Eye Flavor is a column with a large screen and a built-in camera that can be located at, for example, malls, conventions or airports. It's used to get demographic information from the passers-by, but also to show them specific ads. It shows if the public glanced at it, watched it, stopped or ignored it. Passers-by can also print out discount coupons in the form of QR codes which are recognised by cell phones. With all these possibilities, advertisers can see exactly which ads work for which public.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We’re getting more and more screens around us and brands will try to advertise for a while longer. Currently on the basis of demographic characteristics, but later you can pull up the profile off a social network site, recognise the passer-by and address them by name. Our brains are extremely sensitive to this.

Brands that let themselves be tempted by this kind of practices will become exactly like people that continually interrupt you during a conversation. Brands that build on the the dialogue, on the other hand, those screens we can call ourselves, and then recognition is useful. And it’ll be clear which brands will eventually be the strongest.

Related trends

• 2020-2035: Mediacompletion

There are now 14 masterpieces, 14 quality pieces, from the Del Prado museum in Madrid visible on Google Earth in great detail. The paintings have been photographed with a resolution of 14-gigapixel (1400 times as much as the average consumer digital camera). Anyone who looks up the museum on Google Earth will see an icon. By clicking on it you get to see the masterpieces. Clicking again brings the user to the painting.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We’re mapping the world in ever more detail. Now the paintings, later we can study the whole museum, every room, every panel, every piece of the floor in the greatest detail. We start with the most important things. But it’s only a beginning.

Related trends

• 2020-2035: Mediacompletion

The incredibly popular, Dutch weather site Buienradar has the Dutch scoop with the first approved Dutch application for new phones equipped with Android, Google's mobile phone operating system. The first phones are now being fitted with this system. The application can be downloaded from Android Market.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The term ‘multimedia’ is slowly getting a different meaning. Brands will increasingly need to communicate consistently, continue the dialogue consistently, across various screens: big, small, intelligent, stupid, bendable, translucent, waterproof, edible and what not. Where the dialogue stops on screen A, it continues on screen B. Just like with ‘regular’ mobile internet and the iPhone brands will have to react with Android too. Later, when it’s the television’s turn, it’ll be a blast. Because the consumer expects anything to be possible, also on tiny screens. And then with speech. There’s still plenty to do!

Related trends

• Brand-dialogue

Weather Pro is a new weather application for the iPhone that's been unbelievably popular the last weeks. Weather Pro makes complete use of the iPhone's GPS-abilities. For example it shows you the weather forecast for your location, wherever that is. A database with over 300,000 places across the globe are available for this. The forecast is shown in detail for every three-hour period up to seven days in advance, with images and figures. It also has radar-images for the US, the UK, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, and it has satellite-images for Europe. The images can be downloaded and played in movies that allow both zoom and panning (moving the entire displayed image with your fingers).

from mc

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are working increasingly more global. If you’re somewhere else on earth you no longer need to ask which brand can coach you in a specific area. You just always choose the same. So that you can later be warned of a specific kind of weather you don’t know yet. And especially how you can best deal with it at that time. Coaching brands are at your side anywhere in the world. This creates a nice thought-direction.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Now available: six keynote programs, six topics you can book me for: Future Trends - Ready for Tomorrow, Innovate your client!, Hope, Crisis in Perspective, Living your Brand, Trend café, The Future of National Cultures. Furthermore you can watch a short video.

The products will soon also be available in Dutch.

Because I'm leaving for Sydney, the 'day-to-day' posts have been neglected for a while. In a few hours I'm leaving for Auckland where I'm giving a presentation on Saturday. After that I'll catch up on everything. Promised.

The biker team of the police Rijssen-Holten, the Netherlands, has recently started to drive with a camera on their helmet. The images are crystal clear, even in the twilight. With the spying digital eye the department has the Dutch scoop.

The camera is only used during threatening situations and calamities, like fights. The police also uses the images to show parents what their kids are up to.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands register their interaction with consumers, with members and – indeed – with citizens. They save the transaction data, emails, more and more often phone conversations, and now also video interaction. Later on this won’t be just the police, but every brand. It might feel really awful, but we’ll start to call it handy. It lets us check exactly what’s been recorded about us and react to it, sometimes even adapt it through the brand’s website. Ever saw something in a store, checked it out, walked away, forgot about it and then though “Gee, where’d I see that again?” A retail brand can then automatically interpret the images for you and tell you exactly when you looked at something or tried something. This is how the brand memory is brought to life and supports the dialogue. This is a step in that direction.

Related trends

• Brand-dialogue