The Dutch public broadcaster has launched two chatbots: the Missed Broadcast chatbot and the Broadcast Guide chatbot. By adding uitzendinggemistbot@omroep.nl and zoomerbot@omroep.nl respectively the media consumer can see what is on TV is or watch programs that have previously been broadcast.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In this way home entertainment coaching brands, brands that can help us enjoy ourselves in our armchairs, are finding a place in our friend list, in the buddy list of Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger). Soon we will have one chatbot, one brand agent, one synthetic worker who will organise it all for us. This will not only be active on the PC but also on the TV and your mobile. They will make clear what is on offer (also information from other broadcasters, including those from other countries and in foreign languages), they will learn our personal preferences and what we have already seen, as well as what our friends have seen or done. Eventually they will be able to present us with our perfect evenings entertainment, exactly tailored to our likes and dislikes.

The Dutch family ties site Familieband.nl allows people to record their family relationships and also functions as a social network. In doing this Familieband.nl facilitates typical family activities like organizing a family day out or an annual reunion.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Social networks are no longer simply recording who you know but also the relationship you have with them. Friends, family or colleagues? This is just the first step. Good friends, old friends or new friends? Brother, grandfather or distant niece? Direct colleague? Ex-collegue? Network contact? As social networks, as social coaching brands, soon they will be able to arrange real time contact for us too (read: chat and telephoning), then we can also define who is important for us, who the runners up are and who are old contacts. Once they understand who is important to us they will be able to advise us about the maintenance of personal contacts. It begins with this sort of initative.

Apple has patented light weight spectacles with extremely thin lenses, comparable with thicker lenses, they are steered via a laser that is connected to your belt via an optic cable. There is a battery in the apparatus on your belt.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Ever more technology is being developed to stimulate our senses as much as possible. This will make experiences in the virtual world much more realistic. This naturally also applies to brand experiences too.

Nescafé has let people order samples of new coffee flavors via text message. They encouraged people to do this through print and advertisements in bus shelters. In total 74,000 people requested a sample. 80% of these had never bought the coffee before. 82% of the respondents indicated actually using the requested sample and 26% of the respondents decided to buy the product. And because consumers are taking action themselves their attitude towards the brand improved and their spontaneous recognition rose. Their intention to buy the product rose as well.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how brands are slowly starting to communicate on personal levels, but each individual is still an individual. For now every random passerby can order – even the people who already knew it – but soon Nescafé will know how to refine this mechanism and apply it to people who don’t know the product yet or, even better, allows people who are more inclined to spread the word to try the product. This shows how brands will improve at tribal thinking. This is a kind of start.

Related trends

• Tribal

Ten supermarkets within the Dutch supermarket chain C1000 now check the age of people buying alcohol with webcams. At each checkout there is a terminal with two cameras. As soon as alcohol or tobacco is scanned a live stream is activated and trained personnel assess the age of the customer from a distance. If there is any doubt about the customers' age they will be asked to hold ID up to the webcam.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are slowly automating the dialogue. Now with real personnel via a webcam but soon this check will be done automatically. The next step will be that the customer wont need to present their face to a specific camera because the assessment will already have taken place via one of the many cameras in the store.

A little celibration for myself: ErwinVanLun.com. has since today a Google page ranking of 4, Chatbots.org has, since the press release last week, a Google page ranking of 3. Not yet spectacular, Mensmerk (the Dutch version of ErwinVanLun.com) scores a lot better, but this means that the pages are becoming easier to find and that terms such as 'futurist', 'trend analyst' or 'speaker' also have more of a chance internationally. Both sites are part of my international stratergy. I hope to base myself in Sydney in the near future. In my vision ErwinVanLun.com will then become the leading site and will eventually have 10 times as many visitors as Mensmerk (whilst Mensmerk must also attract 10 times as many visitors as it does now). Finished, just wanted to share the good news!

On the site of the NS (Dutch Rail) a chatbot, Eva, reads the answers to questions posed by consumers. It is possible to just read the answers too.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are more often being built in dialogue with consumers, members or citizens. They represent themselves through brand agents, synthetic characters who we can talk to. Now they are only to be found on the service pages but soon they they will be prominent on the home page. Now Eva has started talking, soon she will listen too. Now only on the PC but soon we will only need to call ‘Eva’ and she will appear on the nearest screen, wherever we are in the world, to answer our questions. This is clearly a step in that direction.

In the new video game Grand Theft Auto IV players can buy MP3s of music that can be heard on the radio stations in the game.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The overflow between different media is gradually creating the virtual world. All electronic media, media with batteries or mains power, are becoming a part of the big virtual world. Now via the Playstation or Xbox, but soon we will see the world from every screen and be able to listen wherever we want. If we hear something we like in the real world we will be able to request it in the virtual world. In this way various media are merging. This is another step in that direction.

