Dutch mobile operator Telfort lets you do almost everything online: receiving bills, keeping control of your contract or pay-as-you-go connection. In the case of theft you can block the sim card as well as requesting and activating a new one. This removes the need to call or write to the company. The developments have lead to a 36,5% increase in logins (via mc, Dutch). In the future brands will be built in dialogue. Currently we talk about self service, but it's just service: the consumers questions are answered more quickly and they receive a visual overview of their calling habits which could never be given over the telephone. Now it's done with an eye to cost saving and the interaction is pretty business like and cold, soon emotion will play a role. Only then can dialogue in brand thinking really get started.
Trend observations, analysis and future predictions since 2005
Category: Brand Evolution
The world is changing, and brands adapt. Even the concept of brands themselves is changing. This is extensively described in the book. Until August 2006 this category was the main focus of this web log. Tangible, visual changes of brands are discussed here.
Photograph and translate
Nokia will soon be releasing a shoot-to-translate function that translates all the text found in a photo (via nu, Dutch). Mobile phones are becoming virtual screens over a physical world. Now we need to aim our mobiles, soon we will only need to look at something to have a translation spoken into our ear. Later the text will disappear because we will be able to ask everything in our own language. 'Where do I need to go?, 'what's this, 'who's that?. The world reacts to us, understands us, anticipates us. The era in which coaching brands can come into full bloom.
Related trends
Sodexo re-branded in animation
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.
Related trends
Reuters recognises people in video images
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.
iLocal puts companies on the mobile map
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.
Golfers for Golfers shares your handicap
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.
Related trends
KNOV brings birth into their logo
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.
Related trends
Hyves shows where you are
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 coaches you through the shop
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.
Eneco animates logo on their website
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'.
LinkedIn makes companies even more transparent
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.
Related trends
ZoekAlleHuizen finds best real estate agent
Zoek Alle Huizen, a Dutch housing site, answers all questions consumers have about real estate agents. Questions such as: "Which real estate agent gets the best prices for the houses sold?" or "Who sells the fastest?" Based on objective data, from the city hall amongst others, the answer is given. Through the addition of a zip code the user will be given a selection of real estate agents. The information is sent through email and costs 25 euros for the data of 3 agents. Personal brands stand beside the consumer. They add value by looking up information the consumer doesn't want to look up, or simply can't look up. People will pay for this added value. This example fits seamlessly into this long term trend.
Related trends
Search Me makes searching visual
New search engine SearchMe.com allows users to search visually. While they are typing in a key word (for example 'car'), related categories appear in icons. The icons directly relate to different websites, placed in a row (em), Dutch. Brands thus start to communicate more and more visually. Now you still have to type, soon you can point at what you mean and say: 'this is what I'm looking for'. The same goes for spoken text: you just have to hum, and you immediately get the song you meant. The written word very slowly gets pushed into the background. This is only the beginning.
Related trends
AppleTV has you download directly to your TV
With AppleTV, a small device placed near the TV that makes a wireless connection to the internet, the user can now directly download a movie without even getting up from the couch. An interface appears which allows the user to directly select movies. Prices are $2.99 for a normal movie, $3.99 for a new movie, and a dollar extra for HD format. Take a guided tour here. (ap).
Thus home entertainment coaching brands further evolve. Now in HD format, soon in life size screens that cover whole walls. Now AppleTV only gives access to entertainment, soon we will pay a lot more for interactive content. The experience economy then will really come to life, and AppleTV can coach us in making selections out of all these possibilities.
Related trends
SmartyPig helps you save through others
SmartyPig offers an online savings account for which you can invite friends, family or colleagues to contribute money towards a goal you have chosen yourself. SmartyPig has developed a widget for social networks MySpace and Facebook, so you can make your savings goal accessible for more people (fe, Dutch). Saving, lending, investing: it is all about trust. And the people directly around you trust you most. Brands are more and more building on this trust: they get better at tribal thinking since they have less chance to reach the consumer with messages, while at the same time they have more chance to facilitate the consumer. This development fits in that trend.
Related trends
BMW soon continuously connected
Starting this Summer, BMW will build in displays in its cars giving unlimited access to the worldwide web. The company claims to be the first in the world to do this (em, Dutch). Three developments are demonstrated here: first, loose navigation sets will disappear. Second, all existing screens will be connected: every display will soon give access to one big, virtual world. And third, every product, a car in this case, loses its anonymity. Companies, brands, will always stay in touch with the product they have made. This is an early example of this.