1. 2019 trend report.

3. 10 trends we’re watching.

4. Intro.
Remember Blade Runner? The future predicted by the
classic sci-fi, 37 years ago, is 2019. Yes, the 2019 that you
and I live in, this year. Although the film's predictions of
flying cars and artificial humans is a little bit off, there are
a few things that Blade Runner got right: we talk to our
computers (voice assistants), and we see those huge,
flashing digital billboards everywhere we go
(highly-targeted ads).
Do you find that fascinating? We do.
At Rehab, we've been partnering with top tech and
consumer brands like Google, Nike, Estée Lauder and
HBO to combine advancements in technology with step
changes in human behaviour. We focus on user intent
then rapidly prototype, test and iterate concepts to
innovate around the brands’ original products and
services. Keeping an eye on both human behaviour and
technology is integral to our business so we thought we
would share a quick snapshot of just some of the things
we’re looking at for 2019.
Recent technology breakthroughs, such as natural language
understanding and image recognition, have already shown
businesses a whole new world of possibilities. However, last
year’s data breach incidents and GDPR are making users
demand that organisations give them control over their
personal information and provide more transparency in how
their data is being used. All of this makes the outlook of 2019
exciting, yet challenging, for business leaders, brand marketers,
heads of product, experience designers and solution architects.
We believe the trends covered in this report are among the
most critical for businesses to consider in getting ready for the
year ahead. We aren’t trying to make any predictions; these
trends are based on user behaviour, industry insight, and the
technologies that we see tech firms and top brands
experimenting with and implementing. In other words, any
trends that are on the horizon, but might not be worth your
sleepless nights in 2019 aren’t included.
We hope you enjoy reading it. Most importantly, please get in
touch to let us know what you think.

5. An AI-powered world
01
If AI is the new electricity, the ‘privilege’ of using AI is no longer reserved for big
companies with huge resources. If you have clear business goals, machine learning
models could help improve your operational efficiency, provide personalised
content at scale, and reduce customer support costs.
But good AI depends on good data. 71% of B2B marketers say they haven't
implemented an effective process to improve their data quality, so "poor AI
outcomes” remains the biggest challenge for many brand and business owners
who’ve started to bring AI techniques into their businesses.
AI isn’t a magic wand. Techniques like machine learning are simply using statistics
at speed and scale. Research has shown that companies that focus on human and
machine collaboration create outcomes that are two to six times better than those
that focus on machine or human alone.

6. 01
Inspirations
Zocdoc an online platform that allows individuals with health care needs to make
more informed choices, with verified reviews and instant appointment booking. With the
mission to optimise health care data and help patients, Zocdoc uses learning algorithms
built using the TensorFlow framework to match patients and doctors more efficiently
and shorten the average wait time for new patients from 24 days to 24 hours.
Toutiao the Chinese news platform with an average of 120 million daily users, uses AI to
source and curate their daily news stories. They have a vast and diverse user base, and
with a daily read of 1.3 billion articles and average consumption of 73 minutes a day,
Toutiao has double the daily views that BBC Online has globally. Without its
machine-learning algorithm, it’s quite impossible for Toutiao to provide personalised
content for each user.
Implications
It is still easy to dismiss AI as a complicated and alien tool that can only be used by large
companies and understood by computer scientists and data experts. However, cloud
services for everything from natural language understanding to visual search to
dedicated processing for machine learning models put access to the latest AI
technologies within reach of every business.

7. “ As much as the hype has
overstated what AI might do for
marketing in the next 12-24
months, the reality of how AI is
already working in marketing
today is often
under-recognised.”
— Scott Brinker, HubSpot
What does this mean for your business?
● What data and which services are unique to
your business? How could AI better help
strengthen your business positioning?
● Which part of your business process could
be automated? How could your employees
be freed from repetitive tasks and focus on
what’s important?
● Do you have a list of AI-assisted tools that
would be useful to encourage collaboration
between teams, divisions or even regions?
What’s your approach of sourcing
cost-effective AI software that can be easily
integrated with your existing system?

8. 02
Second phase of voice
Four years after Amazon announced the first Echo device it’s estimated that
almost a quarter of US households have a smart speaker in their homes, giving
a reach of some 58 million adults. Around 8% of people in the US got a smart
speaker in the 2018 holiday season alone, and two thirds say they wouldn’t want
to go back to life before their smart speaker.
The second phase of voice sees the smart assistant—Alexa, Assistant, Siri, or any
of the other competitors in the market—move into more devices, and the
smart speaker become the hub of the smart home. An increasing number of
household devices will gain enhancements from a cloud-powered smart
assistant. Some will be powered by a built-in microphone and voice-processing;
others will only need a connection to a smart speaker to have commands
relayed to them, giving voice control to otherwise “deaf” products.

