Disney World, the theme park in Florida, can be found on Google Earth in complete 3D vision. On this page there's a video and instructions.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

And so brand worlds are taking shape. Currently as a separate part of Google Earth, soon the website itself will be in 3D. Then we’ll be looking through the window of an airplane and we can go where we want. Afterwards we’ll be recognized, be able to meet our friends, rebuild the environment, make suggestions, and absolutely ultimately, visit the real park itself. This scene is coming ever closer.

Related trends

• Brand worlds
• More 3D

The NS, the Dutch railway company has built a 3D station world on virtueelproefstation.nl. Here consumers can test the new Leiden trainstation, that'll be the pilot station for others in the Netherlands. The website can only be run properly under Internet Explorer. Furthermore the 3D model can be seen on Google Earth. This way choices that are expensive in the physical world can be tested more easily. The site is a part of the website mijnproefstation.nl where the NS shares a lot of information about surveys in new stations and where consumers can react. There are also, for example, contests for children that can share their vision. (This 3D information is found under the heading 'entertainment'.)

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Increasingly more brands build 3D worlds which they invite consumers to become a part of. For fun, to learn something, to contribute or combinations of these. Brands are experiencing a brand coming out and realize that the product doesn’t just become better when one involves consumers, but it also charges the brand emotionally. It’s a completely different way of viewing the reality as what we’re used to.

Related trends

• Brand coming out
• More 3D

On HappyMeal.com, the children's gaming site of McDonald's, McDonald's has made an announcement about a new version of this site (the HTML title is after all Happy Meal 3.0). In this world children can meet each other, chat, watch videos, dress up their avatar, above all play lots of games.

In a contest children can suggest a name for this world and then vote on it. At the moment they can choose between ScaddImon (a mixture of McDonalds letters), McD Zone, McDonaldLandia, McIsland, McWorld (of which the last is winning and the .nl domain name is still free too.) There's also a link to the physical McDonalds: who enters a code from a Happy Meal box or bag, or other products, can gain exclusive items.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how brands realize brand worlds’ that are furnished by consumers, their fans. Those brands are only made stronger by this.

Related trends

• Brand worlds

An outfit designed by a player of The Sims 2 is now available in almost 1,000 H&M stores world-wide. The clothes are the result of a design contest in which all Sims-players could take part. The context involved designed a piece of clothing based on the style of H&M. The uploaded creations could then be seen in six virtual fashion shows. Entries by at least 1,000 designers were judged by over 100,000 people. It generated around 500 million impressions. The winning design is recognizable in H&M stores by a special The Sims 2 label and brand.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands facilitate the design of a product, like they borrow their right to exist from the facilitation of consumers, in their lives. A brand is, such as it were, a huge group of people of which the most active people involve themselves full-time, sometimes even longer. These people are serving the community. Every part of what they do has to add value to the life of the consumer. H&M understands how this process works and is taking leaps in the brand coming out, the process in which traditional brands reinvent themselves.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

Google launches its own 3d world under the name Lively. In this world users can create avatars, communicate with others and build their own spaces and objects.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

All brands are building on their own 3D brand worlds. The most fortunate and online oriented brands are at the forefront, but soon every brandsite will be a 3D world, instead of the 2D websites we encounter at the moment. And eventually this will also go for the smallest brands. And in those 3D worlds we won’t need to create our own avatars, we usually come as ourselves, just like entering a store. And sometimes we dress up, give ourselves a different name, like in the theatre, playing sports or at the carnival.

Related trends

• Brand worlds
• More 3D

Dutch popfestival Lowlands is now also available on the iPhone. Not just the map, but also the program can be seen. What's playing now on which field? It happens in the blink of an eye.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

We’re getting more and more information about the world around us. Now we see that the application optimalizes the program for the current time. Soon the iPhone will recognize which field we’re on, what band is playing, which number is being played and which song text goes with it. So that we can sing along immediately. In meantime our camera is running and we can watch other fields through the cameras of our friends.. And then, it seems to never end, all camera images will be joined live which allows us to fly over the field in 3D, like we’re standing everywhere at once. And that also works from home. This is how the virtual world becomes a screen over the physical world. This is very nice, we should certain enjoy it, but it’s still just a beginning.

Dutch housing site Jaap now also shows homes that have been placed for free on second-hand site 2dehands.nl by individuals. This allows consumers to sell their home without the use of a broker through a big housing site. 2dehands.nl is currently the only Dutch demand and answer site that offers this service for free. Currently around 1,000 of the individual homes are transferred to Jaap.nl.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

It’s becoming ever more clear that new brands are formed that prioritize the concern of the consumer. Based on being free of charge, freedom, happiness, these brands search for how to add more value. Currently you can place your house for free, soon Jaap can help you select people to get more for your house. With ratings, with other people’s experiences. Because eventually a home broker does have added value, but then seen from the consumer. Currently brokers are often focused on what’s on offer. This situation is changing quickly, but is far from stable. Jaap’s step now prioritizes consumers a little more.

