dooku, hasmade it
difficult for the limitednumber of Jedi Knights to maintain
5. Something something darkeside
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22 23
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litis
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24 25
6. Dr Data is around the corner
They say you cant walk three blocks without seeing a Starbucks.
Soon you wont be able to walk three blocks without your health tech
device congratulating you on reaching your steps for the day and
Starbucks telling you its now OK to come in and enjoy a Pumpkin
Spice Latte youve earned it.
Health is the new blackHealth is currently in vogue, with an
army of passionate
quantified selfers wearing FitBits, Jawbones and Galaxy Gears to
keep track of their steps and elevation. But its not just the geek
elite; if you own a modern smartphone then you (or Google on your
behalf) are already tracking the same sort of data. Tracking body
data is in the mainstream, whether you realised it or not.
Is this really about health, or is it more about our quest for
contextual information
about ourselves? Yes, were all becoming a little vain, and its
no mistake that some health tech updates have been more aesthetics
than functionality focused. But it doesnt matter. Forget the
fashion statement a fancy Jawbone UP or an Apple Watch makes, and
instead look at the data it is generating. This data is what will
have the biggest impact on health and not at a personal level, but
at a wider, systematic level where even minute changes can have the
biggest of impacts.
Health tech is getting smarterApples HealthKit and Googles Fit
platforms give the user the ability to share their digital health
information (aka body data) with healthcare professionals. Whats
more, the latest iterations of the likes of the Jawbone UP are
going beyond steps and elevation and into the realms of heart rate,
body temperature and stress. The more data healthcare professionals
have, the better.In the US, its no secret that tech is
revolutionising medical devices notably in the orthopaedics
industry, but
data will increasingly have a role. As the Affordable Care Act
continues to gain momentum and establish presence, theres an
important point to consider: is there a big barrier to making
data-driven health service a reality?
Data demonWith millions of people inputting their body data,
generated from the devices they carry and wear on a daily basis,
medical professionals could build a very clear picture of the
health of the nation their routines, habits and activity. From
there, they can begin to understand what effect small changes such
as an extra 100 steps a day could have. The impact could be
huge.
To take this further, an ability to assess the health of the
continent or indeed the planet would bring about another
technological revolution similar to the scale of the invention of
the steam engine. But theres one big, whopping, behemoth of a
barrier data privacy laws. On an international level, the sharing
of data becomes a tricky road to cross. For example, if data is
stored in the US,
but on behalf of the UK, who owns that data? And can data from
Germany be shared to doctors in Spain? More often than not, when it
comes to sharing data between borders, it might not be a
possibility.
So as we look to 2015, where Google Fit, Apples HealthKit and
smartwatches take digital health to the mainstream, we anticipate
healthcare institutions to stand up, take notice and make real
change that allows for the sharing of data, and putting it to good
use for the health of the nation. Private companies have
kick-started the change, but it will be privacy legislation and the
publics attitude towards sharing data that will well and truly
decide whether digital healthcare has a shelf-life or not.
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No ecosystem is guaranteed to be 100 percent safe, which means
your data isnt 100 percent safe either.
Apple iCloud users were brutally reminded of this in September
2014, when a collection of almost 500 private pictures of various
celebrities were leaked to the public. Did everyone who read about
it or stole a glance at the photos use the opportunity to reflect
on their own behavior and check their own security settings?
Probably not.
This was not the firt time personal details have been leaked
online, nor will it be the last: eBay lost 145 million records in
June 2014, Adobe lost 152 million in September 2013 and Scribd lost
500,000 in April 2013.
What can we trust?
In an online environment, using services and storing data in the
cloud requires constant risk assessment: Is this data I should
store online? Is this information I want to share? Can I trust this
services security? This requires in turn some
basic education on how data is stored on servers and how
security systems work. These are the questions we should all be
asking in 2015.
Not all of the above hacks were conducted in the same way, but
in many cases, users didnt make it very hard to break into their
accounts. Shortly after the iCloud celebrity hacks, Google reported
that five million Gmail logins had been leaked. LastPass analysed
the data and found that 123456 was the most widely used password,
among others like password, qwerty, dragon and iloveyou.
But this shouldnt come as a surprise as signing up for new
services is incredibly easy creating and remembering new passwords
for each service is not.
The currency of the internetIf were using a free service, then
the currency were paying with is our personal data.
Building a large user base we know lots about
7. Theres no such thing as a (digital) free lunch
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28 29
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I would be really excited to see other tech companies that want
to do the same. And Id love to help them. Runa Sandvik about
Facebooks launch of a Tor-powered version of their offering.
and then putting the data to work is how most online businesses
make their money, even The Guardian. This helps to explain why they
fear visitors with no referral data, or dark traffic so much and
why theyre addressing the issue so publicly. If a company doesnt
know who their audience is, they cant sell targeting. The result?
