Changing Face of Digital Communication

The changing face of Digital Communication Past, Present & Future

What we’re going to cover in the next 40 minutes…

My digital life 10 years ago!

The catalysts for change

Prosumerism

Convergence

Connectivity

A little glimpse into the future of digital communication

Central and Eastern Europe TEQUILA Düsseldorf – Germany TEQUILA Hamburg – Germany TEQUILA Moscow – Russia TEQUILA Munich – Germany TEQUILA Poznan - Poland TEQUILA Tallin - Estonia TEQUILA Vienna - Austria TEQUILA Warsaw - Poland TBWA Bratislava - Slovakia TBWA Bucharesti - Romania TBWA Latvia - Lativa TBWA Ljubljana - Slovenia TBWA Prague – Czech Republic TBWA Sofa - Bulgaria Northern Europe TEQUILA Amsterdam – The Netherlands TEQUILA Brussels – Belgium TEQUILA Dublin – Ireland TEQUILA Helsinki – Finland TEQUILA London – UK TEQUILA Manchester – UK TBWA Copenhagen – Denmark TBWA Oslo – Norway TBWA Stockholm – Sweden TBWA Videvita – Lithuania Southern Europe TEQUILA Barcelona - Spain TEQUILA Bologna - Italy TEQUILA Istanbul - Turkey TEQUILA Lisbon – Portugal TEQUILA Madrid – Spain TEQUILA Milan – Italy TEQUILA Paris – France TEQUILA Roma – Italy TEQUILA Zurich – Switzerland TBWA Athens - Greece Represents TEQUILA offices Represents TBWA offices

Advertisers in the UK now spend more money per person on digital communication than any other country, at £33m.

Twice as much as France, Germany and Italy combined.

At 14% of total communication spend in the UK we’ve overtaken magazine advertising for the first time and Digital Communication spend is more than the total spend on outdoor, cinema, and radio advertising.

I’ve seen Digital change exponentially in the last 10 years:

More widespread adoption

Advances in hardware & interfacing devices

The volume of digital communication I receive

The rise of internet technology since I graduated has transformed the way we communicate with each other.

Staying in touch with friends in other countries has switched from hand-written letters that could take weeks to arrive to e-mails and instant messages exchanged in nano-seconds.

When I graduated 10 years ago I had access to the internet via a 56k dial-up modem

I could have downloaded a 2 hour movie (approximately 800mb) in about 36 hours if my computer didn’t crash!

Today I have broadband.

I can download an 800mb movie file in under 10 minutes.

I was the proud owner of a Nokia 5160…

I was the first of my group of friends to send a text messages!

Today I own a Blackberry Bold 3G Smartphone

I can browse the internet using Wi-Fi

I receive all my emails directly to my phone

I watch video

I play music

I’m constantly connected to the rest of the world!

10 years isn’t long in this industry!

Have a look at this video & ask yourself… does this have the possibility to become reality?

A quick recap of the last 10 years of the internet… and a baffling look at what might be yet to come!

Search for Prometheus on YouTube to watch the full movie.

What & who have been the catalysts for change?

The days when a newspaper owner confined himself to the printed word and the broadcaster was content with his tv-screen output are long gone.

10 years ago television programmes were watched only on television screens, radio shows heard only on the stereo and telephones were just for conversation.

These boundaries are now gone.

“ Like many of you in this room, I’m a digital immigrant … my two young daughters, on the other hand, will be digital natives . They’ll never know a world without ubiquitous broadband internet access…”

“ We may never become true digital natives , but we can and must begin to assimilate to their culture and way of thinking.”

Rupert Murdoch, April 2005

Three months after he made this statement News Corp bought Intermix Media, the owners of MySpace for £332.85m

The catalyst for change was starting.

Rupert Murdoch's empire combines newspapers, film production studios, television channels, websites and much more

The ‘Prosumer’ has been born! Everybody is an advertiser now… We talk about products proactively… We choose what communication we see… We influence the changes we want…

The term was first coined in 1980 by futurist Alvin Toffler in his book The Third Wave as a blend of producer and consumer. He foresaw a time when consumers would become involved in the design and manufacture of products, so they could be made to individual specification.

Traditional methods of e-commerce will change to adapt to the new world. I’ve been using the eCommerce space for ten now and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve seen the first online merchants go live, the first price comparison engine launch in the UK (Kelkoo), and research and review sites gaining a foothold.

The industry itself has continued to grow and expand as more web-savvy customers come along, start spending more, and feel more confident buying all manner of more expensive goods from clothing to cars. In the UK, sales are up 36% on last year and generating over 4 billion pounds per month, with apparel accounting for nearly 15% of that. * * Forrester Research

So the question for me is: “what is the ecommerce world going to do over the next few years and how can we take advantage of it?” .

In answer to this, I’ve listed a few trends I’m watching in particular and considering how to relate these to the business…

Social Bookmarking & Sharing of Products: We’ve seen examples of this at places like Kaboodle where users clip things they’ve seen on the web and then can share those lists and discuss them with others. In theory, we could offer this functionality to people who wanted to produce shareable lists of outdoor adventure gear, although the jury is still out on how many people use this type of feature on a regular basis.

Virtual Dressing Rooms: Which is getting very Boo.com like but also makes sense. Sites like Zafu let you tell it your size and then it shows a 3d model of you and issues personalised recommendations. Could work perhaps for outdoor clothing.

User Generated Content: There’s lots of research around showing how ecommerce reviews help people make buying decisions that translates into a conversion rate uplift - and this can be standard reviews, product videos (hundreds on YouTube), and even Q&A sessions. Of course, I have to mention CrowdStorm at this point but also the ReeVoo people who provide this sort of content.