Registered Nine Inch Nails fans are being offered the opportunity to buy tickets for the best seats for the summer tour, 3 days before the official sales start. The tickets are issued in the name of the fan and they will need to show ID to prove that they are the owner of the ticket.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The music industry is experiencing a transformation. Money is now more often earned from concerts. Real (registered) fans sit close by and others further away. Those who can’t be present for whatever reason can enjoy the concerts in the virtual world, at home but still very much involved.

On I Search For You consumers can give an internet search assignment, for example to find a remote timber house by a lake, a romantic apartment with a balcony or an exclusive hotel will all the trimmings. The assignment can be given via the website or by telephone. The I Search For You team will send a quote for the search within 12 hours and a three suitable links within 48 hours. Searching for your dream holiday house, hotel or campsite costs 65 euros.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We pay to have the world around us made clearer and easier to handle. With all the opportunities we have for choice we already have, and the multitude of choices that will become available in the future, we will come to realize that we only have one life and that there is a limit to what we can do. This does not give a pleasant feeling. Coaching brands take advantage of this. They stand by our side and help us to make choices. This is a service that we’re happy to pay for. This is just the beginning.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Via Nulaz you can see where your friends are at any given moment, an event in the area or background information about a building. The information is given on the basis of the restaurant site lense, Wikipedia, the Uitburo and NL10 and NL20. Users can also add information to the system. The application that needs to be installed estimates the location on the basis of GSM masts.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In this way the functions of social coaching brands are taking shape. Now you need to enter your friends one by one, soon your friend list on Hyves will be enough. Now you still need to install software but soon switching your mobile on will be enough. Now you need to operate the the technology but soon you will just be able to ask ‘Where is Billy?’. This development contributes to this future vision.

Carspotter is a new Text Message service. You send the number plate details and receive details over the brand, the date of the number plate, the new value and an estimate of the current value. A second text message tells you more about the technical details of the car (number of cylinders, cylinder volume etc.). Carspotter also works for motorcycles, vans and trucks.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We are getting more on demand information about all sorts of things we come across in our environment. Now via Text Message, soon we will be able to get the information via our glasses just by looking at a random car that is recognised by its model. We will be able to say to our mobility coaching brand: ‘I like that car’. On the basis of this sort of mini conversations we will later be able to get tailor made advice. This initiative fits precisely into this trend.

Vodafone customers can view a live Madonna concert via their mobiles. The concert is to be broadcast from New York via a 'live stream'. This broadcast is offered exclusively to Vodafone customers.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Now we still look forward to our favorite artists playing in our own country and make sure we get tickets in plenty of time. With the fast moving improvements in broadband internet you are no longer limited to concerts in your own county. Telephone providers make exclusive contracts with famous artists to be able to provide live streaming from their concerts. This allows you to see concerts in New York, London or Sydney. Telephone providers are increasingly presenting themselves as mobile broadcasters who offer a service for your mobile. First concerts and later personal interviews and finally the daily life of an artist live on your mobile.

Photo enthusiasts can now use Photoshop Express to manage and edit their photos on line. They can export the results to, for example, Facebook or Photobucket.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In the future photographers will no longer need a heavy lap top to edit their photos. On holiday he can easily use an internet cafe to upload and edit his photos. An internet connection is all that is required. The virtual word is a step closer. Soon we will be able to make photos together, edit them and share them. In this virtual world brands enter into a dialogue with us by offering services and environments with which we can identify and accommodate ourselves in.

The Dutch health care provider Meavita Nederland offers Care from a Distance, clients receive care via images and sound, supported by measured data such as blood sugar levels. With Care from a Distance a consultation with a doctor or other medical professional can take place at a distance via television or a broadband connection. Care providers can monitor clients at a distance and support them via home electronics and telemedicine (ITC care services). The client provides the care provider with data such as blood pressure, ecg and weight.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We are more regularly receiving all sorts of services from a distance. Soon we will pay for these sorts of services by the minute just like we pay for the telephone, and/or on the basis of a subscription. This does not only apply to care. Soon, if there is a leak in our kitchen cupboard, we will be able to use our home coaching brand to get immediate assistance by pointing a camera at the problem, we will then receive advice and will be able to contact the right person with the right tools to come and fix the problem. Or, if we are having trouble with our piano exercises brands will be ready to assist us at home.

LG has released a telephone onto the Korean market with a silicone key pad that feels like human skin.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Technology is disappearing into the background. It’s getting smaller and smaller. What remains becomes a sort of ornamental trinket, for example, ear phones that have advanced sound filtering, amplification and transformation, or look like a part of nature. Technology is becoming more natural, increasingly friendly and more human. This is a nice example of the phenomenon.