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.

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.

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.

Through Joox (not to be confused with big brother Joost) users can now directly see a good amount of movies (with or without subtitles), directly from the browser (mf, Dutch). With this, Joox lays the foundation to grow into a home entertainment coaching brand, a brand that entertains you while you sit on the sofa. Joox will have to work his way through some difficult processes, as at the moment the content probably is completely illegal. At least this shows us now how easy it will be in the future. In the end these types of brands will have all movies available (with or without subtitles), in all languages and at every display. This is a small step in that direction.

Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws puts reviews of its house brand products President's Choice at the centre of its stores. Consumers can write reviews and give ratings at the website. These then are printed on posters, on staff T-shirts, and on the shelves. Loblaws calls this shelf talk: "Jason from Regina, Saskatchewan, says: ‘This is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted.'" (ms). Brands, even retail brands, unite more and more people. Now online through the web site, later we will be able to leave our spoken review in the store: "this is really yummy, only the top is not so handy." And this will directly be added to our personal profile. If we are in a foreign country and we see a new product there, we can tell our own brand: "I want this in my home store." And this can be done world wide. This way the customer is in the lead in every possible way. Which actually seems logical, as the consumer is the one who pays. This is a small step in that direction.

Dinnersite.nl (Dutch) allows restaurant goes to see where restaurants are located using Google Maps. In the example you can see restaurants with a menu of over 40 euros in Amsterdam Central. Again a coaching brand which helps with outdoor entertainment is created. Soon we'll be able to reserve a seat using Dinnersite. Then Dinnersite will ask us for a review and we can start looking for good reviews. First in general, but then also reviews of our friends or friends of friends. And then Dinnersite (with or without a partner) will start to do the exact same thing for the restaurants in the rest of the world. Some sectors are further along than others, but catering too is slowly shaping itself into the coaching brand model. This is a step in that direction.

The Australian University of Melbourne has developed a prototype under the name 'Jogging over Distance', in which two people who jog separately can yet hear each other at the distance they would be if they were jogging together. 3D audio simulation is used to make it seem like the slower jogger is really behind you, or the quicker jogger is in front of you. This could be very stimulating (tx). We imitate the physical world as good as we can so that we can experience anything we like at any place on earth. Alone, or with other people. This is an example of things really going in that direction.

The New York Times has published its enormous article archives. All pages with good titles, descriptions and a perfect internal linking structure. Brands are becoming more and more open. It's no longer about information (something which is more and more often easily available to everyone); there is no more lack of information and with that the economical value of information has disappeared. It's more and more often about the selection of information (and products, services, experiences) tailored to the individual. That's the field of coaching brands. In this way the New York Times can grow into a news coaching brand.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Dutch housing site Jaap.nl claims to show a bigger number of houses than Funda, the established brand in this area. Personal-brands-to-be now mainly focus on being complete. First in the Netherlands, then in surrounding countries and finally in all countries in the world. Relying on this completeness, the consumer can be served best, and value be added. This way Jaap can develop into a home coaching brand.This is a small step in that direction.

Social music platform Last.FM's users can now also watch music videos. Recording companies, among others EMI and Warner, will make about two thousand clips available online. And the amount will grow quickly, according to Last.fm. Their final goal is to have all music videos online that have ever been made (em, Dutch). This way music coaching brands gradually take shape. These brands give us auditive entertainment, and can show us the matching video if we wish. Or the song texts, the karaoke version, or the versions of the various instruments. And that for all music that has ever been made. This is a small step in that direction.

Financial auction site Zopa brings together money lenders and borrowers. A borrower states the conditions for a loan, and if these compare to offers of lenders, the deal can be made. The risk is spread by dividing the total amount of money into smaller amounts, provided by several lenders. The credit scores of people who are borrowing money are thoroughly checked (dc, Dutch). Here banking 1.1 comes into being. It is he existing principle of a bank, as Zopa has to make money too. Using IT to make a new start, processes can be reinvented, or even be deleted if necessary. This way situation can arise that is comparable to what Easyjet has done in air transport. Zopa can grow into a transaction brand, with a price fighter position in the savings and loan markets. In the end financial coaching brands will advice us on what we should do with whom (what transaction brand), under what conditions. And they will take care of that for us. That will be the added value of the financial coaching brand, and that is where their margins will be. That is banking 2.0. The development of this kind of transaction brands contributes to that.

Dag is a new news brand in the Netherlands. The media consider it the fourth free newspaper in the Netherlands, however the organization rightly announced it as a cross-medium news brand. And it has the ambition to grow into a news coaching brand, a brand that stands next to you and follows the changes in society with you. And if you see something yourself, Dag happily listens to you. In the navigation they have a tag 'participate', you can rate every item, and give your reaction on everything. Later we will be able to ask Dag in a spoken dialogue (in the car, in the shower, or at the railway station in Cape Town): "Is there any news?" Then we will get, in text, image or sound (whichever we prefer), the latest news since the last time we asked that question. This is a small step in that direction.

Communicatie Online (Communication Online; Dutch), the site of the monthly magazine for communication specialists, has now been integrated with its sister blog Commlog (Dutch). The headers 'news' and 'opinion' (the old blog part) are now fraternally below one another. It's possible to react to all articles. This is how magazine brands are slowly giving the reins to their community (the readers). At first they'll become passive purchasers, now they're active contributors, soon they'll decide which item should be treated in the magazine. Communicatie can then grow into a brand that facilitates a trade association in their career developments. In affiliate programs, it can recommend courses, (all) books and congresses. And even new jobs. Internationally too. And this is how Communicatie can grow into a true career coaching brand.