Pepsi takes the lead with a cutting-edge innovation using IntoNow. What is IntoNow? It is an iOS app that does to TV what Shazam did to music. It can listen to a clip of any TV show live as it happens and tell you the name of the show and the specific episode. Plus it can do that for any show for the last five years. Amazing in it’s own right!
Now Pepsi has managed to pull off a breakthrough using this technology. Users who tag a Pepsi MAX commercial as it airs get a digital coupon redeemable for a free Pepsi MAX. A brilliant idea that has some profound implications. For the first time ever technology has enabled linking a TV commercial message with a real world action. This idea opens up a world of opportunities. The dynamic can be applied to develop many ideas that combine live TV content with real world action – from a promotional offer, to an experience that continues in the real world to something that unlocks exclusive access to a desired product or service. The possibilities are indeed many.
Another aspect of this idea is it’s ability to bring the analytics of digital to TV viewing. It is now possible to determine exactly what was the profile of the people who tagged the TV commercial. Of course, this could bring about privacy issues and I am not sure if such data was shared by IntoNow but even if broad demographic data is shared it is of great value to a marketer.
I think this is part of a larger theme of real time marketing enabled by mobile technology connected to the digital world. We have seen KLM deliver surprises in real time using location based applications. Here Pepsi is offering free product based on an event based application. This merging of the real world with the digital world is something of a trend that is expected to become more common in the days to come. A proof of it’s potential is the fact that Yahoo! bought IntoNow for a reported $20-$30 million dollars according to estimates by TechCrunch. Not bad for a service that has been running for only about 12 weeks. And this was announced days after the Pepsi MAX execution. It seems this was the final clinch to the deal. Watch this space! More real time marketing to come…
Not yet? Well you could do what you have always done or if you have a smartphone you are only a few apps and clicks away from planning your dream vacation, right now and the on the go. As part of my trend watching on the Telecom Sector one of the most exciting trends I have come across is known as “Techpowered”. This trend looks at how technology is empowering individuals to do some remarkable things with their internet enabled mobile phones or Smartphones.
Like so many areas, travel and tourism too have been transformed by the developments in mobile technology. So what are we talking about? What if I were to tell you that by using a series of applications on a mobile you can not only plan and book your entire trip but manage everything before, during and after your vacation. Skeptical? Allow me to illustrate!
Plan & Book
If you don’t already know where you want to go. You can check out apps like Globetrotr and Arounder Touch, which will allow you to explore some breathtaking views and hot locations complete with 360 views from all around the world. Let’s say you want to go Italy and you need a visa. Get the Travisa app which will give you visa requirements to over 200 locations. Need the right picture for your visa application. You need PassportCAM to tell you how your photo should look like – snap away, crop and fit. Book a flight using theExpedia app. If you want to book your hotels over a Google Map get the Hotels app. It will map out all the hotels on a map with their prices. Put in your details and get confirmation within the app itself. How about renting a car? Most major rent-a-car companies now have a smartphone app or if your are looking for something cool try Zipcar. They not only let you do the standard stuff like locate, browse and book but give you some extra features like using the app to honk your car, or remotely lock and unlock using the smartphone as the key. Not bad? Want to track flights – get Flight Track Pro. It would give you updates of flight schedules, gate details and inform you in case there is a delay. What’s more if you are tracking flights in US airspace you get the same in-flight information as the passenger on your smartphone which includes details like altitude, speed, expected arrival time, exact location on a map in near real time (meaning it does not update by itself, you need to hit refresh and update it yourself – not that I am complaining) Need help packing? There is an app that can help you make sure you get everything you need. All set to go!
Let the journey begin…
OK. Now what you are going to do when you get there? You can get a voice navigation app and be on your way in your rent-a-car as soon as you land and navigate your way around despite the fact that you are a first time visitor. But what about the language? You dont speak Italian. Well beside the multiple language, key phrases and gesture apps available for Italy you could get something far more cutting edge. How about an Italian OCR (Optical Character Recognition) app? This would allow you to take a picture of any road sign, brochure, leaflet etc and have the smartphone app translate it for you in a language of your choice. You will never have to worry about reading Italian ever again. Want to dine out in style? Use Open Tableto find a restaurant, read reviews and make reservations all in one place. It lists over 13,000 restaurants from all over the world. Looking for adventure? You can complement your navigation with a couple of location based social networking apps like Foursquare or Gowalla. They would give you an idea of what’s around you. If you want something even cooler you can get Augmented Reality apps that tell you what you are looking at through your phone camera, pull out Wikipedia data, find restaurants etc. For example if you are in Tuscany you can use this app. The first official Augmented Reality tourism app. See a video demo below.
Ready to fly! How about a mobile check-in? Even better a mobile boarding pass in the form of a QR code. If you are travelling by Lufthansa or Air France. You can go paperless all out.
