Caterer Sodexho has changed it's name worldwide to Sodexo and visualises this in a logo animation. The letter 'h' that originally stood for 'hotel' has been removed as the company now operates more broadly. The change makes the name easier to pronounce and spell (via mf, Dutch). Brands are choosing to make their communication increasingly visual and now show changes in their organisations in a totally visual way. This is a nice example of the trend.
Via Augmented Reality 2D can instantly become 3D. In this demo you see the packaging for a Lego car with a 2D image on the box, when the box is filmed a 3D image appears, namely the same box but with a 3D car on it (via dc, Dutch). Everything 2D, paper, a brochure, packaging, a wall, a quote, a manual, we only need to name the brand and we get a 3D addition. Also, everything that is already 3D, as we ourselves are, can get an extra layer. An elf on the shoulder is mentioned in the video, but it can also be a different pair of glasses or another hair style. It will be a fun (mixed) world.
Reuters Labs, the laboratory of the news agency Reuters, automatically recognises people in video with advanced pattern recognition software. If you search for George Bush(you get a choice of two people with the same name), George Clooneyof George Harrison you are very quickly presented with a list of the videos in which those people appear (via dc, Dutch).
Sounds advanced, but soon we'll be able to walk down the street, point our camera at our surroundings and use face recognition (and other characteristics such as the 'walk') to see who is walking past us. We won't need to tag any more photos or videos because it will be done automatically. The online identity and the real identity will meld completely. It will have an enormous impact on society. For example, in maintaining public order or restricting access to offices. But you could never again walk straight past a friend who you hadn't seen for 30 years. Your social coaching brand will know exactly who it is.
In a restaurant in Israel it is now possible to place your order directly from a display on your table. A waiter is no longer necessary. It is also possible to play games. Visitors think it's fun and are pleased that their children are included. The owner of the restaurant is certainly happy with the 12% extra turnover (via dc, Dutch). We gather more displays around ourselves. Now they have set content, but soon we will make content with our food coaching brand for personal advice. Or check our e-mail. Or evaluate the furniture we saw earlier in the day. All that whilst enjoying a delicious meal that passes perfectly in our diet. In a couple of years this will be the most normal thing in the world.
Online company guide iLocal puts companies on the mobile map. With a special program that can be downloaded to your mobile phone, you can search via company category and your location is pin pointed by GPS or GSM antenna locations in the area (via dc, Dutch). Brands are looking for a dialogue with us via every possible screen. Search and directory functions are first but soon all brands will be findable. They give us information about the location, or about the (brand) products we find whilst shopping or products that we can find in the area. This is a step in that direction.
Online golfretailer Golfers voor Golfers lanceert een golfwidget. This allows golfers to easily share their current golf handicap with others on the social networking sites or portals that they use (via bm, Dutch). Brands have ever more understanding and control of the art of tribal thinking . They let other spread their word and Golfers for Golfers easily finds new customers. It's a very different way of thinking, a way that every brand will soon begin to use. It will be the most successful for brands with a symbolic function, brands that say something about their users.
Shoppers who park at P1 Parking Mathildelaan in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, now receive a message on their mobile phone via bluetooth when leaving the car park. It contains virtual discount slips and details of special offers for shops in the area (via am). In the future brands will always be at our sides and ready to choose the optimal moment for communication. Now with generalised offers, but soon coaching brands will know what we buy regularly, what we are looking for and what we're open to. Then we will receive tailor made offers at exactly the right moment. This is a step in that direction.
ApriPoko is a prototype living room robot who will operate all sorts of devices for you. ApriPoke receives the infrared signals from remote controls and uses a voice to ask for the action requested by the remote control. The user can give an answer such as "I turn the radio on" or "I mute the sound". The next time you want to mute the sound you ask ApriPoko and he does it for you (from pt). Our environment is becoming increasingly responsive to our behaviour, our movements and our voice. We are becoming more used to an environment that adapts its self to us. In the long term brands will be able to anticipate dialogues with us. This development is a step in that direction.
The Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives (Koninklijke Nederlandse Organisatie van Verloskundigen) KNOV have animated their logo to show their central function: the birthing of babies (tip: ej).
Brands are developing the art of animating their logo as a part of their interactive visual identity, as part of their visual brand worlds. This is a nice example of the trend.
In the Netherlands 2007 has seen a 4% increase in working from home (via am). Working at home, working elsewhere, you make a contribution to the world for which you are paid, that is the essence. We used to work on the land, so close to our homes. Then came the factories, then the offices. That's what we call work now. Soon work will once again be an activity that you do during the week, in the places which happen to be convenient at the time. Naturally we will still need to meet the people with whom we are working, but we will plan those meetings in a more flexible way and at all sorts of different locations. Everything will become a lot more flexible. Most important is leaving behind the idea that work is something that you do in the physical presence of the boss.
Via Laat zien waar je bent lets the Dutch social networking site Hyves, in co-operation with Dutch telecom operator Hi, show where your friends are on a Google map (from am, in Dutch. Hyves facilitates ever better contact between people. Now only for Hi users, but soon for everyone. Although currently via SMS, soon Hyves will always know where you are (and share that with others too, if you want). We are sharing more and more information about ourselves with brands who will handle it sensitively. This development is an example.
Cold Storage, the Singaporese supermarket chain, will soon equip one of it's shops with shopping carts fitted with 12 inch colour screens. Customers can use the screens to find products in the supermarket or to call up recipes that will guide them to all the ingredients they will need. When a product is brought to the scanner, the screen will show the details and it's price. If the screen is not being used by the customer it will show adverts. Because the shopping cart is also equipped with a RFID-transponder, special offers can be shown on the screen as the customer approaches them. (via mb, Dutch).
In this way, brands are leading us ever more by the hand. On the basis of individual profiles we receive appropriate suggestions so that we have less and less need to think and are even surprised sometimes. This development yet another form of media-evolution we have access to a new screen. If we want to discuss a suggestion with a partner at home, we press the button and we are in touch with them. And if we suddenly decide we want to check a file, that is also possible. Every screen is a window to a virtual world.
The call centre industry works much harder on the realisation of brand dialogue than traditional brands. Simple inquiries will often be handled by an automated system whilst more complex inquiries will be dealt with by the help desk. Call centre employees are ever better trained and more expert, they are helped by all sorts of tools which ensure the inquiry is dealt with as efficiently as possible. Location intelligence provides call centre employees with demographic and geographical information about the caller. The time of day (dependant on the time zone), the local weather, the area in which he lives, economic conditions, important sporting events, public transport strikes, threats of war: all sorts of factors that can influence the conversation. Whether someone is calling from a mobile or a land line can give an indication of the situation that the caller is currently in, as well as indication how much time the caller is likely to have.
Dutch energy supplier Eneco has a new animated logo in the top left hand corner of it's website. The animation is organic, animating once and then staying still. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in FireFox (via mb. Dutch). It is one of the first brands that has dared to animate their permanent logo (in the top left hand corner). In the future no logo will be static. Sometimes it will be a way of expressing the brand personality , reacting if we click on it - and later - reacting even if we look at it. First we need to learn to let go of the old rule 'that a logo should be static and do nothing'.
Studies have shown an increase in the levels of aggressive behaviour in people who play violent video games. Less well educated young men who enjoy playing games with violent central characters and also like to be the 'hero' in real life behave significantly more aggressively after playing video games than other young men (via tg, Dutch). We are making the virtual world more and more real. What we see today is child's play compared to what we'll see in the future. Our human brains are not built to be able to differentiate between the two worlds, they mix it all up together. This will eventually lead to the banning of violence in video games as well as in passive media, so called films. It will take a couple of decades, but we're slowly moving toward pamper planet.
Business social network LinkedIn introduces company profiles (see below for details, li). A lot of information that hasn't been available before has now been published. Furthermore, LinkedIn offers companies the possibility to add information. LinkedIn thus pushes the brand coming out for all companies, meanwhile becoming more and more relevant as a career coaching brand: a brand that helps you in your career.
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