Advertisers go elsewhere.
Many of the Guardians readers, however, wouldnt know about the
tracks theyre leaving behind and its safe to assume that very few
internet users ever read the cookie policy of a website when the
note pops up.
The separation of tech and stateWho is responsible for creating
a cyber-savvy populace will be a question asked throughout 2015
should businesses be more transparent or should governments focus
greater efforts on educating their citizens?
In the UK, for example, the government is investing heavily in a
Cyber Streetwise campaign to make people aware of these issues.
Whereas in Germany, Google seems to be public enemy no. 1 due to
its handling of data and opposition to a range of
rules coming out of the EU.
This was most recently highlighted in August 2014, when it was
uncovered that the companys Google Maps service was tracking each
device it was installed on leading users to quickly review and
update their privacy settings.
Is it Googles responsibility to make everyone aware of this, or
should we make efforts to look into this for ourselves?
Respectful advertisingAs advertisers and marketers, its natural
that we want as much data as we can possibly gather to better
understand our target audience. But, in 2015 the smart marketers
will balance this desire for knowledge with an understanding and
respect of the limits people want to put on their own data.
If someone has location services turned off and isnt checking
into places through apps such as Foursquare, we shouldnt bombard
them with geolocated advertising even if we are still able to
access that data.
What well also see is increasing tension between the big tech
companies and governments. The companies are gathering this data
for their own ends, but are also becoming increasingly
sensitive to the privacy of their customers.
Governments and intelligence services meanwhile are desperate to
get their hands on this data. Who will win this fight will shape
the way our data is used, but even for a betting man, its way too
soon to tell which side will succeed. In 2014, Facebook has been
taking some steps to help users gain control of their privacy
settings by introducing a blue helper dinosaur and by launching a
Tor-friendly version of its site for those who want to cover their
tracks. If theres even a hint that individuals involved in crimes
and terrorist plots are involved, well see one hell of an assault
on Facebook by security services who will blame them for letting
suspicious individuals plot in protest.
Privacy is here to stay and the challenge for us is to get ahead
of the game. Lets use the data people are comfortable sharing to
inform our marketing strategies, theyll thank you for it.
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30 31
8. Tech is so not in, darling
While there are many early adopters out there scrambling around
to get their hands on the latest smartwatch or iPhone, there are a
group of much cooler kids working out ways to kill tech
altogether.
Welcome to the era of the neo-luddite. Theyre here to make sure
you switch off.
Talk to the hand, the phone aint listeningMost of us are either
happy, ambivalent or a little irritated at the appearance of
adverts on our mobile apps, YouTube videos or web searches. But
overall we accept that there is an unspoken contract between us and
the web. We can
access content for free, in exchange, brands can make us look at
adverts for a bit of time.
But there are a growing number of people who want to take that
virtual contract, burn it and dance around its ashes. So much so
that they will be more than happy to part with a bit of up
front
capital in exchange for the facility to get rid of adverts from
their online experience altogether. Ad blocking, as its known, is
at an all-time high. Whats more its not grumpy 40-something IT
managers that are doing this its the youth! The 18-25 year olds
form the majority demographic of those looking to banish the
unsolicited advert. Ad-blocking is set to continue to grow and as
we look to forthcoming generations, advertisers and marketers are
going to have to contend with a much more hostile audience when it
comes to serving unwelcome content. But it doesnt stop there,
theres an undercurrent of people wanting to switch off
altogether.
Digital detoxLike most trends, people need a place to gather and
show off. Mobile lovers have MWC, gadget lovers have CES,
anti-techies have digital detox retreats. Not content with just
blocking content on their phones, droves of people are heading to
the hills to spend time meditating, pressing juice and smugly
gloating at the fact that theyre at a strictly no tech event.
Think that this is just a flash in the pan? Think again. An
entire organisation and business model has sprung up in the US,
where people can book on a variety of different detoxes and
retreats. The fact is, its becoming a social statement to say oh Im
not on Facebook or oh gosh I just care about a phone that calls
people. Have we saturated people with so much tech that the cool or
trendy thing to do is to rebel by ignoring and rejecting it?
Perhaps. Well undoubtedly see more of an industry built around
making real, not virtual connections, and perhaps savvy marketers
will amp up the emotional, human connections their brands enable
rather than focus on innovation.
But even the anti-techies are quite techy.
Building tech for anti-techA new slant on wearable tech.
Wearable anti-tech! Thats right, fashionable items that are being
made to help you disconnect. How about a dress that cuts off a
mobile connection so you can interact with real people? Or a shirt
that wipes out your WhatsApp? Tech designed to rid yourself of,
well, tech.
