THIS CONCERNS YOU... 2017

Welcome W

elcome to the third edition of This Concerns You and another insightful and entertaining look forward to the world of technology and innovation in the Out of Home (OOH) space.

Until recently, OOH was thought of as a passive medium with static posters pasted on a board and remaining unchanged for two weeks, oblivious to the weather, time of day or shifting news stories.

Now we have an ever-increasing range of active, dynamic, full motion screens which deliver contextually relevant messages to a targeted broadcast audience - it’s a transformational shift in a short space of time.

We’re all connected now too, so our journeys themselves are also active rather than passive. We might be on social media, checking emails or browsing and purchasing online and the opportunity to interact with brands has never been greater.

OOH reflects this and has become interactive too. Our own CEE app technology allows consumers to interact with posters and receive rewarding content from both static and digital posters – you can see how it works for yourself in this magazine by downloading the app.

Thanks also to transformative technology like Meshh, we are able to

offer consumers high speed connectivity and high definition content in key locations like bus shelters, shopping malls and taxis – a potentially game changing development.

OOH has always been visually stimulating but it’s become so much more than that now. Virtual Reality is helping brands to bring their products to life away from the store in the OOH space. Artificial Intelligence, facial and voice recognition also allow poster sites to send targeted messages to individuals or groups of individuals in real time based on the actual consumers passing by at the time.

Not only will OOH become even better at targeting and engaging consumers to promote products and services, it is also playing a role in doing some good in the communities it serves. Marketing generally and OOH specifically has a huge opportunity to give something back.

OOH is without doubt the most vibrant, dynamic and fast-developing medium and now is great time to be in the industry and for brands to use the medium. I really hope you enjoy the issue!

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Stuart Taylor CEO UK, Kinetic Worldwide @sstuarttaylor #ThisConcernsYou

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Inside 03. ZEITGEIST 04. Stuff we love 06. What is a city but the people Editor Christy Johnston on why this year’s edition is all about the city of the future 07. The dawn of living cities Celia Romaniuk argues for a design-led approach to building our future cities

11. THE CITY

12. Yesterday’s tomorrow A look at what the future looked like in the past 14. Is the future above or below ground?

17. Track to the future TfL’s John Pizzamiglio on how London’s transport is evolving for the benefit of citizens and brands 20. OOH | beyond screens 24. Arora Disconnected Kinetic Active’s Rosh Singh’s takes us into his horrifying future vision of a dystopian London

27. THE CITIZEN 28. The changing meaning of time and space The continued deregulation of how we spend our time and the opportunities this shift presents, by Tom Johnson 31. Connected citizen Kinetic Active's Dominic Murray on the ways technology will impact how you interact, shop, work and move.

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34. From the lab to the streets How ready are we for the next wave of innovation?

36. Emergency, is there a marketing director in the house? Kinetic's Richard Jacobs asks if your brand is ready for a world of new responsibilities.

NEW 39. THECONTEXT 40. Broadly Speaking The argument for targeted broadcast and OOH’s unique ability to deliver it 42. Trigger happy | Introducing active journeys 44. OOH: Technology’s playground Need to know technologies for now and the near future 46. Will the impact of AI and IOT on our society be a cause for optimism in 2017? IBM Watson’s Phil Westcott on why the benefits to our society are vast

49. ENHANCED REALITY 50. A blended future Take your OOH to the next level 53. Art, tech and architecture Be inspired to change the face of your city

57. interview 58. Kim Monney’s had a lot of experience working in start-ups. What has she learned?

Zeitgeist

Our cities are changing faster than ever before. They are now living laboratories as more people have the access and ability to experiment and invent in increasingly creative and connected ways.

ZEITGEIST

The Internet of Moving Things: Start Up Veniam transformed the cars, taxis, buses, trains and boats of Porto into mini-mobile towers to create a reliable network of rechargeable points generating free WI-FI for the city and citizens.

