Through Wixi Dutch users can now say a catchword, which then is automatically interpreted and called. Anyone can buy such a catchword. It is possible to buy off a catchword so that the caller doesn't hear an advertisement first, but it is also possible to reserve a catchword for free. Then the caller first hears and advertisement. Besides, there are many more possibilities, among which printing a business card with the Wixi catchword included (via am, Dutch).

For example, it is possible to buy the word 'workshop'. A caller dials the number 0900-0100 and says 'workshop'. Then he or she is connected to the business that bought the catchword. Unfortunately, in this case it didn't work perfectly, and I was connected to a different catchword. That of course is not very good. It is a step in the evolution though. Brands more and more learn to (automated) listen to consumers. In the future they will put our pronunciation in our personal context, and will be perfectly able to understand what we are saying: in the end even better than humans. Then we only have to say something and we get connected every brand, every part of the government, every individual, on demand.

Social network Hyves wants to (anonymously) sell active brand associations of its members to the respective brands. The most popular brands at Hyves on average have more than 100,000 fans. Fashion brand Björn Borg for example, has 230,000 brand fans. Besides, Hyves knows the other brands to which somebody associates, and how this changes in the course of time (em, Dutch). In a media landscape in which brands have a hard time to reach people through advertising, they will be able to promote their products through brands that do have access to the consumer. In the bi-directional world thus developing, consumer knowledge is the specialty of coaching brands, and transaction brands fully focus on top products. After all, to be recommended to somebody, you need to deliver top products.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

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.

Anyone who installs the (beta) software of Tazti will receive brands on command. By simply yelling 'Go Amazon', 'Go Flickr' or 'Go Diggs' behind your PC screen you'll immediately be shown the brand page. Other commands are also possible. It's not always perfect and the amount of brands that's recognized is minimal, but it shows nicely where we're headed. Soon we'll have all our brands at our beck and call. And with all millions of brands in the world our contact coaching brand will know exactly which brand we mean. Just like we only recognize one Nataly, even though there are undoubtedly more than one. 'Call Nataly' will be enough for our contact coaching brand. Once we're in contact with our chosen brand the dialogue will continue happily, just like we would with people. And this can happen on every possible screen, especially our cell phone. Tatzi could grow into a contact coaching brand that will always support us.

Mier3000 (Ant 3000) is a new little brand that nestles in your Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) contact list, and that searches the (Dutch) national telephone guide and yellow pages for you. When you add mier3000@live.nl to your contact list, you can directly start asking questions. The dialogue is still simple, although it already can answer questions like 'I'm looking for', 'I want the phone number of', and even 'gimme a pizza place' results in a list of hits. In Messenger's right screen (the activity screen) the results then appear on a map. Anybody who registers gets a personal ant. People can even nominate their ant to be the work-ant of the month.

Thus the dialogue further develops. Any human being, any brand and any other organization: we will only (literally) have to call their names and we are directly connected to them. Through speech (and image) with a real person, through a website or through an artificial brand agent. Ant then can become our personal secretary, a virtual coaching brand instance of our social coaching brand. This is a small step in that direction.

Through readmymood people can now add a flower to their website or web log, which automatically displays their mood. This is based on the word choice in the texts. My blog at the moment of writing has a high score on 'angry, sad, businesslike, and male', and less high on 'happy, cheerful, emotional, female, and in love'. Therefore a somewhat plain flower, which can be totally different tomorrow. That's why I keep a small archive of the flowers in the extended posting. The latest analysis can also be seen at the Readmymood site, and these often are much more colorful.

This development shows how we get better and better at the automatized reading of emotions. It already happened in 'text mining' and 'voice mining', based on which customer care centers can predict the behavior of consumers. Now it is also available for the consumers. Social coaching brands will assist us in anticipating the emotions of the other, and earlier or later they will be better at that than the average person. Maybe we will call that 'emotion mining'. A related development already is called 'facial coding'. This type of brands then will be essential for functioning in society. As essential as the phone is today. This development contributes to that.

