Through mobile application CheapGas consumers now can get information on cheap gas while they are on the road, filtered by brand preferences. (cz). We connect everything. Product information used to be hard to get, now we get it presented personally and currently, wherever we are. Later our navigation system will take this into account: if you have to get gas, you better take route X or Y. In the end, mobility coaching brands will help you get from A to B, taking all possible circumstances into account: your personal circumstances, your financial circumstances, AND the situation for all possible forms of transport. This is a small step in that direction.

Star Wars fans from now on can edit their beloved movies. Through Star Wars Mashup they can edit clips, share them with others in the Star Wars community, and publish them on their own web logs (cz). This way, people co-create the movies. At this time still after the movie has been edited professionally. Later we will be able to use the raw materials to create our own movie. And games of course. Step by step even interactive image experiences become co-creation projects. This is a small step in that direction.

Users of one of the biggest online social networks in the world: Facebook, from now on can develop applications for this social network, and share them with others. Facebook provides the tools that even an 8-year-old should be able to use (em, Dutch). Brands are experiencing a brand coming out: the border between employee and consumer fades, the brand manager becomes a facilitator, and the brand grows stronger than ever. This is a small step in that direction.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

BrandBase, a company that develops brand activation programs for big brands, developed a concept for theater company Alaska, in which the new performance 'Sic transit gloria mundi’ through private sponsoring will be free for the public. Individuals and companies can buy a piece of scenery and place their logo on it. The logos will be visible for two months, the price varies between 100-500 euro. (mb). Although the presence of brands at the set generally will not be appreciated, I see great possibilities for brands in the future. Especially the theater world continuously finds new and creative solutions, especially the theater world is constantly looking for financial support and especially in the theater world there are many high-educated people with an extended social network. A perfect place for brands to be active.

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.

NS International has placed a short interactive commercial in the online Sky Radio broadcasting. Whoever listened to Sky Radio through the special Sky Radio Music player, saw an advertisement which lead to an action site after clicking. On air, a different commercial was played. NS International is the first to experiment with this new kind of advertising (em, Dutch). Radio also becomes interactive. Now in a special player, later in every spot we choose to listen to the radio. We will be able to (verbally) react to anything we hear, to get more information or to undertake action. By that time interrupting commercials will have disappeared, however we will fully start dialogues with brands. But only when we feel like it. This is a small step in that direction.

My Horeca TV will add more than 15.000 Dutch hotel rooms to its narrow casting network this year. My Horeca TV also develops its own programs (em, Dutch). This way, hotel rooms screens gradually become interactive. Now the content grows explosively, later we will make our own decisions of what we watch, wherever in the world we are, and whatever brands we want to be in touch with. Our mobile phone will act as remote control. This is a small step in that direction.

Delft University of Technology wants to make all its teaching materials available digitally, without charge. This applies for books and lecture notes as well as for tests and video recordings. The University will start this project in June. As rector Jacob Fokkema puts it: "the aim of this project is to contribute to a climate of open knowledge organizations, operating in global networks" (nu, Dutch). Brands become more open, and share their general information with everybody. Information becomes free, but whoever knows how to make information specific for individuals, who knows how to help select information individually, adds enormous value to peoples' lives. That exactly is what coaching brands will do. Opening up information is part of this social process of change.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

Job site TotalJobs starts an online job fair, the so-called 'clickbeurs' (Dutch), in an environment that looks a lot like a Habbo Hotel (the populair chat world for children). Job hunters can walk the virtual fair as avatars, and they can talk to recruiters. 39 companies are present at the fair, for whom TotalJobs tries to recruit starters
(em, Dutch). Brands start 3D worlds and invite consumers in. Now it is still done through a separate site, later you will be welcomed by a virtual brand agent in your own 3D TotalJobs environment, and you can start a spoken dialogue with that brand agent. This is a small step in that direction.

Related trends

• More 3D

Route Mobiel continuously researches its customer satisfaction by sending an e-mail with questions after a customer has had damage. One of the questions is what type of car came out to help the customer. For an answer, the customer can click on pictures of these cars. In this we can see the move to visual communication. We read less, and communicate more and more through sounds and images, exactly what humans are made for. Now Route Mobiel still has its questions accompanied with written text, and has its customers click with the mouse. Later we will have a spoken dialogue with an artificial brand agent, and we'll point our fingers to the car that came out to help us. This is a small step in that direction.

In the video under this picture you can see a (very far, think of 2050) futuristic view on claytronics , being developed by the Carnegie Mellon University: a technology that imitates form at a distance. Like sound and vision are recorded by microphone and camera, are transported through electronic media and are played somewhere else, this technology does the same with form. It does that by having millions of microscopic balls changing shape and color dynamically. In this video we see a car which arises out of a bowl of balls, which then can be manually changed at the spot. More information below. Claytronics will have an enormous impact on the way brands will develop products. If a designer forms a product, it can arise at thousands of consumer tables at the same time, with all its possibilities and impossibilities. It will still take a very long time, but earlier or later this will throw marketing off its feet (again).

Microsoft is working on a technology in which a normal glass window acts as a mirror, an interactive display, and a photocopier at the same time. By simply holding a document against the window, it is directly copied to the screen, and we can manipulate it with our fingers. Every physical object gets its place in the virtual world. If it doesn't have one yet, we will place it ourselves. See also the video below.

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.

Amazon has taken over dpreview.com, a leading site about digital photography with excellent reviews of digital cameras. (dc, Dutch). In the future brands will more often unite people. By this take-over, Amazon ties people to itself. The first step will be to integrate the accounts of the two companies. Amazon will make sure you get the product you want. If you write a review, Amazon knows for sure you physically have the product, which makes your review even more valuable. This is a step in that direction.

Philips announced its laboratories have succeeded in making a wafer-thin, bendable display in color. This electronic paper doesn't use energy any more after the page has been loaded (eg). In the end, the e-paper will be THE biggest threat for paper media. We will take it in our pocket to the train, the bathroom or the sunny beach on our vacation. Wireless connected to the internet, we'll have access to all possible content, to all our friends, to all possible brands. This medium will comply with the rules of the web, and not with the rules of paper media. It will take another couple of years, but earlier or later brands will have to cope with this.