Tag: VR
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.
Square eyes, sore thumbs, general FOMO… is your time well spent? Social media platforms are contradicting the behaviour that inherently comes with their programs by monitoring how much time you wile away online. In the interest of saving time, Instagram now adds shopping capabilities to stories whilst Snapchat adds ‘another dimension’ of measurement through marketing mix modelling. Oh snap.
Whilst you jealously watch revellers on the French Riviera at Cannes, do so in the knowledge that hot nights = loads more shopping. Restless sleepers will turn to the internet to soothe themselves back to a restful state with the promise of a shiny delivery in the morning. Festival-goers (and anyone for that matter) can also rest easy by knowing that any emergency calls made will automatically share your iPhone location with iOS12. Time to get that update.
Last but far from least, check out the great work that OMD is doing at Cannes Lions 2018 with our purpose-built site – bringing you live feeds, blogs, thought leadership and the ‘best of’ in one hot spot. Get in on the action and join the conversation – #OMDCANNES
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
- During an emergency iOS 12 will share your location
- A journalist who lost his voice due to a rare condition, is back on air with the help of AI
- Budweiser launches the first sound-activated Snapchat Lens during the World Cup
DEEP READS
As always, please share anything you find interesting using #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD. This week, Google’s new update lets Android users mute reminder ads from apps and websites. In a bid to open a window for new users, Snapchat Stories will soon be able to be shared outside the app as long they are created by verified users. Whilst tweaking its algorithms, Facebook has exclusive rights of Dota 2 live streams thanks to their partnership with ESL One and are contemplating future streams in VR. In other social news, Twitter is expanding their moment by selling Sponsored Moments, a collection of tweets packaged around a specific them or event, while Amazon Go is ready for customers. Lastly, there is a silver lining of this wintry weather as new data reveals that the winter chill can boost consumers’ receptiveness to online advertising.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
- Find out how the Guardian’s business has transformed in the last year, with a rebrand and plea for donations
- A look at how Amazon could one day threaten the likes of Facebook and Google
- Brian Solis gives his view on the best way to create micro moments that reach today’s hyper connected generation
Please share anything of interest using #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD. This week, Google’s new update lets Android users mute reminder ads from apps and websites. In a bid to open a window for new users, Snapchat Stories will soon be able to be shared outside the app as long they are created by verified users. Whilst tweaking its algorithms, Facebook has exclusive rights of Dota 2 live streams thanks to their partnership with ESL One and are contemplating future streams in VR. In other social news, Twitter is expanding their moment by selling Sponsored Moments, a collection of tweets packaged around a specific them or event, while Amazon Go is ready for customers. Lastly, there is a silver lining of this wintry weather as new data reveals that the winter chill can boost consumers’ receptiveness to online advertising.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
- Find out how the Guardian’s business has transformed in the last year, with a rebrand and plea for donations
- A look at how Amazon could one day threaten the likes of Facebook and Google
- Brian Solis gives his view on the best way to create micro moments that reach today’s hyper connected generation
Please share anything of interest using #OMDFWD
In recent years we’ve witnessed the rise and rise of purpose-led marketing and, in 2017 – a year when half of the Grand Prix winners at Cannes were purpose-led – we have reached the cusp of the revolution. Purpose is no longer a nice-to-have, adjacent marketing strategy; for a brand to succeed, purpose must now form the core of a brand’s essence and behaviour, thus informing all communications.
Why are we seeing this shift? As ever, it comes down to the consumer, who is increasingly aware of the impact their decisions can have on the world. According to Nielsen, 66% are willing to spend more on a product from a sustainable brand, rising to 73% of millennials. This clearly means that ‘responsible consumption brands’ will enjoy sustained growth – a LinkedIn study showed that 58% of companies with a clearly articulated purpose enjoyed growth of more than 10% over a three-year period. Unilever’s ‘sustainable living brands’ like Ben & Jerry’s and Dove grew 60% faster than the rest of the business in 2016 – CMO Keith Weed says ‘to succeed globally…brands must act quickly to prove their social and environmental credentials and show consumers they can be trusted with the future of the planet and communities’. Doing good is cool and there is huge opportunity for brands who understand and enable this.
