Wearable Tech and The Lazy Consumer

I’ve had my eye on wearable technology for over a year, perhaps even two years. Being a user of fitness wearable tech such as jawbone, Nike + etc. has kept me interested and the massive potential it offers to brands and consumers alike. It’s amazing how it has exploded, although not totally unexpected.

A year ago, I asked the question how wearable tech could be integrated in fashion and watched the increase of fitness tech hop on board and grow exponentially. CES this year has reflected that growth. One could ask, ”Is it a fad?”, in fact Cassidy himself has asked this question being a sceptic.  One journalist from Mashable cited that all things that get massive media coverage from CES normally die a quick death. But like all the trends that come and go, there is definitely something in wearable tech.

Already as an industry, wearable tech has evolved. Interestingly enough in recent news, we now have something called Smart tech – which is a form of wearable tech but more advanced. Such as in recent news – Google announced smart contact lens that monitors blood-sugar levels. If you could imagine it these days, it can become a reality.

To me it’s simple. The brain is a lazy organ, it is trying to find the line of least resistance in everything that it does, and wearable tech that is integrated, seamlessly, easy to use and useful will be successful. Anything that is complicated, not easy to connect, will just join the long list of failures.

This is a well-known principle in marketing and especially realised in digital marketing. Although funny how many brands don’t follow this simple tenet to encourage customer adoption. It starts at the product, companies will fail if their product does not satisfy the new lazy consumer and no amount of smoke and mirrors will make a difference. I have Yahoo! And Facebook in mind….

Looking ahead to 2014

My year has been dominated by trying to take my health and fitness to a new level; I have managed to do duathalons, triathalons and even a half marathon. It’s been mostly painful and sometimes fun, but always “fuelled” by technology. I have gone from Fuelband, to a Jawbone Up and back to a Fuelband. Nike has got the design, simplicity and now accuracy to a “T”. As a recent Wired article stated, “data will not help you if you can’t see it when you need it.” I would add and “how you want to look at it”. We have seen wearable tech enter the fashion industry; a big development being Apple recruiting from the fashion industry. Then the Google glass arrived, making Star Trek fantasies a reality.

Virtual reality and AR were once niche, nice to haves, but they are now creeping into the digital mainstream. The catalyst and support for this….the humble smartphone. It’s taken our everyday lives to a new level of digital engagement and some would say information overload. The rise and rise of the mobile phone has been rapid. I reckon the growth curve of wearable smart technology will be much shorter and will create numerous opportunities and surprises; more so than even the mobile phone. For example with some of the moves Apple is now making, you could almost imagine them buying Nike or Burberry. You would have been taking a massive leap of faith to think that 12 months go. Now, that leap is slightly smaller.

I’m looking forward to 2014. Firstly, I am interested in what brands will use wearable tech to offer consumers in real tangible ways and expect it to deliver in a way social media has not. 

Secondly, I am interested in behaviour and how technology has handed consumer more power, which changes the ‘big corporations’ game and competitor set. 2014 could see seismic changes in the marketing industry as the effect of big data and engineered marketing begins to take effect.

Mandela The Legacy: here to stay?

Like so many, I was very sorry to hear about the death of Mandela.

As someone born in Kenya and with a deep love of Kenya and Africa more widely, I felt that Mandela embodied ‘hope’ above everything else. Hope that differences can be put aside and incredible progress can be made.

I remember the excitement of his release from prison and the profound sense of shock that actually in this world remarkable and good things can happen. South Africa and Africa has so much to offer us all, but it needs stability and the right environment to prosper and thrive.

My hope is that Mandela’s legacy will be that the path to unity he started continues smoothly.

Crafting the Web

There has been whole host of web tools created over the last few years that enables consumers to easily have a web presence whether for personal or business use. The likes of Wix, WordPress etc. really do provide great platforms to get small businesses, products or business profiles online (I speak for myself here too).

It has however sparked the question, what does this mean for the future of the digital marketing industry i.e. for me and possibly even my business?

My point of view and I’d be interested to hear others, is that we’re not all born to do this. That is, it may not necessarily be every business owner’s talent to do this.

I believe where agencies play a prominent role and truly benefit any brand regardless of its size is in the crafting of ideas. The creation of ideas that really speak to consumers and customers is exactly that, a craft and in particular, not everyone’s craft.

At times with the advent of social media marketing and mobile marketing growing exponentially – these days businesses have a facebook page before even having a website or advert – it may look like the future for us digital marketing folk is pretty bleak to say the least! If we fast forward to 10 years from now (I would dare to say even 5) every Joe and his shop will be personally involved, managing and maintaining all their digital marketing and content efforts as easy as brushing one’s teeth!

My children are creating more content than ever before (the days of playing in the back yard are nearly over). Have you heard of Video star? The app that helps you create music videos, it’s a great usable tool but not for high production music videos. I know, because I’ve seen it in action:-) My secret is out…

It’s no longer a trend; it’s fully integrated in our lives and I’ve said this before.

But, I do believe and I stand my ground here that the professionals will do a better job in understanding users and connect better with them, than copied by the masses. You still need the brilliant ‘big’ idea…although the form it takes may not be a TV ad, it may be the first Carling iPint app that I recall.