Related trends

• Experiences

Supercook puts together a recipe based on the ingredients in your home. You look at what's in your fridge, pantry or kitchen cupboards, add your ingredients and the search engine will find recipes that allow you to make a meal immediately. Useful when you want something quickly and don't have time to go to the supermarket (or when it's closed).

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands will assist us with everything. Currently with what’s in our home, soon these groceries, recipe databases and our preferences will be combined. In your car on your way home from work you can consult with your food coaching brand to go out, have something delivered, pick up a meal or ingredients yourself or making something based on what you’ve got at home. Because soon your food coaching brand will have access to your kitchen cupboards and will read your supply through small (rfid) chips that will be in every product sooner or later. Then food coaching brands can grow into a complete brand. We’re truly at the beginning of what’s about to come.

The Telefoongids.nl (The Dutch white pages) has launched a new mobile website.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

The most important thing in this development is that the telephone number we see can also be called directly by clicking on it (like a Skype address in our browser). That means that we don’t need to see the numbers we’re looking up anything, we can just press a button ‘call’ and in a later (though not too much later) stage simply say ‘call’. That means that we switch in a dialogue with the word ‘call’ to a spoken dialogue (or from asynchronic, like visiting a website, to synchronic, like calling). Telephone numbers will disappear to the databases they belong in, next generations won’t even know the principle of a number and the white pages can grow out into a social coaching brand. This is a step.

At Kaap Hoorn, a restaurant in the Dutch city Haren, visitors can now order and pay through their cell phones. A visitor can look up the menu on their cell phone and place an order. It's paid up front by RaboMobiel. The receipts are printed after payment is received.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Step by step we’re saying goodbye to paper. Not just customer passes, not just magazines, but we’ll also see less of all small paper, such as menu cards, flyers or doctor’s receipts. With as most important reason that brands want to communicate and communication happens per definition in a dialogue not a monologue as we were forced to by paper.

Ask.com shows itself in an Olympic look for the Olympics in Beijing.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how brands show their involvement with society. New brands, not just suffering from such rules as ‘thou shallt not touch the logo’ know exactly how to do this. Sometimes it surprises me how slowly these design elements penetrate the traditional brand landscape. This form of brand visualization is definitely something that’s waiting for us in the coming years. It charges brands with warm emotions, exactly what brands want, but apparently don’t quite grasp yet.

Related trends

• Brand visualization

The biggest world wide job search engine CareerJet is now also available for the Russian job market. Careerjet searches for all vacancies at Dutch interim offices, newspapers, companies and other job websites. The list of vacancies is then shown based on the criteria of the person looking for a job. This list refers a person to the original job offer where one can apply for the job immediately.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how brands will start to work more and more globally. Not because they’re globalizing themselves, but because consumers are de-nationalizing: they too can get a job internationally. Not just by moving, or by being there every now and again, but more and more jobs can be done remotely. Career coaching brands facilitate this new budding form of working by showing all the jobs available in the world. This is a step in that direction.

Related trends

• De-nationalizing

The Dutch television guide Veronica Magazine is now available for the iPhone.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Each brand will enter the dialogue with the consumer through each screen. Even magazines, like Veronica. Cell phones will in a relatively short time replace remote controls. That future is brought a step closer here. Soon we’ll see the missed broadcasts and magic them onto our television with a push on the button.

Dutch movie theatre chain Pathé has launched a new cell phone application that allows you to see which movies are on in which theatre, to download a movie trailer or watch it streamed. If you want to install the application, all you have to do is send a text message with 'film' to 4443. You'll receive a text message with the link on where to download the application.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how the virtual world and the physical world integrate. Wherever you are, you can always be kept up to date on what’s happening near you. Whether it’s a new product, a specific service, or an experience (like the movie theatre is), you’ll know all about it. This developments fits seamlessly in this.

Through Wakoopa consumers can show others the software they use often, for example on their hyves profile, their blog or their website.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Brands facilitate, allow consumers to share. By watching consumers closely they can advice, because they’ve been watching. Wakoopa could grow into a software store where you can buy the software that’s used a lot by your friends. That’s a next step that Wakoopa can make.

On the Dutch site SlechteDekking.nl consumers share the coverage of their telecom providers. If they find that a certain area has no coverage then can select and place a balloon on a Google Map. This creates a map that shows at a glance which provider has the worst coverage in a certain area.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

And so more and more brands that operate from the interest of the consumer are created. Currently from a negative approach (no coverage), but soon such a site will be able to give advice to consumers about which provider is best-suited for their area (and traveling habits). Add price and a preference for a device. Everything will be connected to everything to give the best possible advice. This type of brand will become far more valuable to the consumer than any provider individually has ever been. This is another step that contributes to this.