9. 02
Inspirations
An ‘ask Alexa’ button on the new AmazonBasics microwave connects the device
to your smart speaker—skipping the device’s own user interface. Press the button,
say “reheat a cup of coffee”, let the cloud calculate the timing required, and wait
for it to finish.
Google Assistant Connect is a new platform that adds Assistant compatibility to
many other connected devices. In keeping with their Thoughtful Home ethos, the
platform was shown off with some discreet and discrete e-ink displays.
Implications
The smart home has been promised for years, but it looks like what customers
needed to make the breakthrough was a way to reduce the complexity of
managing it. Voice control is fast becoming a customer expectation, and may soon
become a requirement. And it won’t be limited to smart speakers, but a feature of
any number of satellite household items.

10. Source: Voicebot Assistant Consumer Adoption Report 2018
28.1% of voice assistant use
takes place outside of the
‘big three’ contexts (phone,
smart speaker, and in-car).

11. “ The shift of voice beyond
smart speakers and early
versions for smartphones is
in full swing. Smart
speaker adoption will
continue to grow at a
rapid pace, but the new
action is already shifting
to other surfaces. ”
— Brett Kinsella, Voicebot.ai
What does this mean for your business?
● How could you remove friction and improve
convenience with consumer electronics or
services in the home?
● Does your product capture information that
could be useful to the users, even if it’s not
traditionally digital?
● If you could get live feedback from how your
product is being used, what new
opportunities could that information
unleash from a product and service
innovation point of view?

12. 03
Smart everywhere
After smart phones: smart watches, smart headphones, and smart cars.
There are increasing numbers of surfaces from which to access internet
services, from your home, your car, and around your body. In particular,
smart earphones (or ‘hearables’) is a category expected to expand greatly
this year as dedicated chips make it easier for new products come to
market.
It’s all a move away from the phone screen and towards an ‘atomic
computer’, where actions are invoked from different devices as appropriate;
for example, glanceable messaging notifications on your wrist, getting
directions read out in your ear, or gaining new knowledge while you drive.

13. 03
Apple’s AirPods put Siri a single button-press away. From playing music to
composing emails to finding opening hours, the smart assistant in your ears
becomes a truly personal assistant. Earphones with buttons for invoking assistants
were prevalent at this year’s CES.
The Echo Auto is a small, inexpensive add-on that brings Alexa to your car. It’s
powered by the cigarette lighter port and connects to your phone and car stereo
using Bluetooth.
Implications
The smart assistant is breaking out of phones and speakers and becoming a
system to manage your memory, identity and history across all the different
contexts in which you accessing information and internet services—in your home,
in your car, and on your body. Users will expect the brands and services they
interact with to be smart about understanding those contexts too.
Also beautiful case 2 picture here

14. “ The end goal for all the
major technology players,
from Amazon to Apple to
Google to Samsung, isn’t a
smart speaker in every
home; it’s a smart assistant
everywhere, in everything. ”
— Peter Gasston, Rehab
What does this mean for your business?
● If it’s true that people will rely more on
assistants to get more things done, how will
you drive customer satisfaction as a brand?
● If AI assistants can make product or service
suggestions based on our usage patterns,
predicting our preferences with better
accuracy through time, how will brands
guarantee customer retention?
● How would your approach to marketing
change if consumers trust assistant
recommendations over your advertising?

15. 04
Conversational commerce
Although more than two in every five voice assistant users have tried voice
shopping, it’s yet to take off significantly—most purchases have been for
entertainment and low-cost everyday goods. However, conversational commerce is
about more than just voice and shopping. Conversational interfaces are being
successfully used for customer service, breaking complicated functions into simple
steps, and using natural language to allow richer interactions. This creates
opportunities for brands to support consumers in a more convenient and
personalised way.
Half of shoppers would like to use voice shopping in-store, although there are
limitations still to be overcome, not least noisy retail environments, and customer
reticence to authorise payments on voice-only devices. But technology gives
retailers the ability to offer a useful and individualised experience to each shopper,
remembering their profiles and playing back preferences through smart data
usage.