As a business, we @HeathWallace invest in understanding our customers’ customers. It’s our job to keep our customers’ digital strategies alive and thriving, if not, then we’re no longer the master of our craft and will no longer be in the business of crafting the web.

The Mark of the Beast is coming…or is it here?

Because of what I do, I have an interest in technology and technology trends, particular those that relate to financial services. Some of the things that are currently going on have got me thinking…

We are seeing a convergence in payment systems, wearable tech and biometrics that somebody could foresee in the Bible 2000 years ago. Gulp! In Revelation 13:15-18 it references the ‘Mark of the Beast’ as something that forces people to wear something in order to buy or sell, read here:

“It (the second beast) also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

As I hear daily of the innovations in new technologies that enable the consumer to purchase (tap to pay for example, or the iPhone 5S with its biometric reader) so it seems we have arrived in this future that has been foretold. We may all be about to inadvertently adopt the “Mark”…As I say, I am not religious and am not remotely worried about Beasts etc., but I do think that there is cause for concern over this trend.

So…there is an absolute logic as to why things like wearable tech will become digital wallets and converge with biometrics to become key authentication tools (for example very recently wearable tech was released that can use your heartbeat as identification and authentication). The more you use the body, the more secure a system becomes and the more convenient it becomes for the consumer. But the flip side is we become more traceable. We are trading security and convenience for traceability.

Traceability…the NSA debacle demonstrated that ‘big brother’ is listening, but the scary thing is it hasn’t really bothered most people, including myself for that matter. Yet governments and agencies can see what’s going on with any individual, regardless of the device or platform they use (terms & conditions become inconsequential), we’ve clearly tipped into the ‘big brother’ world. Wearable payment solutions and biometrics offer those that are listening another rich seam.

I think we all assume (probably rightly) that our governments are decent people; even if they are, there is no guarantee that will always be the case. We are heading towards an era where things are more embedded into us and know a lot more about us and our movements. I’ll be keeping a watch on this space, will you?

HeathWallace sets up in MENA

For those of who you have not heard and the few that read my blog, I’m delighted to announce that we have set-up HeathWallace in Dubai. It made sense for us as a global entity to create a new footprint in MENA whereby it is a massive area of growth, and has a requirement for the skills that HeathWallace are known for.

The Middle East is going to be central to banking going forward and having a stronger presence in the region will hopefully work out to be very successful for all involved. Here’s the formal announcement – http://www.jwt.com/en/news/global/jwt-sets-up-heathwallace-uae-ksa/

Digging deeper in digital

The other day I watched a programme on TV. Yes broadcast TV… Anyway the program was all about a (lady) palaeontologist, who had started looking at fossils of T-Rex under a microscope. She eventually discovered the remnants of T-Rex DNA and is in the process of trying to sequence it. If she can sequence it, then the possibility of cloning a new generation of T-Rex’s is here. She looked where nobody else had thought to look. As consequence, she could see life, where only fragments of mineralised bones exist. She talked about the fact that most palaeontologists are interested in the form of fossils, i.e. their size and structure, and not in the biology, where she wanted to understand what made the T-Rex tick. She also made mention of the fact that most palaeontologists are men. 

It got me thinking about the industry we are in and the parallels between some of the themes that I have started thinking about. It may be a sweeping generalisation, but the “Digital” industry is male dominated. It is an industry obsessed with size and form. We measure success in terms of downloads, uploads, speed, channels, etc. We generally take a macro-view, rather than examining the detail.  This is a generalisation of course or a mere hyperbole for demonstration purposes.

If we were the lady palaeontologist what would we be interested in? Where does the real value lie? What forms the biology of the Internet? I think it is the content and more importantly, the source behind the content. The content of the “Web” is life blood. The thing that gives the structure meaning and life. Rather than thinking about the structure, form and channels, we need to start with the content and use this to build out. Returning to a previous point that I’ve made previously, we need to stop building architectures first and filling these with content. We need to start with the content first…

So how do we start with content first? You dig deeper and try to understand your audiences. Who are your audiences, what makes them tick? That’s the question to ask and to be honest, it’s not a dominant male trait to dig deeper, nor a brand’s one for that matter. In my experience, brands don’t want to do the leg work to dig deeper, they just want to talk about themselves. The gender metaphors could go on…

Mobile…the future now

I read tech news almost every day, to stay abreast of the industry I work in and keep in touch with technological innovations and how it can impact our business and benefit our clients.  Today, almost every piece of news I read has some sort of mobile relevance.

Whether it’s CNN who has just invested $15mill into their website and their president Zucker and KC Estenson, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com, stated the importance of mobile to CNN’s future. “Desktop [traffic] is flat. It’s aging,” Estenson said. “Mobile growth [is] off the chart.” (from Mashable)

Secondly, a Gartner study was released which cited that Smartphone sales have surpassed feature phone sales for the first time. “The researcher estimated that smartphones accounted for 51.8% of mobile phone sales across the world.” (also Mashable)

We have now passed the tipping point of mobile in my opinion.

