Page 19 - Communicate

EVENT | Q1 2018

computing perspective. The average consumer
will be using a device where they can interact
with AR at a speed that’s seamless to their
experience.” That will dramatically change
the game in ways that are both foreseeable
(download an entire movie during your next
staff meeting) and in ways that are not.
4. But the tech isn’t the whole story. Perkins
likens the emerging tech to fire, which needs
three components to thrive: Heat, oxygen and
fuel. What AR and VR need to thrive – and it’s
only a matter of time, he says – are the tools
that allow creators to create without limita-
tions; distribution with minimal friction; and,
finally, the audience. “You can dress something
up with all the tech in the world, but if the
content isn’t great, it’s just not going to be
great,” he says.
There’s a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg
problem in that it’s hard to make great content
without an audience, and hard to build an audi-
ence without great content. In time, some say,
the tension will resolve itself.
“We almost adopt without knowing it,”
says Wiseman, who points to Google Home and
Alexa as examples. “We’ve now had tens of
millions of consumers who have bought what content across the entire USA Today Network, example, can help customers adjust behaviors
we consider a smart speaker… and demystified says Gentzel. and ultimately save them money.
it for the consumer.” AR is similarly going to “In this first inning of virtual reality, the
flourish on a device we’re already using “when partners and brands we’ve been working with, 2. Insurers get in on the action. Historically,
it enhances an experience we’re already doing we’re the ones together inventing what an ad insurance companies’ main relationship with
but not doing enough,” he says. product can be in this space,” he says. “There consumers has been reminding them to pay their
aren’t standards for ads in the virtual space bills or coming to the rescue when something bad
5. Meanwhile, it’s the Wild West for brands. yet.” To the early birds, then, go the worms. happens. Smart homes present those companies
In streaming video, brands understand who’s with the opportunity to forge deeper ties with
watching and what they’re watching, but they THE CONNECTED HOME their customers, says Jennifer Kent, director
don’t really know for sure where the audience’s Greetings from CES, where the rain has broken a of research quality and product development
attention is: “It could be on the screen and they 116-day drought and the strippers are robots. Ad at Parks Associates.
could be off brushing their teeth,” says Perkins. Age spent the day with leaders in tech and market- “Think, for instance, about the types of
“In [VR], I know exactly where they’re looking, ing to talk about what’s next (and what’s never) in damage that can occur from a fire or from
every tenth of a second” The data, of course, the world of connected homes. water,” says Kent. “There are connected sen-
is randomized and anonymized. But, brands Some highlights: sors that can detect if there’s a water leak and
that have a piece of content in the virtual space 1. Smart home? Not quite yet. Compared to a smart water shut-off valves. A lot of insurance
will know whether it gets seen and, ultimately, few years ago, our homes can do some interest- providers are heavily researching whether or
if it was effective. ing things. More people use smart devices to not providing these devices to consumers, or
Already, Gannett is finding that audiences control lighting and temperature, our toasters offering discounts, or getting them to better
are more engaged with branded content in the can send a notification when breakfast is ready. maintain and proactively control what goes on
virtual space than they are with standard video. But that’s still kid stuff. in the home can lower the cost for insurance
While that might be chalked up to the novelty “In a lot of ways, the smart home is kind of providers and also provide a new way to engage
factor, the publisher believes there’s an oppor- dumb right now,” says Ted Booth, user experi- with their consumers.”
tunity for brands to forge a deeper connection ence design director at Honeywell Connected
with an audience – if the content is good. Home. “To get really smart, that’s about the 3. Smart cities will be a bigger topic of conver-
Kevin Gentzel, chief revenue officer for data analytics, the AI, all that kind of stuff.” sation. As the number of smart homes begins
Gannett’s USA Today Network, points to a The systems need to get more robust and reli- to swell, they’ll need cities with the infrastruc-
360-degree branded video his team created able, he says. ture to support them. A full 70 percent of the
for Google’s Nest that put the viewer inside a And now that the novelty of some of the world’s population is expected to be living in
burning home. The video, published in Octo- tech has worn off, the next area of focus will cities by 2050, according to some estimates,
ber 2016, was the most-viewed piece of video be comfort and security. Smart thermostats, for so governments will need to innovate around

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