16. 04
Argos were the first bricks-and-mortar retailer in the UK to launch a voice
shopping service, late in 2018. Their click-and-collect service is a bridge between
online and offline shopping, bringing a voice assistant to smoothen consumers
experience at purchase.
Nike Coach talks to runners to better understand what gear they’re looking for
and guide them to more relevant products. This is a useful way to aid the
consideration process, and data can inform future product recommendations. As
of January 2019, purchase conversions by users of Nike UK’s website who got
recommendations from Nike Coach were higher than by regular users.
Implications
Conversational commerce should be considered by brands looking to increase
purchase convenience with a quicker more effective way for shoppers to buy or
provide additional value with personal support. With an increasing number of
surfaces through which customers can interact with brands and services, there’s
an increased expectation that every previous interaction will be remembered and
used to provide more informed recommendations.
Source: Nike Coach Data analysis 2019

17. 05
The ease with which consumers can switch to different brands and products is
another challenge for marketers already facing shrinking budgets and rising
acquisition costs. Because of this, more and more brands are re-evaluating the
effectiveness of their investment in their most important asset— the customer
relationship.
Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the most critical metric for any relationship-savvy
businesses. It is a measure of customer profitability over time, rather than just a
single transaction.
The process of calculating CLV makes it possible for brands to identify their most
valuable customers and focus on serving them better than anyone else can. In
addition to making marketing more effective, CLV could also positively impact
different element within a business, from promotions, financials, R&D, sourcing to
product design.
Customer lifetime value

18. 05
Inspirations
Electronic Arts were traditionally a packaged goods company with no visibility
into their customers. Now they apply CLV thinking to every key business decision,
using the data of customers who have shown the greatest increase in lifetime
value to inform new games and modes of gameplay.
Amazon the king of customer service, pays close attention to driving CLV. It’s
estimated that Kindle owners spend about 56% more than other customers per
year buying from Amazon. This valuable data enables Amazon to efficiently
compete on price and continue to increase its CLV on more than 100 million
paying Prime subscribers through a wide range of new services.
Implications
Less than a quarter of respondents from Criteo’s marketer survey believed that
their company was monitoring CLV effectively. This is mainly due to the siloed
nature of organisations when customer data is not shared across business units.
But data-savvy brands are taking initiatives to continue increasing the lifetime
value of their customers.

19. “ Rather than focusing only
on [the physical] product, you
would want to figure out what
you could do for your most
valuable customers. What
products and service should
you offer to enhance the value
of those customers, and where
can you find more customers
like them? ”
— Peter Fader, The Wharton School
What does this mean for your business?
● Who are your most valuable
customers? Do you know how to
identify them?
● How could your brand focus more on
creating personalised and
differentiated experiences to serve and
retain your VIP customers?
● Do you have the information needed to
apply a simplified CLV formula?
○ Initial cost of customer acquisition
○ Annual revenue contribution per
customer
○ Annual direct costs per customer
○ Average customer retention rate

20. 06
Trust: rebuilt
For years, data has been the cash that customers didn’t know they were spending—and
now they want their change. In an age of data breaches and fake news, where people
lend their time or stuff for a five-star review and a payday, trust has to be earned.
For brands, the remedy has always been to placate, posture and position. In 2019, they
need to consider the fundamentals of their conduct and be prepared to change,
quickly, before customers go elsewhere. And they will, because they have choice.
People aren’t just more vocal, they are more educated and better protected. GDPR
makes businesses accountable for their data practices, and the tools people use every
day—from web browsers to social networks—are exposing the untrustworthy.
Brands have an opportunity now to put people in full, transparent control of their data.
‘Trust’ could soon be a factor for AIs making purchase decisions, and startups are
already circling the opportunity to step in and manage personal data on users’ behalf.
Before you know it, you might have lost out on the chance to deliver any message at all.

21. 06
Also beautiful case 2 picture here
Inspirations
Traditional Media are striking back—both The New York Times and The
Guardian saw their digital revenue outstrip print last year. As trust in social
media wavers, media incumbents are gaining subscription revenue (which
impressively now makes up 60% of the NYT’s total revenue) to establish
credibility in quality content. With tech platforms like Facebook and Microsoft
looking at new ways to protect users from bad information, this is the battle to
watch in 2019.
Hu-manity.co is one of many startups using blockchain technology (from IBM, in
this case) to give internet users ownership and control of their data, positioning
that ownership as the 31st fundamental human right. Hu-manity.co encourages
internet users to claim their data as their property by joining the movement.
Implications
Consumers are now almost conditioned to distrust, so how can brands stop that
Pavlovian bell from ringing? Be transparent, empower your customers to guide
you, and when you screw up: admit it.