It’s not just the bottom line that benefits from putting purpose at the core of brand essence: workforce happiness and efficiency improve too. There is increasing demand from workers that their employers demonstrate a higher purpose than just profit. According to a Deloitte study, 90% of millennials want to use their skills for good, while more than 50% would take a pay cut to find work that matches their values. This translates into efficiency for the employer: 53% of workers would work harder if they felt their organisation was making a difference. As we approach 2025, when millennials will account for 75% of the workforce, focusing on keeping them fulfilled is crucial.
So it’s crucial to keep purpose at the heart of your brand behaviour – but it’s also crucial that the resultant marketing campaigns are executed in the right way. The key here is authenticity: consumers see right through ‘purpose washing’. Of course, it’s easy for brands like Toms or Warby Parker with social profit as their raison d’être to have authentic, purpose-led storytelling driving their communications, but any brand can be authentic in this space: credibility is found at the overlap of what society needs and what a brand is best at. The Bank of Aland’s Grand Prix-winning Aland Index project and OMD Ireland’s Pure Love campaign for Water Wipes are great examples of meaningful communications resulting from total alignment of purpose, brand personality and values.
Delivering on promises is also crucial; a Trinity Mirror survey revealed that 58% of adults do not trust a brand until they have seen proof that it has kept its promises, while 40% would stop using a brand because of its behaviour. US brand Boost’s Boost Your Voice campaign, another Grand-Prix winner, delivered on its pledge to increase equal voting access by turning their stores into voting booths in the 2016 presidential election: Boost precincts saw 23% higher voter turnout than in 2012.
To ensure authenticity, we need to plan for the human and what they want from brands, not the consumer. Harnessing data to inform rich insight is the only way to do this, and it’s why OMD’s dedicated purpose unit puts human data and insight at the heart of all its work. It enabled us to forge the partnership between our client Cisco and National Geographic. We fully leveraged mutual beliefs and each brand’s assets and equity, creating the Emerging Explorer campaign which demonstrated how technology can improve people’s wellbeing. Data also allows us to deliver localised campaigns – highly desirable in a globalised and sometimes impersonal world. And, of course, it enables us to measure how purpose affects a brand and to make informed decisions.
Pairing data-fuelled insights with the latest technological innovations will inform the future of purpose marketing. Brands are already looking at new ways to harness their data creatively to strengthen their social impact: Whirlpool’s US Care Counts campaign collected data from its washing machines in schools to help teachers understand the effect of clean clothes on pupil attendance, winning them the Creative Data Grand Prix at Cannes.
Using VR as a tool for empathy is also an exciting opportunity – careful use of the technology, perhaps to enable consumers to ‘live’ in a post-climate change world or to experience life as a refugee, could increase engagement with the cause a brand is championing. According to a YuMe survey, VR received a 27% higher emotional reaction than 2D and engaged the viewer for 34% longer.
As marketers we can no longer afford to overlook the potential of artificial intelligence to help us optimise marketing activity and ultimately ensure healthy growth for our brands into the future. This has been the focus of major research at OMD over the last year, with learnings incorporated into our clients’ campaigns. As more brands put purpose at the heart of their communications, it is inevitable AI will have an impact on purpose-led marketing too. We’re just at the beginning of the AI revolution and the possibilities are endless.
It is evident that there is a huge opportunity to engage consumers and talent in a meaningful way by making purpose the core of the brand’s essence. Authenticity must be the mantra, achieved by aligning that purpose with core values and delivering on promises. The wealth of data at our fingertips and the power of new technologies can only enhance the power of these campaigns and our ability to understand the positive impact they have on society and brand equity. With purpose at the heart of authentic marketing, the future is bright – for both brands and society.
👋Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD! This week, prepare for your tweets to get longer as Twitter have begun testing 280-characters-long tweets across certain languages. Voice search is being used more than ever, which is only going to speed up as Amazon launches a variety of Alexa-powered products and a BMW integration. Love tech and food🍗? Then you can’t miss Jamie Oliver’s 👨🍳 new chatbot that offers recipes via emojis👏.
More disruption ahead! Harvard and MIT researchers have developed a new health-monitoring smart ink tattoo. While high-tech vacuum cleaners producer, Dyson, sets to launch an electric car 🚗 by 2020.
Lastly, join our Executive Strategy Director, Andy Upton, on a live webinar about “How do you become a marketer without borders in a multichannel world?” this Monday 9th of October at 11am, register here.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
As usual, please share anything you find interesting using the hashtag #OMDFWD
Hello and welcome to this week’s OMD FWD bursting with high-tech updates, from audio ticketing to self-driving mobile supermarket and Wimbledon AI-created highlight reels. It was a big week for Google! The company announced numerous updates including their newest VR app called Blocks enabling users to create 3D objects easily, Ad Sense Native ads which appear in the same style ad serving website and plans to fund a new software project that will automate writing local news.
