Through Japanese Megane Top you can fit glasses with your mobile phone (ab). Now glasses, in the future all kinds of clothes. If you then see somebody wearing a jacket, shoes, or skirt you really like, you just point your mobile phone at it. Your fashion coaching brand then appears, who estimates if these clothes will look good on you, asks what color you would like, gives advice about combining these clothes with your existing ones, can say if you can get it somewhere in the neighborhood, and can directly reserve it for you, or order it and have it delivered at your doorstep if you like. This development is part of that.

On this interactive floor people can play a soccer game. To make it clear: the ball too is in the floor (through arjan at mm). This type of floors offers endless possibilities for retailers, like the video at EyeClick's site shows. In the end it again is a screen providing us access to the virtual world. A floor that can help us personally. That can show us where to go if we search something or somebody, or if we want to meet somebody. I foresee bars with floors built up with this type of displays, containing personal profiles of all its visitors. That would tremendously enrich flirting.

Social network MySpace makes it possible to call somebody directly from a profile page, through telephone service Skype (cz). Social coaching brands - MySpace could develop to be such a brand - facilitate mutual contact. Asynchronously by leaving text, voice or image messages in 'boxes' or on 'pages'. Or synchronously through text, voice or image by chatting or calling. If a company can't deliver a certain type of service itself, it will be purchases, which in this case happens with Skype. In the end MySpace will probably want to be in control of the communication between its users. Now its own messenger competes with the chat possibilities in Skype. That will only be a matter of time.

Auction site eBay has started Neighborhoods, groups in which users can unite. The first groups have been formed around coffee, the iPhone, and dogs (mf, Dutch). Thus eBay further develops itself as a social coaching brand: a brand which facilitates mutual contact, including transactions.

British magazine The Economist is going to give away part of its contents to political web loggers, even before the complete content is made available online. The Economist has selected the one hundred most influential political web logs for this purpose (mf, Dutch). Brands learn to think tribal, they learn how different people with different characteristics can have different roles in spreading the word. In this case The Economist targets Mavens, a certain type of people, one or two per cent of the people at the most, who are actively involved in a certain subject (here: politics), and want to be the first to know everything of that subject. The Economist here fills in an enormous desire of knowledge. More on Mavens in this great book of Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point.

Related trends

• Tribal

Through HeySpread consumers can now upload their videos, and have them distributed over all big video sites in one click (thanks steven). Ever since people started using services from other people, since they started consuming, everything has been about convenience, about delegating to others the things they can do faster, better, or cheaper. In 2007 this means: everything you can buy brought together on one website: all cars, all jobs, or all holidays. And if you want to offer something yourself, then you do it all over the web. That is convenience in 2007. This brand anticipates that. This development illustrates the development of home entertainment coaching brands: brands which always and anywhere give us access to all content that has ever been made.

At the website of B2B brand NuGuRu Dutch TV personality Francois Boulanger shows everything in video. The whole website is built up in video, and many elements are clickable. Francois welcomes you the first time, but when you return he doesn't even appear any more so that you can explore the site yourself (dc, Dutch). Brands more and more communicate through images. Not just because we now have techniques that make it possible, but because after all, people think in images. During thousands of years text has been a great help in transferring knowledge, but as we can communicate in images again, we will massively do that. NuGuRu very well shows how this is possible in 2007. Now through video characters, in the future through animated characters we can interact with, and we won't see the difference any more.

Online travel agency HolidayCheck shows the trend in changes in appreciation of accommodation. This way, a place which has always been valued highly but which is slowly deteriorating, can see its appreciation go down. The amount of reviews is still limited, but that is a matter of time. Due to these kinds of analysis travel coaching brands get more value (Holiday Check has the potential to grow into being such a brand), and transaction brands, providers of (local) services and products, will be more and more pressured to deliver top products and services. This real-time trend analysis contributes to that.