Teleportation steps out of sci-fi and into virtual reality: Microsoft’s Holoportation lets users appear in the same physical space, communicate and interact as they would in a normal face to face interaction, but in reality they are only brought together holographically. It’s pretty mind blowing.

Projection mapping magic: Looking to go beyond using buildings as the primary canvas for projections, a team at Tokyo University have developed a technique that enables projection mapping upon moving, loose and dynamic surfaces.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqiTwYVZJzQ

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Award-winning helmet brings AR to cycling: Integrated front and rear cameras combine with sensors to deliver a real-time view of entire surroundings, potential hazards and ride stats in this prototype designed for the future rider.

Language barrier is a barrier no more: Using neural network technology, Microsoft’s The Translator has mastered the ability to translate live in-person conversations with up to 100 speakers in 60 languages.

Will light be the next way we transmit data?

An Edinburgh company is working to change the way we connect and receive data by adapting the lights in our homes, offices and on our streets.

Purelifi technology uses the output of LED lights to transmit data at high speeds in what they say is a more secure system than Wi-Fi.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACM2I94Mld8

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Mixed reality, sustainable food, connectivity and communication are just some of the areas that have benefited from some seriously clever iteration over the last 12 months. Here is a selection of the most interesting ideas, prototypes and technologies that caught our attention. Follow the Ahead of the Curve blog on our website for regular updates.

Shared VR as a powerful storytelling tool: The Generation Beyond project took school kids to Mars inside a traditional yellow school bus with some magic windows. You need to see it to appreciate it how amazing it is!

Imagine if you could grow fresh plant-based foods regardless of the climate or season. MIT’s Open Agriculture Initiative is developing an open source library of climate-controlled recipes that can be downloaded and used by anyone, anywhere for sensor-controlled hydroponic and aeroponic agriculture systems.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5JTb_7qv78

openag.media.mit.edu

Create 3D drawings on anything, or nothing: Google’s Tilt Brush means anyone can create VR art. By tracking movement in a confined area, the app lets you paint in thin air with luminous colours and numerous brushes. You can even step inside or walk through your creation once finished.

How to save a city from sinking? Move it: The entire city of Kiruna, Sweden is currently shifting 3km east to ensure its future safety. And it’s managing to retain its identity and keep residents happy in the process. Here’s how:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TckqNdrdbgk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKvqJ05AsPY

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What is the city but the people C

ities are where it all happens. Where people are condensed, where OOH is at its most dense. It is in cities we witness change at accelerated pace. And it’s why this edition of This Concerns You is all about them, what they will look like in the future and how we will live within them.

Cities have always adapted and evolved to meet the needs of contemporary citizens. The layering of the new upon the old is not a modern phenomenon, but the speed and breadth at which this layering is occurring is unique to now, and of interest to us.

Innovations alter expectations around convenience, service and access. The more we are exposed to a tantalising future filled with useful technologies and new experiences, the more normalised transformative change becomes, even before it arrives at accessible scale.

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An amount of innovation fatigue is understandable. Not every hyped product or service will change the world and many are too easily seduced by the new, but equally too many are reticent to experiment at all.

Improving our collective understanding of new technologies and evolving consumer expectations will ensure we develop better products and better campaigns. And in a world full of clever algorithms and new tech we must also be vigilant in reminding ourselves that at the end of all this new stuff is a human being.

Christy Johnston is Kinetic’s marketing content director and editor of This Concerns You‌ @ceeejae

Technology is already influencing how our cities are built and operate, but Fjord’s Celia Romaniuk urges us to put the tech to one side and focus on what really sits at the heart of every city: the people, their experiences, and how they live together.

If you were asked to list the

UK’s most future-ready cities, then London would most certainly be at the top of the list. Yet surprisingly, Bristol is ranked second and is well on the way to overtaking the capital within the next few years.

The Bristol is Open project is already seeking to incorporate networked technology with the places in which an increasing number of people live – apartment blocks, smaller homes, or within communal settings. It’s no wonder, then, that Bristol is set to become one of the smart cities of the future and sets a precedent for what cities across the globe can achieve.

