Photo enthusiasts can now use Photoshop Express to manage and edit their photos on line. They can export the results to, for example, Facebook or Photobucket.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In the future photographers will no longer need a heavy lap top to edit their photos. On holiday he can easily use an internet cafe to upload and edit his photos. An internet connection is all that is required. The virtual word is a step closer. Soon we will be able to make photos together, edit them and share them. In this virtual world brands enter into a dialogue with us by offering services and environments with which we can identify and accommodate ourselves in.

The Dutch health care provider Meavita Nederland offers Care from a Distance, clients receive care via images and sound, supported by measured data such as blood sugar levels. With Care from a Distance a consultation with a doctor or other medical professional can take place at a distance via television or a broadband connection. Care providers can monitor clients at a distance and support them via home electronics and telemedicine (ITC care services). The client provides the care provider with data such as blood pressure, ecg and weight.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We are more regularly receiving all sorts of services from a distance. Soon we will pay for these sorts of services by the minute just like we pay for the telephone, and/or on the basis of a subscription. This does not only apply to care. Soon, if there is a leak in our kitchen cupboard, we will be able to use our home coaching brand to get immediate assistance by pointing a camera at the problem, we will then receive advice and will be able to contact the right person with the right tools to come and fix the problem. Or, if we are having trouble with our piano exercises brands will be ready to assist us at home.

Dutch broadcasting corporation Avro's television guide, Televizier, is launching a socail network with its renewed online guide. Visitors can discuss television programs, share viewing tips, become 'buddies' with other fans and viewers, read news reports and become tv critics. If you post on the site enough you can become a 'superfan'. The reviews that 'superfans' write are included in the Televizier magazine.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Publishers have (or maybe I should start saying: had) chance to convert files from readers into a lively community and to grow into coaching brands. Elsevier is taking a step in the direction of becoming a home entertainment coaching brand. Now aimed at the Netherlands, but soon all the content ever made in the world will will be avilable. Then the communities (read: a brands user groups) also become world wide. If Televisier is sucessfull it will eventually be able to make money by selling content.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Hyves celebrates the Dutch national holiday Queens Day with nine different logo illustrations: By clicking on the image shown nine different Queens Day illustrations appear in the top left position.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are further building their brand visualisation. The time that a logo had to stay still is slowly being left behind, but the time a logo had to be consistent is far behind us. Even so there are still a very limited number of brands that dare to experiment with logo illustrations.  It is as if this is something only for ‘internet brands’. Any brand can do it. Every brand becomes more congenial by doing it. And it is much cheaper than any above-the-line campaign you can think of . The effect is not yet measurable, there hasn’t been enough research done, but you do get the feeling that it does something with the brand. Brand managers, get going!

Related trends

• Brand visualization

News network eKudos rewards members who introduce new members with money. If the visitor you have introduced registers on eKudos this is automatically coupled to your Adsense account (your income). A link is established between you and the new member. When you place articles on the public pages there are Google adverts that produce income for eKudos, these adverts are coupled to your Adsense account and you recieve a proportion of the income. The more active you are and the more you write the better. If you also bring new members in then that produces income for you too because the mechanism also works at deeper levels. If you want to give it a try then register via the link in this article, it's as simple as that!

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are slowly learning to master the subtitles of tribal thinking. They understand that many people aren’t stimulated by these sort of mechanisms and are creating other mechanisms for other types of people. Anyone who wants to do something for the brand must be maximally facilitated. This is a nice example.

Related trends

• Tribal

The district council in Hengelo, the Netherlands, helps its citizens to claim the correct subsidies by providing a 'money searcher'. Via the computer they enter a wide range of details about pay, benefits, tax credits, rent, savings and insurance policies. Within 10 minutes they receive personalized advice.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The world is gradually changing. Instead of consumers, members or citizens being expected to trawl through all sorts of loose pieces of information, rules and procedures from various organizations the focus is now on the individual. Even then it is still too complicated. Personal finance brands will soon be able to automatically read all the customers’ details, interpret them and arrange all the appropriate subsidies (the consumer will only need to give permission). This sort of brand can immediately give good personal advice: do you want this, or that? And arrange what is required straight away. Only identification is needed, but by the time all this is possible identification will be able to be given in the blink of an eye.

On this new site from South Park Studios you can watch all the installments of the popular American series for free. New installments are deleted after seven days and are then made available again after 30 days (for contractual reasons). Before each film a short advert is played. On the site the user can download ring tones and 'embeddable clips', play games and create their own South Park figure as well as a few other fun things.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In this way the experience economy is slowly taking form. First we digitalise content. Now we put it on line. Soon we will discover that the majority of the views take place on line. Then we will discover that we can sell premium content in order later develop (interactive) content that would never have had a chance on television but is much more exciting, educational, fun, emotional and interesting than ever.

