Kayak is using augmented reality to help travelers measure their luggage. The new bag measurement tool will tell users whether a bag is likely a carry-on or if it should be checked.
Anyone who has been asked to check a bag after they already boarded a flight knows the pain and embarrassment of not having the right-sized luggage. Kayak is addressing this common problem with technology that adds novelty to the “carry it on vs. check it” deliberation.
“There are a lot of AR applications that are fun but this one was designed to be truly useful for travelers,” Kayak chief technology officer Giorgos Zacharia said in a press release.
Kayak’s new AR bag measurement tool, added on Tuesday, is currently available only to iOS users. It was developed during the company’s “SWAT Week,” an annual engineering competition that challenges employees to rapidly design and develop new ideas.
Users can access the tool from the Kayak mobile app. Once opened, users will be prompted to scan the floor to help calibrate measurements, then move the camera around the bag. The AR tool captures the bag’s exact measurements, then recommends whether it qualifies as a carry-on or not.
If the bag is deemed too large for a carry-on, the app automatically compares check baggage fee policies so users know what to expect.
The AR tool continues a trend of Kayak’s try-it-before-you-buy-it-with-technology strategy. In June, Kayak launched a VR app for Google Daydream that lets travelers “visit” a location before booking. The app launched with 360-degree views of Venice and Kathmandu, inviting users to explore the locations with onscreen information or an audio tour.
Kayak continues to invest in technology so it can stand out in the growing travel industry. The brand uses AI to assist its customers through Facebook Messenger, Google and Alexa and says it will continue to invest in a variety of technologies.
Casual Connect Asia 2018 Location: OCT Creative Exhibition Center (OCT Design Museum) Date: Nov. 12-14, 2018 Attendees: 1,200 gaming professionals Speakers: 150 executives and experts Indie Prize Showcase: 120 games
Organized by CGA with the support of host partner iDreamSky, Casual Connect is coming to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area China with its annual Asian event. At Casual Connect Asia 2018, you’ll have unlimited access to the meeting system to network with games industry professionals like yourself. All attendees get access to three days of lectures, official networking parties, and 120 of the world’s best indie games with developers. The venue will also feature a large expo area where you can talk one-on-one with industry-leading companies.
“China is now the world’s biggest game market. Being co-host of Casual Connect China, our intention is to build the bridge for the international game industry to learn more about Chinese culture and bring in more high-quality content for the Chinese market,” said Michael Chen, CEO of iDreamSky.
For Developers
More than 1,500 developers apply to Indie Prize during the year and judges from throughout the games industry select the most promising games to participate at international Indie Prize showcases during Casual Connect conferences. Submit your game for the international Indie Prize Asia 2018 scholarship program before Sep 10, more details are in the submission form. Join industry leaders as an established developer with developer showcase or support this great event as a sponsor with 50 percent off Gold, Silver and Bronze.
For Funding Publishers
Sign up for a Publishers Pitch and review 40 of the world’s best indie games during a three-hour pitch on Nov. 12. Get more exposure at the expo area with a booth or meeting table with 50 percent off Gold, Silver or Bronze sponsorship packages.
New Delegation Package
CGA has recently launched a new program that will make it simpler for government and non-profit organizations or just a group of up to 10 developers to join Casual Connect with a special delegation package rate.
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Casual Connect brings together the most talented and knowledgeable experts in the gaming field to further the industry with the best learning and networking opportunities for gaming professionals since 2005, four times every year. See the full schedule of Casual Connect events for 2018 here.
ID Comms has released its 2018 Global Media Trading Report—the seventh and final study as wave one in the 7Ts Global Research Project. The two-year study examines media behaviors of successful marketers across the world in seven “Ts”: Transparency, Talent, Training, Terms, Thinking, Technology and Trading.
When it comes to media trading, marketers agreed that while it’s easy to purchase cheaply, it’s more challenging to buy well. Cost-focused behavior, the respondents added, is somewhat led by media auditors and client requests for lower prices. Media trading must balance quality and price but the quality is more important, marketers said in the report. A majority of respondents—88 percent—agreed that advertisers who treat media as a quality buy rather than a commodity buy are at an advantage.