Through Olllo people now can flirt on the spot. Through the website you make your own profile, and give your input as to what the person you are looking for should be like. There are matches for gender, age, length, fashion style, party type, and music taste. The moment you feel like contacting somebody in your neighborhood, you activate Olllo by sending a code to Olllo. If there are matches in your neighborhood (until max. 3 km), you receive a short profile. Through Ollo you can then send your match a text message, or get a more extended profile. Your mobile number is kept secret, only your nickname is visible. If you have activated Ollo, you regularly receive text messages with matches in your neighborhood. After 8 hours the service is disconnected automatically (mb, Dutch).

Thus a new function of social coaching brands slowly comes to life. Now through a text message, later through an extended (online) profile, so you can see who someone's friends are, and how he (or she) treats them. You can see what other people think of this person, and - even better - see what your (friends of) friends think of him or her. Social coaching brands in the future will facilitate making and maintaining personal contacts. The development of this function is a small step in that direction. Maybe Olllo will grow into a social coaching brand. Time will tell.

American Social Network MySpace splits off its video sharing to MySpace TV. Its structure strongly resembles YouTube (dc, Dutch). This way coaching brands get more focus. Facilitating contact, the main focus of social coaching brands, is very different from entertaining people, the main focus of home entertainment coaching brands. This split-off makes it possible for both brands to really focus on their core activities.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Telefoongids.nl recently has started its beta version of its own chat bot, named Finnu. Who adds msn@detelefoongids.nl to his contact list in Windows Live Messenger (still consequently called by its old name, MSN Messenger) can search for companies, services and people in a typed dialogue, and call them in one click. Telefoongids is the first guidebook in the Netherlands working with a chat bot (tc, Dutch). Brands have more and more dialogues with their customers. Now through a typed dialogue on the computer, more and more often through Instant Messaging on the mobile phone, and after that we will be able to talk to Finnu. If Telefoongids becomes a social coaching brand we will say: "Finnu..." "Hi Erwin!"; "call John for me please"; and John will be called. No matter if John is on our contact list, or has to be found somewhere else: that doesn't matter to the consumer. As long as he gets called. This is a small step in that direction.

At Udoo consumers can now design their own avatar, and show it on their mobile phone. Avatars are like the voice mail of the 21st century: they are electronic versions of ourselves. Like the tape on the answering machine, or the Out-Of-Office message in our mail program. We can let these smart avatars handle contacts with other people in our name. In the end they become so real, that for other people it feels like they have had real contact with you. Now they still look as characters, in the future they will really look like people. And the fun part is: we see a mirror image of ourselves in the avatar, only just a little fancier, a little smarter, a little more fun. When we communicate with this 'mirror', our avatar learns our way of speaking, our gestures, and our facial expressions. And our avatar this way can better and better represent us in the virtual world. This is a small step in that direction.

Online community MySpace now has its own (beta) version of Messenger (Instant Messaging). Earlier MySpace had a web version, and it looks like they keep developing this (dc, Dutch). This way social coaching brands evolve. Social coaching brands facilitate mutual contact between people, irrespective of through what display. They recognize you instantly, know in what dialogues you are involved with which friends, know who are your good friends and who are not. And they bring the contact to a higher level. It starts with facilitating contact in different ways. First a synchronized through pages, then through Messenger. And in the end we will also have live text, audio calling, and video connections through social coaching brands. This is a small step in that direction.

Dutch funeral organization Monuta provides insight into the costs of graves through the grave costs meter (Dutch). Monuta published the rates of 500 cemeteries in cooperation with the national organization for cemetereis (Landelijke Organisatie Begraafplaatsen, LOB) (ms, Dutch). Monuta with this helps us select a cemetery. In the end this will be the task of social coaching brands, which will make sure we will be buried next to our friends, that our pictures will be found there, and that our favorite music will be played still. This way we add a couple of years to our lives in the virtual world. This is a small step in that direction.