Related trends

• Experiences

At TravellersTV.com everything revolves arround video content based on holiday destinations. You see the continents on a click-able Google map. Once you have clicked a video over the continent begins. Then you can zoom in on a destionation and you will find related video chanels (in total there are 1200 destinations and 20 lifestyle tv channels). The videos often include supplementary text. In addition you find a buttons by every destination for more information over accommodation, food and drink, attractions, events, activities, transport and shoppig. You can rate, tag and comment on everything and you can also send the information on to others. But... it's still a beta version, sometimes things work and sometimes they don't, the content is far from complete but it is still well worth a look. A good concept with a lot of possibilities for good business models in the future...

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The future for this sort of travel coaching brands is in the completeness of the offer, the understanding of the consumer and earnings via affiliated programs. A good understanding of the consumer is central (where did you go other years? How was it? What do your friends do?), providing inspiration and when the customer says : ‘Yes, that’s what I want!’, also immediately arranging the booking with as few follow up steps as possible. Then the customer will only need to say yes before enjoying the anticipation. TravellersTV is the beginning.

House specialist Immospy, known in the Netherlands as miljoenhuizen.nl, is now available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. By focusing on Europe (instead of individual countries) almost 4 million houses for sale are made available.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Europe is increasingly being treated as one market. Soon we will be able to arrange mortgages over international borders (why should the provider have to come from our own country?), choose Europe wide internet providers, Europe wide insurance companies and internationally operating home coaching brands. These stand by to help us enjoy living, wherever we are in the world. This is a step in that direction.

Via a widget, a tiny piece of software, the Rijksmuseum places a new art object on the sites of its users each day: every day a new art object, on users websites, on their profiles on social networking sites, or (as we have done here) on a their blogs. At the moment of posting there was an image of a painting of a man with angels wings, tomorrow there will be something else.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

In this way brands are able to provide inspiration every single day. In this case the theme is art, but it can of course be applied to any theme - style, health, sport, holidays, or relationships to name but a few. Paper daily calendars with a theme have been around for a long time and fulfill a daily ritual. Widgets can replace this and over time, by becoming more personal, will be more inspiring than ever before.

Rabobank's brand agent Yvette (Dutch) can now also be found at the virtual bank branch in the girly game GoSupermodel. The first day that the virtual bank branch was open she received 1.545 mails and 8.342 chat sessions were started with her. The branch itself was visited 14.453 times.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are representing themselves through brand agents more and more often, we see them all over the place. An important part of this is that we will be recognised everywhere. Just like we recognise real people that we know from work and chance across, for example, in the supermarket. The context is different, but the dialogue carries on.

Playboy has created a version of Playboy.com for the iPhone, iPlayboy contains, amongst other things, Playboy radio, videos, tips for going out and of course the Playboy photos. Have you always wanted to know the difference between a Bunny, a Playmate and a Centerfold? The website offers an ‘Ask Hef' function that will give you the answer to this and much more. The site was launched with the choosing of ‘Miss Mobile Playboy'.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are moving to interactive communication via electronic media. First via the PC, now through your mobile, soon via the navigation system and eventually via TV and radio. Everything will become fully interactive. The power of the mobile in this is its direct link with payments, you are already recognised, you can already call. The mechanism that will ensure that certain content can be paid for via the mobile (which we will also use to view it). Sexually tinted contact is yet again the driving force for new technology. Playboy has taken a step in that direction.

Via Amazon TextBuy the buying hungry consumer can directly order whatever catches their eye in a shop, on the street or in a bar. Users send a text message with the name, description, barcode or ISBN number of the product. If Amazon is selling similar items then you will be sent a message with the results. The consumer can immediately buy one of the products or ask for a wider selection of products.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The mobile phone is becoming a screen over the physical world. At the moment we still need to send a text message but soon the product will be automatically recognised (via barcode, built in chips or just by its form) and the maker will provide specific information straight away. If we want to make further comparisons we will consult one of our coaching brands, which will advise us like a friend. A decision is then quickly made.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Dutch broadcaster KRO has developed a music player that takes account of your mood. You select your mood in the circle and the music starts to play. It's also possible to determine your mood by taking a psychological test. The player can be added to a consumers profile on the Dutch social networking site Hyves as a widget.

Coffee retailer Starbucks has introduced MyStarbucksIdea, a user generated discussion forum about products and service. Registered users can share their ideas about new products and can vote on others ideas too, ensuring that it is clear which suggestions are best. The ideas that are implemented can be followed via the site.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are becoming more open. The boundary between supplier and consumer is disappearing completely. Soon this sort of mechanism will dictate what an organization will do. The time in which we trusted in a CEO as top man in a company will be far behind us. We will define our future together.

The ANWB is letting it's members vote for it's new logo. Members enter their membership number and are then able to vote. The ANWB is a Dutch association that provides, amongst other services, breakdown help to it's members.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands are now experiencing their brand coming out. The consumer, citizen or member of a brand is now more frequently included by the brand headquarters. Now it’s just a gesture, soon the headquarters will only facilitate. They are in the service of their subjects after all. This is an example of the phenomenon.

Related trends

• Brand coming out