TomTom in its newest navigation systems has added a Help Me button in the main menu, which provides direct access to information about safety and road services. Motorists this way get direct access to local road services, they can get First Aid information, and they can get extended information about for example the traffic rules per country. Even the closest garage, pharmacy or police station can be found quickly. The user can call the number shown on the screen, while the TomTom system shows where he or she is at that moment (tt). mobility coaching brands this way further develop: brands that (safely) get you from A to B. Now the user still has to contact the helpers himself, and tell the location he is at, in the future TomTom will automatically contact police, ambulance or road services when you are involved in an accident. Now just in the car, in the future also when you are on a train, a boat, walking, cycling or in a trishaw. When we think of transport, we think of our mobility coaching brand. This is a small step in that direction.

Fashion lovers can discover and adjust the new H&M summer collection in shops they build themselves in computer game Sims. Through The Sims Fashion Runway or the Sims at H&M, players can show their own designs on a virtual catwalk. Other people can vote for these designs (ab, Dutch). Transaction brands visit consumer worlds. They integrate in a very natural way. In a next step, popular fashion of this virtual world will be produced in the physical world. This is a small step in that direction.

Cars.com helps consumer to find new and used cars through their cell phones. Furthermore, consumers can find dealers on the map, car reviews and blog content. We're mapping all information in the physical world. Currently we have to look for it, but soon we'll aim our cell at a license plate, it'll be automatically recognized, and we can see if it's for sale. And vice versa: if there are any used cars for sale in the neighborhood we'll see it directly on a map. And if we see a new car we can immediately find the nearest dealer to make a test drive. Mobility coaching brands will help us with that. Cars.com is taking a step in this direction.

Eileen (Dutch) is a service that can be called 24/7 for help, tips and practical information on or around the Frisian waters in the Netherlands. For example, practitioners of water sports in Friesland can ask Eileen for the current weather reports, the closest harbor, information regarding bridges and waterworks or reserving a restaurant. This is how personal travel brands, brands that help you get from A to B, are slowly shaped. Currently for on the water, but soon for any form of transport anywhere in the world. Soon Eileen will also know at what time you'll need to be back somewhere and when the last train you can catch to make your appointment in Amsterdam leaves there. Or she can reserve a cab for you. Step by step, we're being helped along.

Coca Cola rents out its buildings for events. Special website World of Coca Cola was introduced specifically for this purpose. Among the facilities are a special theater, a room with the worlds biggest collection of Coke memories, and a special taste-experience room. The rooms can be rented separately, or the total venue can be rented from $15,000 a day. Only in the evening, as the building is in use during the day (dc, Dutch). Brands come to life in all brand touch points: from plant, to office, to shop: every single contact with the brand, for employees as well as consumers, adds to the experience of the brand. Thus we will be invited to lots of special headquarters in the future. This is an example.

The Dutch government is working on a Personal Internet page (PIP) at which citizens can manage their contacts with the government 24 hours a day (tc, Dutch). Even the Dutch government is a brand in the minds of people. The brand Netherlands, with a very rich association network like the queen, the national anthem or the dive in the sea on New Year's day. A brand you feel connected to. A brand that helps to live in freedom, peace and safety in the Netherlands. A brand that adds a lot of value to our lives, which we tend to forget due to (among others) outdated communication. In the end we will also start dialogues with this brand. And it won't stop there. Earlier or later we will also start to feel something for Europe, the brand Europe. And finally (probably at the end of this century) we will feel like we're world citizens, with a much bigger brand of which we know the archetype now, but which is completely different from the brand we will then feel connected to. It will take at least another couple of generations, but the Netherlands as well as other countries are slowly moving into this direction.

Eileen is a service you can call 24/7 for help, tips and practical information on and around the water in Friesland, one of the northern provinces of the Netherlands. Water sport practitioners in Friesland can turn to Eileen for the actual weather forecast, the closest port, information about bridges and locks, or to reserve a restaurant (tc, Dutch). This way mobility coaching brands, slowly evolve: brands that help you get from A to B. Now on the water but in the future for every possible way of transport wherever in the world. In the future Eileen also knows what time you need to be at what place to take the train to Amsterdam, so you won't miss your appointment. Or she can reserve a taxi for you. Step by step the service gets better and better.