Through the Samsung SPF-72V we now also are wirelessly connected to our photo frame, so that the pictures we just took are also directly available in our living room (nl). So this is another connected screen. Now just for pictures. In the future this frame will also react to our commands. We will be able to switch on the lights, sound, or TV through it. Then every photo frame will also be a remote control for everything in our house (and beyond). For all brands serving us. And if we then want to see a cool picture much bigger on our TV screen, we only have to point at it, and we just drag it to the TV. With one snap of the finger. It is that simple. At least, it will be.

It was possible to report crimes through the internet already, but now it is also possible to follow the process until it goes to court. The Dutch politiekorps Noord-Holland Noord is the first to make this possible (ld, Dutch). Thus companies, government organizations and other organizations operate more and more transparent. The brand memory, which contains the history of the communication between brand (in this case a government organization) and brand members (civilians in this case), slowly but surely becomes completely accessible. Now only certain elements are shown. In the future all processes paid for by civilians, everything the government does, become accessible real-time. The only exceptions will be made for situations in which there is a direct risk for the people involved, the safety in the street, or the welfare of people. Civilians will always have the last say about this however. They after all pay for it.

Toyota's pickup truck Tacoma has a role in the popular World of Warcraft game, in which the truck interacts with all kinds of characters, among which a dragon (ab). This way brands enter the worlds of consumers in a way in which it adds value. At the moment the brand doesn't add value in the game, or worse, appears unwanted, it won't be used. Now a truck in a fantasy game is still surprising and therefore fun, in the future brands will try to find more natural surroundings in games.

Mail order company Wehkamp calls consumers to place a film on video sharing site YouTube, in which the new catalogue has the leading part. The first prize in this contest is 20,000 euros. A model film in Tell Sell style can already be seen (rb, Dutch). Brands more and more use video in their marketing mix. In a structural way and, like here, in campaigns. So that in the future we will have one thousand video recipes for every can of peas, five hundred different videos for certain yoga exercises, or three hundred applications for a certain plug. After all, a picture says more than a thousand words.

In the Netherlands it will soon be possible to apply for a (new) passport in any city you want. This is the result of the changing from local travel documents administrations to a national administration, aimed at fighting identity fraud (nu, Dutch). Now on a national scale, later European, and in the end worldwide. Then we are born, get a number assigned to the country of birth and nationality, and which directly includes our DNA material. Related news in 2015: 'European civilian service numbers will start in 2019'. News in 2040: 'United Nations aims for introduction of global account numbers in 2050'. If we want to make the world a safer place, we need to be able to make somebody accountable for his behavior, and thus be able to find him or her. And that on a worldwide scale.

Telecoms operator T-Mobile awards its loyal customers with a loyalty discount. All business customers - big and small (starting with 5 people businesses) - get 1% extra discount to their user costs every half year (tc, Dutch). Brands have more and more trouble to get new customers through campaigns. The old paradigm 'it costs 5 times as much money to get a new customer as opposed to keeping an existing customer' is intensified by this development. Brands therefore will more than ever pamper their existing customers. This is an example of that.

Keijser Capital clients now can place their investment orders 24/7 by phone. An order is executed automatically, without another person being involved. Orders supported through this service are: selling and buying funds, canceling transactions, follow-up on advice the investor got from Keijser Capital, ordering exchange rate information, and looking into ones own account (tc, Dutch). Over the years to come we will be able to have a spoken dialogue with all brands. This is an example of that.

Rabobank publishes pictures of parents with their newborn babies on its website. In this case at the local branch of Genemuiden. Thus brands act on the 'think tribal, act personal' principle. By realizing that customers, people, members, always have relationships with others, and giving them their own spot in this way, they will be able to attract many people out of the direct surroundings of their existing customer database. Besides, by being present in a (very) early stage of life, a lifelong bond is created between person and brand. It is an example of long term thinking, of which coaching brands are bound to bring us many more examples.

Related trends

• Coaching brands
• Tribal