While its unlikely that well be seeing thousands of people take
to the streets in their anti-tech jackets, we will be seeing a
growing number of people aggressively dismissive towards new
technology, and the brands that generate unwanted content through
new devices.
Building for the anti-tech generation will grow in 2015 and
this, combined with a growing sense of privacy on the web, could
fuel a significant economy built around anti-tech. But theres
something more interesting taking place within fashion and
technology that may bring some of the anti-techies back into the
warm glow of the mainstream.
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32 33
9. Moving fashion forwardWhere Burberry leads, the rest follow.
So, what should we make of the designers decision to launch an
innovation division tasked with exploring the intersection of
fashion and technology?
In an industry where chasing the new, new thing is not so much
an ideology but a business model, staying two steps ahead of the
competition is a smart move.
For fashion retailers, that means considering how technology can
enrich and more greatly personalise both the shopping and brand
experience. But which technologies should they pay attention
to?
Wearables Theres no doubt that the market for wearable
technology is growing, but the rate of growth is unclear. Estimates
for the volume of annual shipments range from 30 million to more
than 300 million globally in 2015, as industry watchers struggle to
predict how consumers will take to these new devices.
For an industry that makes its money from what people wear,
wearable technology seems like a shoe-in for the fashion business.
They generate heaps of data, offering retailers unprecedented
access into the lives of their consumers and their products.
Insights such as how often shoppers typically wear a pair of shoes,
can greatly inform retailers research and development efforts as
well as their marketing, paving the way for retailers to target
shoppers with personalised communications when they are likely to
be thinking about making another purchase.
This provides a huge opportunity to extend and enhance the
relationship between retailer and consumer, going far beyond the
after sales support offered today.
Visual searchIt can be incredibly frustrating when you know what
you want to buy but dont know where to buy it. Particularly when
what you want to buy isnt easy to describe. For instance, a
Google search for Polka Dot Green Jacket brings up more than
18.5 million results.
Apps like ASAP54, The Hunt and Snap Fashion are aiming to solve
this challenge by employing image recognition technology to look
through vast catalogues of clothes in search of the same or similar
item. Its a step forward, however image recognition is a tricky
business, and further development is needed if these services are
to prove useful and generate sufficient returns.
Shopping assistanceStart-ups like Thread.com and Lyst are
digitising the shopping experience with a personal assistant. By
combining shoppers personal preferences with insights from an
analysis of shopping habits, they deliver personalised
recommendations to subscribers. Aside from helping shoppers find
clothes that they want to buy, this intelligence offers fashion
buyers an insight into what consumers want right now and what
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34 35
the next hot trend may be. Information that could be a real
money spinner if managed correctly.
However, success is dependent on whether a large enough
user-base can be acquired to make these insights truly
representative. Without this, it will be hard to convince retailers
of the value to be gained through selling via a third party
platform. The race is on to reach this critical mass.
Virtual fitting rooms
While virtual fitting rooms (VFRs) have been touted as powerful
tools for personalising the shopping experience through sizing, low
adoption rates and a desktop-first approach have made it difficult
for retailers to justify investment. Just one in ten currently
offer a VFR service, according to Conlumino.
As m-commerce is set to rise by 45.9 percent to $298 billion
globally in 2015, its clear where the future for VFRs lies.
However, with other technologies leapfrogging VFRs and proving more
attractive to both retailers and investors, going mobile may be too
little, too late.
Wear next?
Retailers who were hit for six by the net and hit again by
mobile, are desperate to stay ahead of the latest advances in
technology. But despite the best of intentions, retailers already
appear to be failing to keep up with the fast pace of innovation
and increasingly sophisticated consumer expectations.
Research by Conlumino reveals a growing disparity between what
shoppers want and what retailers offer. For instance, while 40
percent of consumers want to use virtual fitting rooms, just 9
percent of retailers offer this service today. Equally, retailers
are out of step with consumers when it comes to 3-D printing,
wearables and facial recognition, with relatively few planning to
adopt these technologies in 2015. At present, concerns over what
return on investment can be expected from embracing fashion
technology have deterred more than two-third (71 percent) of
retailers. Clearly, fashion technology must prove its worth if it
is ever going to be truly in vogue.
10. Going digital: the road to the UK General Election
The 28th of April is Ed Balls day, where the internet
commemorates the time the Shadow Chancellor accidentally tweeted
his own name. Three Digital Trends Reports later, its a good
starting point to see how far politics has come in using digital
technology.
Digital hasnt radically changed what politicians do or why they
communicate, but it has transformed how they do it. They are still
attacking their opponents, engaging with their constituents,
expressing their opinions, but they are doing it faster, with
less resource and to a potentially bigger audience.