“We need to go from treating media as a commodity to be much more of a quality buy because agencies were just being incentivized to buy cheap media,” Stéphane Bérubé, CMO for Western Europe at L’Oréal, said in the report.
The disconnect between advertiser and agency priorities is apparent in ID Comms’ findings, particularly in what each group classified as the most indicator of successful media trading.
A majority of respondents classified “business results/ROI” as the most important indicator of successful media trading in 2018. However, 68 percent who did so were made of advertisers, compared to 32 percent of agency respondents.
The importance of financial transparency was especially disparate, with 91 percent naming it a top measurement of success compared to only nine percent from agencies.
Different opinions were also found between respondents in charge of procurement and marketers, especially when it comes to whether a media plan dictates the buy or vice versa.
Overall, participating marketing professionals agreed that traditional media auditing is less relevant in an age of digital auctions and hiring the best talent is a challenge shared by all.
Conducted over a two-week period in January and February, ID Comms received 130 responses from marketing, media and procurement professionals located in Europe (75 percent), the US (15 percent) and the remainder in other areas of the world.
Samsung will debut a new ad called “Made It” during the 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards that celebrates the achievements of its spokeswoman, Emmy-nominated actress Issa Rae.
The ad highlights Samsung’s products during the creative process while subtly promoting the Samsung Galaxy Note9.
“Made It” follows Rae’s seven-year journey from uploading her first episode of Awkward Black Girl on YouTube to watching it go viral, signing her first contract, appearing on magazine covers and onto the set of her hit HBO series Insecure. The spot features every moment of the journey being aided by technology, i.e. Rae’s Samsung phone, ending with a Galaxy Note9.
“Issa is proof that with the right technology in hand, brilliant minds are forces to be reckoned with,” said Jesse Coulter, chief creative officer for Samsung Electronics America.
Rae, along with other creators including Taiki Waititi, starred in a March spot called “Make It Yours.” This new ad, Samsung explained, is a spiritual successor.
Samsung says its goal is not only to celebrate Rae’s Emmy nomination but to “inspire makers at large.”
The technology brand references a “Do What You Can’t” spirit, encouraging creators to get out there and try regardless of the consequences, saying “make it until you make it.”
A behind-the-scenes look at the new spot appeared on Samsung’s website and the video itself debuted on YouTube Monday morning. Within its first few hours, “Made It” had been viewed over 11,000 times.
Samsung reported a drop in profits for the second quarter, citing slow sales of the Samsung Galaxy S9. To combat a “challenging” second half of the year, the company said it would respond through the early introduction of the Galaxy Note and competitive mid- and low-end models with new features.
While the “Made It” spot highlights the benefits of technology for creative consumers, Samsung may experience even more challenges in the years to come. The company is being sued for a Note9 that allegedly exploded in a woman’s purse, resurrecting the PR nightmare of exploding Note7 units.
For the world at large 1961 was a big year. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, the US established the Peace Corps and Disney released its first live-action musical film, “Babes in Toyland.” Yet among these accomplishments, one event should stand out to marketers in particular: the introduction of the term “marketing science.”
Marketing science is the use of data, analytics and scientific processes to fuel marketing decisions, combining quantitative metrics with a qualitative, human-powered approach to marketing. The term was first established in 1961 through the founding of the Marketing Science Institute, a nonprofit that funds academic research in the field.
Since that time, marketing science has evolved to incorporate new technologies and practical uses, such as pulling data from social speech to understand consumer interests and using browser history to map out a clear customer journey. With these insights at their fingertips, marketers can more accurately target consumers and build more personalized messaging at scale.
Still, the question remains: How will marketing science continue to grow, especially now that technologies are advancing at a rapid rate and data is more accessible than ever before?
Here are three marketing science innovations that are expected to change the game for marketers going forward.