Media company UPC lets consumers play with its new logo. Whoever moves a slider right or left, can open and close the flower. According to UPC, the flower is luminous blue and clear: energetic, moving, magic and intriguing. (source: upc). Brands enliven their logos and have customers have their say. In the future every logo will be interactive, and it will reflect the brand personality. In the end we interact with the logo, which in turn morphs to the brand agent, who is the most important visual character of the brand. This is a careful first step in that direction.

Video site YouTube shares its advertising income with its users. It calls these people user-partners. User-partners are treated as other content partners (yt). Brands, especially new brands, unite people. People who structurally or incidentally add value to the brand, are rewarded. Other people pay for that (now we pay indirectly, through advertisements, but in the end we will pay for the services, the experiences offered). Many brands will start using this form of co-creation. This is only the beginning.

Amazon starts an online music store in which you can buy and download MP3 music without digital rights management software. It is expected that Amazon will work with more than 12,000 music publishers, and thus can offer millions of songs. British recording company EMI has signed the first contract with Amazon. The store will open before the end of this year (dc, Dutch). Amazon this way could grow into a music coaching brand. For a start, a coaching brand needs to be complete: offer ALL music ever made in the world. After that, a music coaching brand can make selections on an individual basis, adapted to time, place and situation. This is a possible step in that direction.

Apple will show YouTube videos on the new Apple TV, the digital appliance that makes a wireless connection between computer and TV (am). This way a new home entertainment coaching brand could evolve: a brand that entertains you while sitting on your sofa, interactive or not, with all possible content ever made in the whole world. Completeness is important in the development of these kinds of brands. YouTube videos thus should be in there too.

French newspaper L'Echos will soon be available on ePaper: electronic thin and rollable paper that has the same sharpness as print, and that doesn't use any power once it is loaded. This 'paper' is integrated in the iLiad, a kind of pda that contains the ePaper (later it will be available separately), which thus can show the texts and images. Users can download an actualized version of the paper through a wifi-connection a couple of times a day. It is also possible to take notes on the paper, which then are stored in the iLiad (em, Dutch). Now newspapers are experimenting with e-paper in a PDA; in the future all brands will be accessible through these kinds of displays. This again is a new interface to the virtual world.

bol.com now also sells second-hand books. This shows that adding value to the lives of people is what it's all about. If a consumer doesn't value a new book more than a used book, brands offer a used item. All retail brands will start doing that. It started with cars, now we have books, what will be next... But even that is just the beginning. In the end brand manufacturers will keep in touch with every product through RFID chips, connected to the internet. The manufacturer won't guarantee the product for years, but it will keep offering (automated) help for years and years. This is the evolution in which not just sender and receiver, but also products lose their anonymity.

Google now lets you search in foreign languages. If you type 'wine tasting in Bordeaux', you can search through French web sites, and get the results back in English (gb). Brands start speaking the consumer's language. They understand the language, the word choices, and place them in their context. Google is still in the lead, but all brands will be able to do this sooner or later.

Top Gear Magazine is giving away free shares in sports car brand Spyker for every new yearly subscription this month. The expectation is not for these new subscribers to directly cause an explosion of the exchange rate, but a subscriber does become a co-owner of Spyker (sb, Dutch). The roles of customers and share holders become similar. Especially for brands for whom a long term relation is relevant, as in extreme is the case for coaching brands, ownership will be in consumers' hands. For cars this will be less relevant, but this example shows that ownership of companies is no longer just reserved for third parties through stock exchange for example. People who feel involved with a brand will own it.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

British cosmetics brand Elave has made a video clip for her campaign nothing-to-hide in which she explains how her products work. As the production processes as well as the ingredients are completely in balance with nature, Elave has "nothing to hide", and so all people in this clip are fully naked. Even the CEO of the company, 38-year old Joanna Gardiner, has a (minor) part in the clip. As a result of this, every visitor of the web site has to confirm to be older than 18 (mf, Dutch). When brands can't reach consumers any more through mass communication media, they need to find ways to use consumers to spread the word. One way to get attention is to pass moral limits. This viral clearly succeeded in getting that attention.