Next Generation Travel Ecosystem
What we have tried to demonstrate here is a sample of the next generation travel ecosystem. There are still a number of areas that need to come together for it to work for most people. One of the biggest issues is data access cost for travelers. There are a few solutions that club various Wi-Fi Hot Spots together under one offering but it is still not enough, without which data roaming is going to remain a premium luxury for the few. The government side of things is also a major area that needs to be integrated into the digital travel ecosystem. Already we are seeing RFID chips in Passports as a step towards the same. Combining this with NFC technology that is being used in Japan we can see applications like ID documents, NFC to pay for train/bus tickets and integrate with transit systems as a secure access and also leading to a possibility that mobile phones could be used as a hotel key card for example, all taking the travel experience to an unprecedented level.
The bomb of Augmented Reality (AR) has been dropped and the explosion is like that of a simmering volcano that has gone super nova! The future that we saw through the eyes of Director Steven Spielberg in Minority report is fast becoming our present reality. In its simplest form, AR is a combination of common technologies that have become largely prevalent today – a camera, a GPS device and a data connection to the internet.
The WOW factor is not in how they work individually but the power they unleash to the user when they come together. Imagine being able to look through the eyes of a camera and know what you are looking at from any perspective you can think of. The layers and context that can be added to this vision are simply exponential.
Brands too have embraced AR in a big way! With ING Bank showing you the way to the nearest ATM, Doritos creating theworld’s largest AR execution, Adidas turning their shoe into a game controller, Lego showcasing the product inside in its final form to GM using the windshieldo provide useful information mapped out on the real world. These are just a few examples of what’s happening in the world of branding with AR.
If I take a bird’s eye view of things I see AR as part of a larger trend towards a mixed, fused reality! Whereby it would be difficult to tell apart where does the virtual world end and where does the real world begin. On the technology side I am seeing some developments like this wireless glove mouse from these two students from MIT inspired by Tom Cruise in Minority Report to a wearable robot that will transmit and share a sensory emotional experience virtually while communicating online. This future of a blurred-mixed reality is nothing less than science fiction turned into everyday reality.
Just to give you a peak into things to come check out this fascinating demonstration from Pranav Mistry again from MIT! I assure you this is unlike anything you have seen before!
How many times a new invention has had such a profound impact on existing technology that it is donned as nothing less than a game changer? In 1454 it was the printing press which ushered in a new era of modernity, disrupting the slow and expensive parchments used at the time. Today the very same printed word is at the brink of extinction! Overstated you might think?
Let’s go back five years to a time when convergence was the big buzz word. It was believed that the internet was going to impact two very large industries – telecoms and media. Today it seems that the internet is bigger than both. In fact it is actually hard to tell them apart. Let’s take the example of Google. What started as a simple internet search engine has certainly come a long way. With Google Voice, Android and Nexus it is clearly in the telecom domain. With all their investments in content, their ownership of YouTube – the biggest online video sharing site that now gets 24 hours of video uploads every minute, and with news of Google TV on the horizon, they are also big in the media domain. And of course, everything else about Google is deeply entrenched in the internet space, from their successful internet advertising model to their experimental venture as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Google is clearly a great example of a company that has converged all three industries into one.
How does all this relate to the iPad? In some profound way the power of the iPad is in its innate ability to converge print media, video content and the interactivity of the web into a single platform, thereby changing all three of them forever! Imagine a new way of experiencing the printed word, integrated with video and web-like features! Five years from now how would you tell each of them apart? Disruptive isn’t it!
Ladies and Gentlemen, the telecom revolution is underway! And it’s happening faster than you can imagine! It is simply fascinating when you think about all the things you can do with your mobile phone. I have to say at the cornerstone of this revolution is actually the iPhone – the genius of Steve Jobs. First he masterminded the ultimate mobile device then he empowered individuals (I mean anybody), anywhere in the world to develop an application and put it on the App store. This has led to some crazy developments and one can expect even crazier ones in times to come! In this post, I would like to bring your attention to one such app! Imagine remotely starting your car with your iPhone, turning on the air conditioning before you get in on a hot summer’s day or the heater in this case (see video below) and doing it all from far far away! Check it out!
Impressive isn’t it! Well this one is out already! In fact I just downloaded the free app! But that’s all I am going to be doing for now! Besides the fact that I need the a $499 Smart Start module to be fitted in my car, the system is not available outside the US as yet (apparently it needs to be configured to work with the GSM networks available in a specific country!) Close but no cigar!
iDrive
Now let’s take this a little further! How about not only starting your car with your iPhone, but also driving it! Yes that is correct! Remember James Bond in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. Well this app makes 007 look old school! Check out iDrive. This one is not out yet! I don’t think it would be coming out anytime soon either, but a prototype already exists! Check out the video below and get ready to be blown away!