Location Intelligence
Location intelligence, gathered from geocodes in mobile and desktop devices, can help brands better understand consumers’ interests and behaviors based on their current and past locations. They can then use these insights to more precisely target users as they research products and make their purchasing decisions. For example, if a restaurant brand sees that a consumer leaves home during dinner time, the brand can target them with an ad for their establishment.
Take location data provider Skyhook Wireless. The company used location intelligence to gather unique insights into the behaviors of Patriots and Falcons fans during Super Bowl LI. They found clear distinctions in dining, shopping, and even gasoline preferences for each fan group. For instance, Falcons fans ate at Arby’s and fueled up at BP and Shell. Meanwhile, Patriots fans got their grub at Chipotle and Dunkin’ Donuts and pumped gas at ExxonMobil. With these insights, brands can build fan-targeted ad campaigns and increase engagement.
Location intelligence is growing. Spending on this strategy is expected to reach $16.34 billion by 2021—nearly doubling from $8.20 billion in 2016. In fact, at the end of 2017 three location data providers (CARTO, Blis and Factual) announced third-party integrations with advertising and analytics platforms—all within one week.
Image Source: Dresner Advisory Services 2018 Location Intelligence Market Study
Breaking interest down by industry, Dresner Advisory Services’ 2018 Location Intelligence Market Study found that manufacturing and retail companies are most eager to gather intelligence at the province and state levels, financial and government organizations want to gather intelligence by postal code and telecommunications companies are focused on country-based insights.
Location intelligence can provide value for brands across industries, whether they want to connect offline behavior with online behavior or send targeted messaging at just the right place and time.
Motion Targeting
What if you could gauge when someone is driving a car, stopped at a light, lying down, on an exercise bike at the gym, or walking in a hurry—based just on their mobile device?
Consider this. Brands may send targeted ads to mobile users, but what if mobile users aren’t actually on their phones when the ad arrives? They could be targeting devices when they’re idle on the table. It would be more efficient and cost-effective to activate ads when a user picks up their phone, goes for a walk or is already active on their device.
Motion sensor technology can determine when a device is in motion, opening up a whole new world of data for marketers and fleshing out an even more comprehensive picture of each customer. If brands can know when someone is viewing their ad in real time and where they are (using location intelligence), they can gauge the best times to deliver ads and follow up with retargeted messaging.
For example, motion-based analytics company Velocity provides this capacity.
“Velocity uses motion sensors in smartphones to identify a user’s movement and gauge the type of activity they might be engaged in,” an announcement stated. “Using this real-time data, the firm can determine if a user is standing in a line, lying on a couch, a passenger in a car or train, or any number of other activities, enabling advertisers to reach their targets at precisely the right moment of receptivity.”
Publishers have already begun selling ads based on time spent on page, and they can determine whether a reader is idle or not based on mouse and keyboard movements. Marketers must now take a similar approach to gathering mobile data if they want to spend and target more efficiently.
Personality Marketing
You’d think personality would be too arbitrary or subjective to measure. It’s not as concrete a data point as age, location or interests. But new technology enables marketers to analyze nuances in social speech, which can be direct indicators of personality.
From these social cues, brands can extract actionable insights into consumers’ personalities and preferences. They can then cluster and target users based on their personality type. For example, if social speech indicates that a customer is compulsive, the brand can push an expiring coupon to that user and trigger a purchase.
Brands across the world are beginning to use personality marketing to build more engaging campaigns and drive measurable results. Just look at New Balance. The shoe brand launched targeted ads to consumers who exhibited pre-set emotional receptivity signals. As a result, their campaign drove a 135 percent increase in awareness.
The Future Of Marketing Science
“Marketing” and “science” may seem like polar opposites. One is associated with the Don Draper era of whiskey-fueled, off-the-cuff campaign slogans and the other with hard facts, test results and sterilized laboratories.
But the truth is that they go hand-in-hand, each feeding the other to get to the heart of what people want and how they behave.
