Wearables are a very hyped-about market right now. They constituted a considerable amount of the products unveiled at CES this year. It speaks to a larger trend– a very vague conception that we can imagine right now, but only just: the Internet of Things.
As we hurdle forth into a future in which the Internet of Things becomes more and less tangible at once, Google sees a reimagination of daily life already happening. “Connected life” platforms, of course, are emerging quickly and smartphone personal assistance like Siri and Cortana are becoming increasingly smarter about your context and intent.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Eric Schmidt saw beyond: “I will answer very simply that the Internet will disappear.”
Brands like Audi are no longer seeing personalization as a marketing gimmick. Audi is using VR to get customers to configure the cars they want.
Of course, Schmidt doesn’t mean to say that the Internet will actually disappear, but it will change to become virtually unrecognizable as we see it now.
“There will be so many IP addresses… so many devices, sensors, things that you are wearing, things that you are interacting with that you won’t even sense it,’ he goes on to say. “Imagine you walk into a room, and the room is dynamic, and with your permission and all of that, you are interacting with the things going on in the room.”
Brands are only just wading into these waters and what these new platforms or decidedly non-platforms mean for the future of marketing, when everything feels like it’s changing so fast that it is hard to stay agile. But as technology moves to become more personalized and feel less like an obstruction and more like a convenience or even a necessity, so should marketing, too.
“Today, people expect to get the answers and services they want, customized precisely for them, in the exact moment that they want and need it — and there are many of these moments,” says Alan Eagle, Director of Executive Communications at Google.
“But in 2015, it won’t be enough to make life easier in just these moments. The winners will be the ones who use all the information at their disposal to learn and continuously improve so that the next experience isn’t just as good as the last but better.”