Turning our focus to voice technology, the race is speeding up as Amazon’s Alexa surpassed 15,000 skills as users are encouraged to publish a skill in exchange for an Echo Dot. Samsung might also be joining the competition with “Vega”, an AI-powered speaker powered by the company’s virtual assistant, Bixby. Smart speakers are one of the hottest areas in tech right now, with Apple and Microsoft launching devices as well. It’s all to play for!
HEADLINES
- Snapchat’s ‘Paperclip’ tool means you can send links to friends and their ‘Backdrop’ feature allows you to add patterns to the background of a Snap, and Voice Filters
- People can now use photos and videos to reply to Instagram Stories
- Amazon’s Alexa passes 15,000 skills as users are encouraged to publish a skill in exchange for an Echo Dot. Samsung is also building an AI-powered speaker to take on the Amazon Echo and Google Home
- A number of Google updates including Blocks, the company’s newest VR app, designed to make it easy for people to make 3D objects quickly, Ad Sense Native ads that appear in the same style ad serving website and plans to fund a new software project that will automate writing local news
INSIGHTS
- The IAB releases its new Mobile In-App Ad Spec to help creators streamline the build process
- ComScore is the first to receive ABC certification for video viewability measurement
- Everything we know about Google’s upcoming smartphone, the Pixel 2, as well as a preview of Microsoft’s new Windows 10
COOL
DEEP READS
Please share anything you find interesting on the hashtag #OMDFWD
The season may have changed, but tech companies dominating the news certainly have not. This week sees fresh products from Facebook, a potential new revenue stream for Twitter, as well as custom sports gear from Adidas and a ‘Magic Calendar’ from Google.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
As always, please share anything interesting you see via #OMDFWD.
Hello and welcome to another weekly dose of OMD FWD, where most of our highlights come from the USA. As Trump continues to rock the world with his Muslin ban, tech giants including Google Microsoft and Facebook stand up for their existing employees and future talent. Meanwhile, Dove UK launch their #AlternativeFactsCampaign.
The Superbowl has also dominated recent headlines with Lady Gaga using 300 Intel-powered drones during halftime. With so much hype and exposure, it’s no wonder brands want to get a slice of the action, despite the $5M price tag! Don’t miss the best and worst from Superbowl TV ads in 2017.
HEADLINES
- Tech giants including Google, Microsoft and Facebook rally against Trump’s Muslim ban amidst fears for existing employees as well as the future of progressive thinking in the USA
- Instagram launches Snapchat-esque ‘disappearing’ photo and video functionality
- Dove UK brilliantly trolls the Trump administration’s attitude towards suspect information with their #AlternativeFacts campaign
INSIGHTS
COOL
DEEP READS
As ever, please tag and share anything you spot with #OMDFWD.
More so than any other trend this feels like an area where the groundwork has been laid for creators – whether that’s publishers, brands, or the creative community – to experiment with what is now available to them. Last year saw VR hardware releases from significant players such as Oculus, HTC and PlayStation. Of course, technical improvements will continue at a pace – in particular, the pursuit of untethered headsets and remote positional tracking. But, the technology is already available to create powerful VR experiences where users can move and interact in a manner that is impossible in any other medium. HTC have quashed rumours of a ‘Vive 2’ being released this year – though plenty of new accessories are on the horizon. So it’s over to the many creatives already in this space, and those getting on board, to develop content that makes use of VR’s unique properties as a medium.
It seems that VR entered, or perhaps re-entered, the public consciousness last year on some level. In terms of how many people own a VR headset of any kind, estimates suggest there are around 500,000 people with a high-end HTC Vive and 400,000 with an Oculus Rift. Sony say that “hundreds of thousands” of PlayStation owners have already bought PlayStation VR. Earlier last year, Samsung reported it had reached one million users for its Samsung Gear headsets. These figures were shared well before Samsung heavily promoted the headsets in the run-up to Christmas. We are still waiting for the numbers of the newest smartphone-accessory headsets in the market, Google’s Daydream. However, some reports suggest the reach of Google’s basic Cardboard headset has been as high as 80 million. Of course, unlike the other headsets, it is hard to know how many have kept these rather than used them once.
