THE TRENDS REPORTJanuary 2016

Proudly brought to you by NATIVE VML

A MONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF TRENDS IN MARKETING, STORYTELLING AND DIGITAL

CULTURE LOCALLY AND ABROAD.

CREATIVITY AND A NEW

REALITY

The Next Era of Anticipatory Design is not so much about eliminating unnecessary choice, but rather liberating consumers from all choice.

In fact, Gartner predicts that autonomous mobile assistant purchasing will reach $20 billion annually by the end of 2016.

While anticipatory design is not new (think Clippy from Microsoft Office), the need to cut out unnecessary consumer steps and reduce the time-constrained users’ cognitive load continues to become even more critical.

Gartner predicts that the Internet of Things (IoT) will reach 21 billion connected devices by 2020. This will surely see the blur between products and services, as well as marketing and product design get even hazier.

The Next Era of Anticipatory Design

GlowCap and AT&T raise prescription medicine adherence from below 75% to 95%GlowCap is a tool designed to help those on chronic or prescription medicine remember to take their medicine. It is simply a cap that fits on top of a medicine bottle that alerts the user through light and sound that it is time to take their pills. It also sends messages to the user’s phone in the event of a missed dosage. GlowCap even sends refill requests to the user’s pharmacy with its press for refill button, so the user doesn’t have to stress about tracking their prescription schedules.

READ MORE

Source: Vitality

Healthier pets through the Canhe-Fit pendant The Canhe-Fit pendant was unveiled recently at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2016. The device helps pet owners monitor their pet’s food intake and physicial activity level. An app then sends the owner nutritional advice depending on the pet’s breed, age and weight.

READ MORE

Source: I4U

Next-Gen WIFI for the Internet of Things (IoT)Advances in Wi-Fi standards will come to solve the limitations of IoT devices caused by poor connectivity. Called Wi-Fo HaLow, this long-range, low-power Wi-Fi caters directly to various wearables, smart sensors and other IoT devices by extending transmission range and penetration capabilities.

READ MORE

Source: WiRED

INNOVATION AND DISRUPTION

Not only has Ad Blocker usage been on the rise, but the newly released iOS9 includes support for Ad Blockers too. There is a clear cry from online audiences to not have to contend with disruptive advertising. This means that brands will need to work a lot harder to essentially be invited into their consumers’ worlds.

It would appear that native content is the best solution to this dilemma.

With Burberry’s Festive Film and Mercedes-Benz’ ‘innovative’ Elf-Driving video setting the scene for holiday-themed branded content, the race is on to create truly entertaining and emmersive content that consumers welcome and share within their own online ecosystems.

The end of advertising interruption

“WE NEED TO STOP INTERRUPTING WHAT PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN AND BE

WHAT PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN.”

Craig Davis, former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson

CES (Consumer Electronic Show) 2016 saw many innovative and disruptive technology demos, but one to certainly watch out for is Samsung’s unveiling of their modular display technology.

Modular Display

Samsung Future TVAn innovative new way to make your TV screen even bigger, the modular display design uses multiple screens that come together in different configurations seamlessly.

READ MORE

Source: Samsung Newsroom

MEDIA JUJITSU

2015 saw the rise of self-destructing social media and the pursuit of ephemeral data. In 2016, we will begin to see more and more brands looking to engage with consumers on the platforms that answer their needs for temporary consumption.

Content: sharing vs preservation

Advertisements with an expiry dateTaking advantage of Snapchat’s ‘self-destructing’ qualities, the Danish World Wildlife Fund ran a campiagn on the platform that illustrates how quickly endangered species are going extinct.

Titled the #lastselfie campaign, images of endangered animals are posted, fleetingly, with the call for it to ‘not to be my last selfie’.

READ MORE

Source: AdWeek

With Facebook working on its on search engine and social media site content being better indexed within Google, search visibility will greatly improve for Facebook and Twitter. This will surely shake things up a bit.

Furthermore, e-commerce capabilities and appetite from consumers within social media will certainly continue to grow if not proliferate in 2016.

Beyond Social Networking

Nescafe declares ‘the Brand Website is Dead’Nescafe recently converted its .com domain into a Tumblr blog with their marketing chief Michael Chrisment saying that “the dotcom is a reflection of us talking to people; this approach is dead. It should be much more inclusive and allow conversations.”

With brochure content found on most brand websites and visible within the search results on Google cards, it does then beg the question, “How relevant are brand websites?”.

READ MORE

Source: The Verge

CONNECTING THE

UNCONNECTED

Peter Sunde, founder of The Pirate Bay recently gave an interview in which he stated that he has given up trying to win the fight for a free internet.

Regardless of whether or not you share this outlook, topics around Internet Freedom, centralisation, and access will most likely find their way into more watercooler conversations than ever before.

The Open Internet to become a hot(ter)

topic

ProPublica as the first news publication on the Dark Web ProPublica became the first known major media outlet to launch a version of its site that runs on the Tor network. This means that readers are able to access the news with complete anonymity.

While the Dark Web is known mainly for its more sinister and infamous endeavours, this move by ProPublica is more about allowing for anonymous access and consumption of the news in otherwise heavily monitored or regulated situations.

READ MORE

Source: Wired

With robots and smartphone-controlled gadgets on toystore shelves everywhere, there is no doubt that the types of toys children will become accustomed to unwrapping on their birthdays are going to be incredibly advanced.

With impressive capabilities infusing themselves into toys, it is clear that manufacturers are looking to further innovate with purposeful toys.

Toys with a purpose

Code-A-Pillar teaches the Internet’s next wave of developers.Fisher Price recently launched its Code-A-Pillar as part of their Think and Learn Series. Designed for children of pre-primary age, each segment of the caterpillar can be strung in a sequence - like a line of code to form the rest of the body. Each segment dictates whether the caterpillar turns left or right, continues straight or sings a song.

READ MORE

Source: TheStreet

WE ARE NATIVE VML