22. “ We are experiencing a
fundamental paradigm shift
in our relationship to knowledge.
From the ‘information age’,
we are moving towards the
‘reputation age’, in which
information will have value only
if it is already filtered, evaluated
and commented upon by others. ”
— Gloria Origgi, author
What does this mean for your business?
● How could you bring greater transparency and
better tools into the experience to make your
customers feel in control of their data? Are you
making it easy for your customers to see and
manage the data you hold, and how it’s used?
● Data scientists are redefining (and making
measurable) the intangibles of brand value.
What could you be doing to activate and
modernise the reputation you have
commanded in the past?
● Today, businesses big and small are starting to
understand the importance of standing with
their customers on the issues that they care
about. How could you take action to help
further those causes, and call for others to do
the same with inspirational, educational and
engaging content?

23. 07
Today’s consumers hold all the power when it comes to interacting with brand
experiences and making purchase decisions. Some companies still outsource
their diversity and inclusivity challenges rather than integrate them as core
values, but we see signs of this long-fought battle being addressed more
seriously. Designing for inclusion from the ground-up means happy users,
excellent designs, and no later costly retrofits.
Inclusive design and cultural diversity are becoming more prevalent in business,
to the extent that it’s now a selling point on recruitment pages. More businesses
are taking part in programmes like (encouraging young voices and
diverse point of view in creativity) and (promoting equal
opportunities for everyone from returning mothers to people of colour). These
services make it easier for businesses to address the core challenges of
designing for diversity and inclusivity and encourage them to tackle these issues
upfront.
Diversity and inclusivity

24. 07
Inspirations
Google Assistant voice choices have assigned colours rather than gendered
names, avoiding the issue of gender stereotypes and ensuring that equality is
baked in to the experience.
Huawei’s StorySign uses computer vision to read selected children’s books and
translate them into sign language, helping deaf children learn how to read.
Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller is designed for gamers with limited
mobility—even the packaging is carefully considered. Microsoft inclusive design
principle is 'solve for one, extend to many’.
Implications
Not designing for inclusion means designing for exclusion. We should always
being asking ourselves: who is being excluded from your product, service, or
message? Which research methods and design approach could we use that
would allow us to better understand and address different audiences’ needs
and behavioural preferences?

25. “ Inclusive design is based
on the simple principle that
designing for the widest
range of people creates
better designs and benefits
everyone. ”
— Sensory Trust
What does this mean for your business?
● Bias is invisible and harmful. How can you assess your
business for potential bias, understanding that what
you’re designing may not be applicable to everyone?
There are many tools or services which can help you
find out where your business might be falling short in
D&I, for example The Other Box.
● Encourage your team to reflect and understand your
customers; form it as a group ritual. Otherwise, your
work can turn obsolete rather quickly as it is not
fulfilling the needs and demands from people.
Personas aren’t real users.
● One way to tackle the challenge of
under-representation is to involve your target
audiences and end-users throughout the design
process.

26. 08
From the addicting effects of infinite scrolling to the harms of comparison culture,
technology’s effect on our wellbeing had pretty bad press last year. But chastened
technology giants are changing their attitudes, and a growing number of people are
turning to tech to improve their physical and mental health.
The latest versions of Android and iOS introduced digital wellbeing tools: monitoring
time spent in apps and giving controls to limit that time; better management of
notifications; and ways to wind down before bedtime and improve the quality of
sleep.
Globally, spending on health and fitness apps, from physical workouts to guided
meditation to virtual medics, grew 300% between 2016 and 2018,
And younger people, born into a world of social media, have led the way to new,
healthier online behaviours such as ephemeral sharing and groups and communities
based on shared interests.
Digital wellbeing

27. 08
Inspirations
Google’s Digital Wellbeing initiative includes a dashboard
that shows the time you’ve spent on your Android phone, and
controls to let you limit time spent in apps, manage
interruptions, and wind down to bedtime. iOS, Facebook, and
Instagram all rolled out similar tools—a recognition of the
responsibility they hold.
Guided meditation apps Calm and Headspace were voted
first and third ‘most happy’ apps by 20,000 iPhone users, and
ranked in the top 10 apps by consumer spend in the UK last
year.
Implications
‘Time spent’ often isn’t the best metric for engagement—tech
apps and services shouldn't be addicting for the sake of it.
Brands that create tools to help people improve their physical
and mental wellbeing will create better long-term
relationships with their customers.