As Byron Sharp, Professor of Marketing Science at the University of South Australia, said: “This idea that marketing can’t be science, as if marketing can’t work in the real world … It’s an important part of the real world so we can study it just like physicists, geologists and anyone else by simply getting out of our ivory towers.”
In fact, he believes that science is crucial to creativity. Once marketers truly understand their customers based on data, they can use that data to build more innovative and engaging ads. And yet we’re only just seeing the beginning of this approach unfold. As new technologies emerge—such as location intelligence, motion sensors and personality targeting—marketing science should continue to grow as a discipline and change the industry in unprecedented ways.
For three days, Verizon is hosting an AR Snapchat game, giving players a chance to win the new iPhone XS. “Score the Phone” is a play on words that lets you create a track out of music loops collected from the environment.
Verizon is taking advantage of the hype surrounding Apple’s conference this week by offering Snapchat users a chance to win one of the new phones. From September 14-16, Snapchat users can play a game called “Score the Phone,” collecting augmented reality representations of music loops.
Once a user has opened the game, it encourages them to look around their environment to find music loops. Represented by different colors and animation, each virtual music loop represents a genre of music like Dance, Hip-Hop, Electronica, Dub, etc. They were designed to create an interactive representation of both the genre and song from which they were pulled. Tracks include music from SZA, Daya, Borns and more.
Users can preview and collect three of the music loops and a “super loop” to create their own unique mixes. The mix can be named and submitted for a chance to win one of 150 iPhone XS smartphones from Verizon.
Integrating music into the game makes sense—Verizon is currently offering six free months of Apple Music to its unlimited data plan customers as part of a new relationship between the two brands.
“This first-of-its-kind offer is just the first step in an exclusive partnership with Apple,” Angie Klein, the carrier’s VP of marketing, said in a press release.
Verizon has invested heavily in building its 5G network and plans to roll out the service in three to four US cities next month. The brand is enticing customers to sign up by offering a free Chromecast or AppleTV, as well as three months of YouTube TV.
Emerging mobile markets are being driven by low-cost Android devices and falling data prices, according to the 2018 GSMA Mobile Trends Report. Alongside new technology like IoT and 5G, brands now face the challenge of a mobile-only consumer and those in non-English, low-income areas.
Lower Cost Fuels Mobile Adoption
Global smartphone adoption will reach 80 percent by the year 2025, GSMA predicts, with the highest concentrations in North America and Europe.
GSMA notes that a range of Chinese OEMs, mostly running Android, are driving lower data costs. In developing countries where fixed broadband is not an option, the high price of mobile access has prevented widespread adoption. Nigeria has experienced the most significant drop in monthly data bundle costs, from nearly four percent of a consumer’s monthly income in 2012 to just under one percent in 2017.
Mobile-Only Is The New Norm
As mobile usage reaches its peak worldwide, growth will shift away from adoption to internet access. By 2025, GSMA predicts that nearly three-quarters of the global internet base will be mobile-only, meaning that they do not access the internet from PC or any other device.
The GSMA predicts an increase in the attachment rate—mobile users also using the internet—from 65 percent in 2017 to 86 percent in 2025.
Half of that growth will originate from just five countries: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan, with the rest clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.
“The more nuanced challenge,” GSMA says in the report, “will be how to engage and retain customers that are mostly young, lower income, non-English speaking, and lack access to services taken for granted in western countries (banking, health, education).”
Make Way For 5G
An estimated 1.36 billion 5G consumer mobile connections will exist by 2025, driven by a small number of countries. China will represent the largest 5G penetration, more than double that of the US, and has already been a test bed for applications in automotive, drones and high-tech manufacturing.
The key issue will not be whether 5G works, GSMA warns, but whether consumers and B2B clients understand how it solves a problem.
Faster speeds will certainly be a selling point, but the real opportunity lies in AR/VR immersion—the technology of which is “not there yet,” the report points out, with monetization also in question.
Despite the hype surrounding 5G, LTE will remain the foundation for operators for at least the next decade. In fact, GSMA predicts that LTE will increase to 57 percent of total connections in 2025.