Staying at the ‘low-end’ of the headset market, but made of plastic rather than card, I saw a number of headsets retailing at less than £10 in-stores and online in the run up to Christmas for users to pop their phone into. I also noticed a heavy presence of ‘vr’ amongst the Apple Stores trending apps in the days after Christmas. So it feels like there is some appetite and recognition amongst the public of what VR is (even if they haven’t tried it yet). Brands should consider taking advantage of this willingness by creating a VR experience. The right VR experience could be more practical, like Jaguar’s I-PACE launch, or simply mindblowing, like Google Earth.
The question of ‘how many people have a headset?’ from brands considering VR, is perhaps misjudged. There are certainly only a finite number of people who will own a VR headset ever, even when the VR content available improves. This is an immersive and intense medium to be dipped into for ‘one-off’ experiences, analogous perhaps to cinema (how many people have one of those at home?). It fits for VR to be found in a store to aid a magical retail experience or indeed in cinemas to view entertainment content in a new form, and these site-specific VR experiences provide a rich opportunity for many brands. In London, we have already seen a VR Zombie chase, Björk’s VR-only exhibition and more recently the Royal Academy’s VR pop-up – all of which were ticketed events that sold out.
Beyond VR, the narrative from some publishers is that 2016 was actually the breakout year for Augmented Reality, because of the mega-hit that was Pokemon Go. This doesn’t ring true for me to the extent that it is touted as AR’s breakthrough moment. On a basic level because some research showed that ‘only’ 33% of users had the AR functionality turned on ‘most of the time’ or ‘always’ whilst playing the game. More significantly the success of Pokemon Go wasn’t down to the AR, but a multitude of factors (many of which were cultural) that I will spare you from debating here.
For me, Snapchat Lenses remain a far stronger example for AR. This technology is used by millions daily, even if the users don’t know or care to know that this tech is part of something called Augmented Reality. Facial overlays seem to be the most prevalent successful use of AR technology. This type of AR experience is neat for makeup brands or spectacle sellers but, obviously, has limited uses.
It’s the augmentation of objects into the real world in front of you that feels like the opportunity for a broader array of uses, but one that has been touted for some time. Maybe this year we’ll see brands really crack this opportunity through some hit applications. Markerless technology (a potential barrier to a slick experience) continues to improve and the digital recreation of assets for an AR world (perhaps the biggest cost here) may be something that a brand bites the bullet on or finds a more efficient way of doing, which could lead to a significant AR success story with business-changing returns.
Microsoft’s HoloLens exists as a unique outlier. Currently, it is available for developers but not for the public (which isn’t necessarily a problem – see my point on VR adoption). AR via a headset rather than through a phone, combined with the possibility of interaction and scalability of augmented objects that pushes this into the realm of ‘Mixed Reality’. This is ‘where it’s all going’. As future-gazers like to say, Mixed Reality experiences, like AR experiences, point to a potential for mass adoption far beyond VR because of the nature of the experience. The availability of the HoloLens platform, perhaps years before this technology truly develops on a larger scale, stands out as an obvious opportunity for brands to gain first-mover advantage and take a leadership position with a tech-powered experience for their customers.
What should brands do this year?
- Suspend disbelief and imagine the ultimate experience your brand could deliver, whether that’s practical or fantastical. Can this technology be used to bring this to life?
- Work with VR/AR experts who have made the easy mistakes in the medium already and are pushing the boundaries with what is possible. Also look out for select content publishers with compelling, well-supported VR offerings.
- Look at building platforms for VR or AR experiences that allow for updating and repeat usage over time, rather than one-off short-lived ideas.
Have a question or want to discuss something more? Send us an email at [email protected]
More so than any other trend this feels like an area where the groundwork has been laid for creators – whether that’s publishers, brands, or the creative community – to experiment with what is now available to them. Last year saw VR hardware releases from significant players such as Oculus, HTC and PlayStation. Of course, technical improvements will continue at a pace – in particular, the pursuit of untethered headsets and remote positional tracking. But, the technology is already available to create powerful VR experiences where users can move and interact in a manner that is impossible in any other medium. HTC have quashed rumours of a ‘Vive 2’ being released this year – though plenty of new accessories are on the horizon. So it’s over to the many creatives already in this space, and those getting on board, to develop content that makes use of VR’s unique properties as a medium.