Getting the Basics Right: Which is probably the most important of them all, from having the ability to contact a physical person in multiple ways (email, skype, phone, live online chat), having a really usable and enjoyable site, and a smooth checkout process.

Better Delivery Options: Whilst not as exciting, have a lot of future innovations coming up which should really make this a better experience. Night time deliveries, ability to pick-up products from multiple drop off points and return them, paying a membership fee each year to get exclusive delivery options, and being able to choose times within 30 minute windows.

Digital TV… “T-Commerce”

For the average consumer, the phrase "Digital TV" conjures up images of crystal clear pictures and ear-popping sound. In actuality, however, the new technology promises more than just enhancements to the audio-visual experience -- it will allow a greater and more diverse population around the world to participate in the Internet Age.

Digital TV will do far more than show television in a digital format. The term actually describes a series of interrelated technologies that will allow television to become interactive, so that viewers can play along with game shows, get information from the Internet as they watch a show, or buy a vast array of products and services online!

The implications are enormous. E-commerce companies will finally be able to reach consumers who are unable or unwilling to buy a personal computer. E-commerce will also turn the TV into an instant procurement machine.

Talk about impulse buying. You're watching your favourite TV channel and admire a product on the show. With a few clicks on your TV remote, it's yours. A handful of digital networks, and not just the shopping channels, are testing technology that will let TV watchers buy without leaving their sofas.

So-called t-commerce is expected to be available to some cable and satellite customers within the next year.

T-Commerce will work like ordering a cable pay-per-view or video-on-demand (VOD) movie. Shoppers press a button on the remote to select an item and toggle through such choices as size, shipping address and payment.

The Third Screen & Convergence Devices

In the last 10 years analogue has made way for the networked Digital world

‘ The Third Screen’ is the biggest change in Digital Communication in the last 10 years…

‘ The Third Screens’ are your mini-digital devices such as a mobile, iPod or PSP.

Users can connect online anywhere and at anytime and with anyone.

Did you know that traditional media such as posters, POS and DM can link people directly online via their mobile device?

Type QR Code into Google > Kaya Reader / Writer!

It has brought with it many opportunities for digital communicators to find ways to develop more engaging relationships with audiences.

Type Augmented Reality into Google!

By 2010, Londoners will be using their Third Screens on the underground.

Plans to install transmitters that will also allow access to wireless internet and digital radio are already being moved into BETA.

By 2012 we will be able use the Third Screen to make payments, buy products, check in, and travel, just by waving the phone in front of sensors.

Your Third Screen is your total convergence device.

Seach for Haptics on YouTube to see more examples!

By 2015 4G will be widespread.

4G is the upcoming standard that will give you a wireless connection at 100Mbit/s, anywhere. That' more than 30 times faster than the best DSL connection you can get at home.

What about these future digital communication devices?

Search for Post Office telecommunications on YouTube

Search for Nokia Morph on Google to find out more!

In the next 10 years we predict the funnel will turn & our many networked digital devices will start to converge!

The UBIK device.

The foldable phone, gaming device and multimedia player will be available to consumers as early as 2010.

The device is constructed of two shells that double as screens both inside and out

It’s an interactive book…

An interactive movie player…

A digital radio…

A mobile phone…

Your wireless digital set-top box…

Your TIVO…

A powerful gaming device…

It’s fully internet ready…

Even the way you read the morning paper is about to change.

The recent launch of Kindle - Amazon's new palmtop reading device will change the way we buy and view books.

… but it’s kind of ugly & clunky… how about something more like this…

Search for Digital Paper on YouTube to see more examples.

By 2010 Free e-books and magazines will contain targeted, contextual advertising…

Authors will be hired by companies to ensure product / advertising placement is a factor of the magazine or story creation process!

The next Harry Potter will be sponsored by Adidas & you’ll be able to buy the trainers he’s wearing in the book with one click from your Third Screen.

So what about other marketing communications?

By 2012 Retail signage networks will adjust promotions based on changes in local weather conditions. Fact.

Streets will have interactive kiosk-catalogs that are database-driven from centralised e-commerce sites. Fact.

Any advert will be activated by a predetermined condition (time of day, weather… gender?) to broadcast the right content at the right time.

Digital communication is getting smart!

A billboard located at the street corner is watching you.

A camera is embedded in the billboard and a computer analyses the people who pass by it.

It tells the advertiser how many people walked in front of the screen, turned to face the ad and how long they looked at it.

It reads your gender with an accuracy of 85%, so men and women will each see different ads.

Search for Adobe Interactive Billboard on YouTube to see more!

In the next 10 years ads themselves are going to be engineered to obtain information on audience, with data from your Third Screen immediately fuelling message customisation!

Where traditional hoardings – flapping paper promoting outdated products – once stood, digital adverts are now watching you watching them.

What do we think?

Frightening or exciting?

… and how about reaching out & touching a tactile Digital Communication??

Minority Report from Warner Pictures. Tom Cruise courtesy of the Church of Scientology!

More Science Fiction?

Think again.

Search for Minority Report Interface on YouTube to see more!

That’s just a prototype… it’s going to be decades before commercial a implementation…

… Right?

Search for Interactive Windows on YouTube to see more!

… and we’ve been doing it for over a year with our Third Screens, just on a smaller scale!

Search for Haptics on YouTube to see more!

To me the biggest change in Digital Communication in the last 10 years has been peoples vision.

Imagination has driven innovation.

The possibilities don’t seem to have boundaries & we can achieve all the things the science fiction authors sold to us as dreams.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... All progress depends on the unreasonable man.“