Interested in checking out MWC Americas in Los Angeles Sept. 12-14? Email us (editorial@alistdaily.com) and you might just get a ticket. First come, first served.
Mobile World Congress Americas has taken the place of the formerly named Super Mobility, but this year’s attendees can expect more than just a name change. In partnership with GSMA and CTIA, Mobile World Congress Americas comes to Los Angeles with its sights set on a new crowd. Unlike its Barcelona counterpart, Mobile World Congress Americas is more focused on B2B than the latest phone models. In addition, moving the event to L.A. has created a hub for entertainment giants to learn and share insights with one another.
Rebranding and renaming the event has been a challenge but GSMA has coordinated with the local Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Mayor’s office and local institutions like UCLA to help spread the word about Mobile World Congress Americas.
“We’re lucky because we’re a global organization with a brand reputation of being non-profit,” said Reed Peterson, senior vice president of GSMA and head of Mobile World Congress Americas. “That helps in terms of marketing and promotion. For us, it’s all about being a force for good. That level of support and branding and recognition across the globe is a great foundation for building this event.”
Peterson said it was this attitude that has helped GSMA market the rebranded event and attracts participants. In fact, Mobile World Congress Americas was born out of this mission, as GSMA realized there was a need for a larger mobile-centric event in the region.
Last year, the event drew approximately 21,000 attendees to San Francisco, compared to over 100,000 in Barcelona. It may be a smaller event in terms of attendance, but GSMA sees tremendous potential for Mobile World Congress Americas—especially once they bring the event to Los Angeles.
“A lot of people recognize L.A. as a media capital of the world but may not understand it’s also a leader in technology and engineering,” explained Peterson. “The fusion of innovation and the entertainment industry makes for a perfect hotbed to build this event. Mobile World Congress Americas has an emphasis on content, media and entertainment driven out of L.A. and West Coast innovation.”
Despite its name, Mobile World Congress Americas is still very much a global event, Peterson explained, with over 1,000 exhibitors representing nearly 20 countries worldwide. Unlike its Shanghai and Barcelona counterparts, however, this event will focus on B2B innovation.
Mobile plays a significant role in advertising, which makes Mobile World Congress Americas a prime location for a meeting of the minds. The CMO and Digital Marketing Conference takes place on September 13 and will feature speakers from tech giants like Google, Facebook and Sprint as well as automotive, journalism and hospitality. Four panels covering topics such as ecommerce and personalization will take a hands-on look at how brands are integrating mobile into their advertising strategies. Some of the CMOs speaking at the conference include Boingo’s Dawn Callahan, iHeartMedia’s Gayle Troberman and the LA Rams’ Ronalee Zarate-Bayani.
“The media industry is converging with mobile—you see that with a lot of acquisitions and mergers,” said Peterson. “The biggest challenge that we have in this industry is working well in that convergence. Working well so that everyone benefits.”
Mobile World Congress Americas will take place September 12-14, 2018 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles. In addition to mobile service providers and hardware manufacturers, exhibitors at the event will represent a wide range of markets from entertainment to automotive. For more information on the Mobile World Congress Americas exhibition, click here.
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About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organizations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Mobile World Congress Americas and the Mobile 360 Series of conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.
About CTIA CTIA represents the U.S. wireless communications industry and the companies throughout the mobile ecosystem that enable Americans to lead a 21st century connected life. The association’s members include wireless carriers, device manufacturers, suppliers as well as apps and content companies. CTIA vigorously advocates at all levels of government for policies that foster continued wireless innovation and investment. The association also coordinates the industry’s voluntary best practices, hosts educational events that promote the wireless industry and co-produces the industry’s leading wireless tradeshow. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C.
Yesterday reports surfaced that Amazon is busy developing a new ad-supported streaming service that it will package in its Fire Stick streaming devices, according to a report from The Information. Rumors of an Amazon-branded AVOD service have been floating around since 2014, but the company has always denied the claims. While Amazon has yet to confirm or deny this most recent report, a free ad-supported service would strengthen the company’s push not only in the US but in India as well—a country that not even Netflix has been able to successfully infiltrate.