As Ed Balls and others have shown, this immediacy and speed has
potential pitfalls, and of course some MPs are better at it and are
using in genuinely imaginative ways. MPs are now crowdsourcing
opinions
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36 37
for what to ask the Prime Minister or Secretaries of State, and
just as brands use social to build an identity, MPs will often
tweet and discuss personal matters outside of politics, which lets
voters get to know them better than ever before.
Socially savvy MPsThe 2010 election saw the biggest new intake
of MPs for a long time and they tended to be younger and more
digitally savvy. This will increase in 2015, as new MPs arrive
armed with their tablets, fully geared up with Facebook and Twitter
accounts as well as a flashy website.
Beyond MPs, political institutions have embraced digital and
several Select Committees have been crowdsourcing ideas via their
websites and social channels for how to hold Ministers and Civil
Servants to account. Next year will also see the Speakers Digital
Democracy Commission report, with specific recommendations on how
democracy can use digital. Ideas so far have included MPs using
electronic voting in Parliament (which will save time and
money)
and (controversially) electronic voting at elections. The first
step has already been taken with electronic voter registration,
which may well see an increase in turnout next time round.
Missing the pointDespite all these efforts, its clear that
politicians will continue to not quite get it right when it comes
to digital.
Perhaps the most high profile example of 2014 was when the
Government BuzzFeed post persuading Scots to vote No in the
independence referendum was panned and considered patronising.
Other stunts, such as the Prime Minister live tweeting the
re-shuffle were a case of social for the sake of it. The media
lapped this up, but it didnt make any difference to ordinary voters
and the constant drip-feeding of information simply fuelled whos
next speculation, leading discussion away from the merits of each
appointment.
This misunderstanding of when to employ social media will bleed
into 2015. Twitter is probably the most loved
by political fanatics and whilst it does help set the agenda,
normal voters use Facebook more and theres no real evidence as yet
to suggest social media will get someone to vote differently.
However, like many consumer brands, political parties understand
the opportunities these channels present to get their message out
speedily and in easily digestible formats to a large audience.
Social media as a whole will still most definitely be dominated
by Twitter and Facebook, despite the fact that younger audiences
are moving to new platforms to communicate and share information
(such as Instagram, Pandora, and Whisper). These tend to be more
private and harder to engage with, and when combined with the fact
that young people vote less, politicians need to have tailored
messaging and content that works for this audience.
A social media election?
2005 and 2010 didnt quite deliver the promised internet
election, but its clear that 2015 will be the most digital
election ever. Indeed we experienced a great example of how
elections can be truly brought to life through social media
activity during the Scottish referendum, with viral campaigns
sparking intense debate. All the parties have been gearing up for
May 2015 hastily copying sections from the 2012 US Presidential
election playbooks (and even hiring former Obama staff).
There is still no real evidence of voters being tempted to
switch allegiances by social media, but what the Obama campaign did
so well was use social, old fashioned email and other digital tools
to mobilise existing supporters to volunteer their time, donate and
to spread the message to their online and offline networks. This
use of digital is also appealing to the smaller parties who do not
have the resources for major nationwide advertising.
This election will see more data driven campaigns, with
advertising, messaging and actions all being based on what end
users have told them. Out of home spend will dominate, but the
insights, analytics and ROI advantages of using data have convinced
election co-ordinators to spend big on digital.
Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps MP is a big advocate of
digital and has already established a network of single issue
on-message websites, plus very regular emails months before polling
day.
As the election draws nearer the need for politicians and
parties to get their digital communications right will be more
pressing than ever. We look forward to the mischief making, rumour
mill and news scoops that it will bring!
By: Nicholas Lansman, Group Managing Director, Political
Intelligence
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Conclusion
Choosing your own path. Its such a simple idea, but its one
digital marketers have struggled to give consumers until now.
We all want to feel in control of our experiences and the smart
marketers will be those who place this choice firmly in the hands
of their audience.
Whether its letting them choose whether to hear an audio clip,
watch a video or read the copy at their own pace, choice will
define what we do.
This personalisation of the end users experience will go way
beyond the content they consume. Their daily routine, choice of
device and personal health, will all become powerful sources of
data we can use to create beautiful experiences.
For industries as diverse as fashion and politics, the challenge
for communicators is the same. How do we use digital techniques to
enhance our offering and convince a sceptical audience of
the merits of our brand and message. Not every technique will
work, but if we accept this and learn from our failures well end
2015 in a stronger position than we started.
The consumer is king in 2015, and choice is their power.
Remember this and youll thrive. Forget and youll be left scrabbling
for scraps at the bottom table.
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