From Mobile strategy tips (have you heard of dayparting?) to new apps helping you buy wine you have sitting in front of you (my new favourite app…Drync) …mobile is here to stay.

The mobile device is now a user’s primary gateway to the internet, times have changed.

Mobile payments are the way forward for commerce in Africa, but increasingly it’s becoming a global phenomenon.

Even Facebook’s share price almost hit its IPO a few weeks back due to its announcement that mobile was paving the way for its future.

Why is mobile technology leading the way? Other than it’s in our pocket 90% of the time, it’s because our mobile operates as the new search engine. It cuts out clutter from the havoc the internet has created with information overload. It’s simpler. It streamlines our experience regardless of the platform…including Facebook!

It’s time business realised the importance of mobile to our everyday lives (and those of our customers) and integration is a must, no longer a maybe.

Driving force behind the future of ‘TV’

With the launch of Google Chromecast, reports that Twitter will soon resemble TV and a multitude of other features of late talking about the future of TV, it comes to no surprise to me that people are now talking about the disappearance of traditional broadcast TV.

Of course broadcast channels themselves may survive, albeit purely within a digital environment or framework. It may be old news, or new to some that Twitter is working on the ability to reset your twitter feeds to align it to a particular programme i.e. you can sync your twitter feed to the timing of the your desired programme. That shows 1) power of 2^nd screening and also 2) people aren’t going to have to worry about the 2nd screen live TV experience happening in real-time.

This changes the TV landscape in its entirety; from content, advertising and media consumption – the three key pillars that form the foundation of TV broadcasting. Conventional wisdom in the advertising industry has been that as the rise of Digital would mean the death of TV; Digital killed a TV star.

Interestingly enough it turns out the complete opposite is true: Digital increases TV usage and media consumption as was recently cited in a WIRED article. Going back a few years, I had suspected that, that might be the case based on nothing more than watching my kids and analysing my own viewing habits. I was fond of saying in JWT where I worked, that Digital did not mean less TV, it meant more.

Another example of new ways to consume digital media, is the Ultraviolet cloud based TV storage system from Sony whereby you upload your DVD or recorded shows onto the cloud based platform and can stream onto any tablet or device anywhere and at any time. You can access content regardless of the device and location. This blurs the line between physical and digital. Ultimately, it gives the consumer more choice and greater options.

Ultimately it re-enforces the point that video is now the primary driving force of content and content marketing. I do not know how much video content is uploaded to the Internet and consumed at any-moment in time, but I am guessing it’s rather a lot. As digital professional, we all have to sit and think about this and its impact on the business we’re in. Video production, design, site architecture, all of this now needs to evolve together to align itself as “content journeys”.

We see this change as a massive opportunity for us – we are learning how to include and utilise video content within the information architecture and design process; so that it forms a seamless part of the customer journey, enhancing, rather than disrupting experiences. We are learning about production values, and story-telling and making it part of the experience. The lines between “Experience” companies like us and the “Traditional Ad” companies are blurring. Our focus on structure and process, lends itself to what needs to be done.

Consumer behaviour is continuously changing and is enabled as the power of technology advances. The future of broadcast is here; the consumer now has control of what they watch and they are grabbing that control.

One last question arises… How on earth do we buy media in this new world?! Thankfully it’s not the business I’m in, so I can let someone else worry about that!

Where is Digital Leadership in Businesses today?

There has been something that I have been musing over lately. To be honest to the point of irritation, even annoyance.

Why is it so difficult for clients to execute digital in their businesses? I know I’m generalising here, so please bear with me. Why are many of the businesses we work with and for so out of step from a digital perspective? The gap between their skills and the required skills is increasing exponentially. The only conclusion I can get to is; there is  a lack of digital leadership from the top.

The current digital landscape looks like this:
You have digital “directors”, but their position sits below board level. You don’t have anyone solely responsible for driving digital customer experience. This baffles me, as from a customer experience point of view, the majority of consumer touch points are now digital. Until businesses recognise that there needs to be digital leadership, they will continue to struggle.

To execute digital effectively, you need a well thought out strategy that needs to span across the entire business. Then you need vision and political power to drive this forward. This is the most difficult part and biggest challenge to overcome. I personally feel it’s very difficult to 1) find that kind of person in most businesses today, and I’m talking agencies to brands and everything in-between and 2) have the leadership support at board level to make the difference.

The other side to this is there seems to be no imperative to get this right. This absolutely needs to change in the next few years. Our kids’ generation or the bottom-end of our generation expects so much more. Because of the nature of the working generations, we can still make excuses for not getting things done properly, this will not be acceptable within the next few years.

Change will only happen with the right digital leadership. The Problem is that businesses don’t have the talent pool to pull from. Next year I celebrate my 20^th year of “being” digital and if truth must be told, I don’t see many others around with that amount of experience. I don’t want to be egotistical, but many of the people that work for me were wearing nappies or weren’t even born when I started my digital career!

Based on what I can seen and have learnt, I understand what needs to be done to align the business landscape to the realities of life in the 21st Century. But, I need other digital champions who have the experience, knowledge and political clout and sit at the right organisational level. There…rant done!