It seems that VR entered, or perhaps re-entered, the public consciousness last year on some level. In terms of how many people own a VR headset of any kind, estimates suggest there are around 500,000 people with a high-end HTC Vive and 400,000 with an Oculus Rift. Sony say that “hundreds of thousands” of PlayStation owners have already bought PlayStation VR. Earlier last year, Samsung reported it had reached one million users for its Samsung Gear headsets. These figures were shared well before Samsung heavily promoted the headsets in the run-up to Christmas. We are still waiting for the numbers of the newest smartphone-accessory headsets in the market, Google’s Daydream. However, some reports suggest the reach of Google’s basic Cardboard headset has been as high as 80 million. Of course, unlike the other headsets, it is hard to know how many have kept these rather than used them once.
Staying at the ‘low-end’ of the headset market, but made of plastic rather than card, I saw a number of headsets retailing at less than £10 in-stores and online in the run up to Christmas for users to pop their phone into. I also noticed a heavy presence of ‘vr’ amongst the Apple Stores trending apps in the days after Christmas. So it feels like there is some appetite and recognition amongst the public of what VR is (even if they haven’t tried it yet). Brands should consider taking advantage of this willingness by creating a VR experience. The right VR experience could be more practical, like Jaguar’s I-PACE launch, or simply mindblowing, like Google Earth.
The question of ‘how many people have a headset?’ from brands considering VR, is perhaps misjudged. There are certainly only a finite number of people who will own a VR headset ever, even when the VR content available improves. This is an immersive and intense medium to be dipped into for ‘one-off’ experiences, analogous perhaps to cinema (how many people have one of those at home?). It fits for VR to be found in a store to aid a magical retail experience or indeed in cinemas to view entertainment content in a new form, and these site-specific VR experiences provide a rich opportunity for many brands. In London, we have already seen a VR Zombie chase, Björk’s VR-only exhibition and more recently the Royal Academy’s VR pop-up – all of which were ticketed events that sold out.
Beyond VR, the narrative from some publishers is that 2016 was actually the breakout year for Augmented Reality, because of the mega-hit that was Pokemon Go. This doesn’t ring true for me to the extent that it is touted as AR’s breakthrough moment. On a basic level because some research showed that ‘only’ 33% of users had the AR functionality turned on ‘most of the time’ or ‘always’ whilst playing the game. More significantly the success of Pokemon Go wasn’t down to the AR, but a multitude of factors (many of which were cultural) that I will spare you from debating here.
For me, Snapchat Lenses remain a far stronger example for AR. This technology is used by millions daily, even if the users don’t know or care to know that this tech is part of something called Augmented Reality. Facial overlays seem to be the most prevalent successful use of AR technology. This type of AR experience is neat for makeup brands or spectacle sellers but, obviously, has limited uses.
It’s the augmentation of objects into the real world in front of you that feels like the opportunity for a broader array of uses, but one that has been touted for some time. Maybe this year we’ll see brands really crack this opportunity through some hit applications. Markerless technology (a potential barrier to a slick experience) continues to improve and the digital recreation of assets for an AR world (perhaps the biggest cost here) may be something that a brand bites the bullet on or finds a more efficient way of doing, which could lead to a significant AR success story with business-changing returns.
Microsoft’s HoloLens exists as a unique outlier. Currently, it is available for developers but not for the public (which isn’t necessarily a problem – see my point on VR adoption). AR via a headset rather than through a phone, combined with the possibility of interaction and scalability of augmented objects that pushes this into the realm of ‘Mixed Reality’. This is ‘where it’s all going’. As future-gazers like to say, Mixed Reality experiences, like AR experiences, point to a potential for mass adoption far beyond VR because of the nature of the experience. The availability of the HoloLens platform, perhaps years before this technology truly develops on a larger scale, stands out as an obvious opportunity for brands to gain first-mover advantage and take a leadership position with a tech-powered experience for their customers.
What should brands do this year?
- Suspend disbelief and imagine the ultimate experience your brand could deliver, whether that’s practical or fantastical. Can this technology be used to bring this to life?
- Work with VR/AR experts who have made the easy mistakes in the medium already and are pushing the boundaries with what is possible. Also look out for select content publishers with compelling, well-supported VR offerings.
- Look at building platforms for VR or AR experiences that allow for updating and repeat usage over time, rather than one-off short-lived ideas.
Have a question or want to discuss something more? Send us an email at [email protected]