28. 09
More than a third of the global population have used voice search, with 77% of
US adults using it at least monthly and 46% at least daily. They like that it’s
faster than typing, and leaves their hands free. Google’s history in search makes
Assistant the leader in answering questions, but Amazon and Apple have
invested heavily to improve their voice search results.
Visual search, powered by machine learning, lets customers use their cameras
to find visually similar products—especially useful for finding items or patterns
that are hard to verbalise. Computer vision has seen incredible improvements
in the past few years; Google Lens recognises more than a billion products, four
times what it could a year ago. Visual search was the new technology voted by
18 to 34-year-old internet users (62.2%) to be most likely they’d be comfortable
with as part of their shopping experience.
New ways to search

29. 09
Inspirations
Google say 81 million how-to beauty searches were made on YouTube in 2018, and
they launched a special partnership wit Sephora to display their full range of
makeup tutorial videos on the Home Hub accessible through a series of custom
voice commands.
Fashion brand Forever 21 added visual search to its app and within a month saw
an increase in sales conversions and average purchase value. Other brands using
visual search include ASOS, H&M, and Amazon, whose Part Finder lets customers
search for screws and fasteners they otherwise might not be able to identify.
Implications
Helping customers find your content and products becomes even more important
when there are so many new ways to search. Brands and businesses have to be
clever in their use of structured data for products on websites, in making social
and media content that clearly matches user intent, and with using clear and well
categorised photography.

30. “ As computers start to see
like we do, the camera will
become a powerful and
intuitive interface to the
world around us; an AI
viewfinder that puts the
answers right where the
questions are. ”
— Aparna Chennapragada, Google
What does this mean for your business?
● More so than traditional web search, voice
search is frequently used to get a definitive
answer than to request more options.
What information does your website
contain that could be useful for answering
these knowledge-based queries?
● Smartphone cameras can capture
meaningful information, and provide
valuable context, about your users’
behaviour. How could you use this
information to provide an enhanced
product or service experience for your
target audiences?

31. 10
Google and Apple continue to extend augmented reality (AR) capabilities on
smartphones, and Snapchat and Facebook’s app family have democratised
mass-market AR creation. Smartphone AR is great for augmented selfies, enhanced
‘mirrors’ (especially for cosmetics brands), AR stickers in messages, and quickly
snapping enhanced and shoppable posters. But holding your phone at 90° isn’t
comfortable or convenient enough for extended use.
The full potential of AR will be unlocked by headsets or glasses. HoloLens was first
to market, and Magic Leap made its long-awaited debut last year. Challenger
brands such as North and Vusix have more limited but less bulky headsets in
market, and a new brand called Nreal promises high quality in a pair of glasses you
might actually want to wear.
There’s still a long path ahead for AR, but big steps are being taken.
Extending reality

32. Inspirations
Sephora’s Messenger Camera Effect offers a selection of five looks that
customers can virtually try on before they buy. It’s an extension of their Virtual
Artist service available through their app and in-store ‘magic mirrors’.
Nike’s SNKRS AR camera turns print advertising into digital pop-ups, restoring
culture to digital commerce. Snapchat rolled out its Shoppable AR Lenses to
creators in 2018, later adding partners such as Adidas and L’Oreal. Shoppable AR
“seamlessly blends real-world charm with digital world convenience”.
Implications
The phone camera is an input as important as the keyboard or microphone, and
rich live visual effects are made real with dedicated firmware libraries and
hardware for visual processing in newer smartphones. While AR may never fully
take off until we have specialist headwear, virtual mirrors and shoppable posters
are an indicator of a major future component of the post-mobile software
platform.
10
Also beautiful case 2 picture here

33. “ You sell 100,000 shoes?
Great. But if all 100,000 kids
who bought them are
sitting at home clicking a
button, there’s no culture
there. Only commerce. So
the key to success for the
future of Nike and the
future of sneaker culture is
to be able to seamlessly
blend real-world charm
with digital world
convenience.”
— Jeff Staple, Staple Design
What does this mean for your business?
● Augmented reality bridges the physical
and digital world in a way the web hasn’t. It
can be used to add real-world culture to
your digital products and services.
● The rear-facing lens can add information to
the world around us. What does your brand
offer that can enhance what a user sees
when they look outwards?
● The front-facing lens is as much a mirror as
it is a camera. How can ‘selfie mode’ show
off your brand or products in a way that
puts the user at the heart of the picture?

34. Report Contributors. About Rehab.
Rehab is a creative technology agency. We help
brands build innovative digital experiences and
products that put people first. We are committed
to establishing a way for technology to have a
positive impact in business and society. The
company has been honoured with numerous
industry awards including the Emmy, Deloitte
Technology Fast 50, Digiday and Cannes Lion
awards. If your looking to use technology to give
your business an unfair advantage and you want
to start exceeding your customers expectations,
get in touch.
Peter Gasston, Richil Cheng,
Camille Bourdier, Rosie Copland, Ed Hallam,
Claire Medcalf, Gordon Midwood,
James Penfold, and Piers Wingfield Jones.

35. ENDS.