Amazon already has a presence in India, but it’s a small one. The company has only been able to attract around 11 million subscribers in the nation. While this number puts it ahead of Netflix, which has just five million subs, it places it far behind Hotstar, the leading service in the country with more than 75 million subs. Hotstar’s growth has been driven by a mix of two things: its library of locally grown content and its hybrid pricing model. The streamer offers consumers a free version of its service as well as a subscription plan if they choose to upgrade, though most don’t. Only two or three percent of Hotstar subscribers actually pay for the service, according to a report from the global industry analysis firm Counterpoint.
So far, Amazon and Netflix have been reluctant to ditch their current pricing models in the country, which has hindered their growth. In 2013, the median annual income in the country was $616, according to Gallup. To spend a chunk of that yearly income on entertainment that can be found elsewhere (and for free) is something that most aren’t willing to do. Take Netflix for example. According to Counterpoint, approximately six percent of subscribers in India pay for the service and the rest (94 percent) take advantage of the ‘free first-month’ trial through multiple credit and debit cards.
But now with Amazon reportedly in the process of launching an AVOD service, the company has an opportunity to more effectively convert the 1.3 billion people living in India to loyal customers—if it decides to take the service there.
However, according to sources that spoke to The Information, the free service, which is dubbed Free Dive, will only be available for free to owners of Amason’s line of streaming hardware (Fire TV, Rire Sticks, etc). This could be an issue in India where a majority of consumers stream content from their mobile phones. However, just as Roku has made its AVOD service available outside of its own streaming devices, Amazon could choose to do the same.
A brand’s attitude toward GDPR compliance is directly linked to a commitment to customer experience, the CMO Council found in a white paper released on Wednesday.
The survey discovered two schools of thought, which the CMO Council divided into “leaders” and “laggards.” While Leaders see the opportunity to secure trust, loyalty and experience, Laggards assume GDPR is someone else’s problem. In fact, 39 percent of this group did not feel GDPR applied to them.
Among those deemed Leaders, however, 55 percent had already initiated some form of data audit to fully understand how customer data was stored and collected.
“There was an overwhelming commitment that the organization needed to or had already conducted a data audit to understand where data was coming from, how they were aggregating and collecting that data and how they were securing and using that data in a responsible manner,” Liz Miller, senior vice president of marketing at the CMO Council told AList. “In a world where you have to know all those things in order to be GDPR compliant, the fact that there were marketers who had yet to engage in any of those audits was a bit startling.”
Some marketers assume GDPR doesn’t apply to their job, Miller speculated, but what other data the company has gathered would actually be beneficial.
“The reality of today’s business ecosystem is that far too often, marketing looks at data in its own silo,” said Miller. “Yet when it comes to customer experience, customer data is actually being aggregated, stored and utilized for the purposes of customer engagement in a multitude of different places [finance, marketing, etc.]. When marketing only looking at marketing data, not only is the richness of the customer experience sacrificed, that’s often where you are going to miss the mark if you try to comply with something as broad as GDPR.”
While it may come as a surprise that so many marketers avoided GDPR wherever possible, Miller doesn’t blame them. After all, she noted, the marketing stack is far more complicated than it was when she began her career.
“We are in this age where our jobs have gotten exponentially more complex,” she noted, “because the way our customer expects to engage with us in order to have a useful relationship demands that we are in charge—knowing how the tech stack relates to engagement and the rest of the organization.”
It may be understandable why so many respondents choose to avoid GDPR compliance and hope for the best, but Miller noticed a direct connection between this attitude and a commitment to customer experience.
“If you have an organization that [creates a task force around GDPR], you will also get an organization that firmly believes and is committed to the idea that customer experience isn’t just a marketing, sales and service deployment,” said Miller. “Customer experience is something that everyone in the organization has to be committed to—it’s not just a marketing scenario.”