Smart cities are frequently talked about across industries, and as designers we like to flip the concept

on its head. We put the technology to one side to focus on the real nucleus of these cities: the people, their experiences, and how they live together.

“A good city is a vast organism that brings people together in ways that are not necessarily always comfortable” What makes a good city?

Good cities are vibrant and fun.

They’re exciting and dynamic, not always predictable, nor completely safe all the time. A good city is not one that resembles a museum or a showroom, but is instead a vast organism that brings people together in ways that are not necessarily always 7

ZEITGEIST

The R50 Baugruppen cohousing project in Berlin Photography by Noshe​

comfortable. They offer a range of experiences. They are alive, dynamic and constantly changing.

For designers, the interesting question is how you can build on the richness, diversity and life of the city with the technology now available to us. It’s not about building a smarter, more efficient or more seamless city, but rather one that pops with life.

It’s about tailoring it to foster vibrant relationships and dynamics between people, whilst also supporting a wide range of experiences. We call this ‘Living Cities’.

A design-led approach to cities At Fjord, we practise humancentered design, which is an approach to opportunities or challenges that places people at the centre, considering them in their contexts. For example, when we work with a client to transform the mortgage offer for their customers, we put those customers at the core of our enquiry and envisioning: what problems do they face? What do they hope for? What 8

could make their lives better? When we think about how to improve digital technology for employees, we spend time understanding what employees need at work, but also what it means to be an employee in the present day.

This gives us an excellent platform from which to generate ideas and solutions that address the heart of our clients’ problems.

“It’s a case of starting small to understand the big, to always consider the next larger context” Building together When applying this concept to cities, some of the most interesting models in city development are being successfully deployed not just by architects and developers but by designing alongside the people whom the spaces are for. For example, the Baugruppen project in Berlin is a model of citizen-led development.

Architects there led participatory workshops to involve the future residents closely in the design of the building. This is unusual given the cookie-cutter approach often applied to development, but has had great success and now accounts for 10 per cent of the buildings in Berlin. This is a model that would be wonderful to replicate elsewhere.

Designing beyond individuals As 20th century FinnishAmerican architect and industrial designer, Eero Saarinen famously stated, it’s a case of starting small to understand the big, to always consider

the next larger context: a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in a city. Cities are an area where this sense of the larger context really comes to the fore. So, by keeping people at the heart of the mission, how can we understand the wider focus when designing for cities? Beyond the individual, are the interactions that occur between the many city dwellers.

The richness of this interaction is one of the defining characteristics of a city.

Therefore, it is key to consider how we can harness design to maximise this richness.

Designers are also taught to value the qualitative, sometimes

intangible, sometimes sensory or emotional aspects of a solution. This is why we care about the details: how something looks; how it is made; a singular colour and how all these factors impact people. Because it is not just about solving the problem, but adding tangible value to a business, and ultimately the world, that’s important.

As is stated in our 2017 Fjord Trends report, “everything that is created requires something else to be changed, destroyed or depleted. And the ramifications are everywhere to see.” Designers - and city planners - must be aware of the unintended

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ZEITGEIST

consequences when designing with cities in mind. This kind of approach may turn some initial assumptions on their head. Dan Hill, Associate Director, Arup, says: “Although Uber and Airbnb work well in cities, we can question whether they’re actually good for cities or not.” While they are convenient and useful for individuals, they can eat away at some of the systems and fabric that supports a well-functioning city and drive up house prices — making it impossible for families with children to afford living in good areas — and cultivate services that are designed for tourists rather than locals.

“Although Uber and Airbnb work well in cities, we can question whether they’re actually good for cities or not”

Designing with the future in mind We know that cities are more connected than ever before, but how can that be used to improve our cities? The latest Fjord Trends report also looks at the impact autonomous vehicles, smart homes, and the rise of AI will have on people’s lives.

In the future, for example, cars will transform from mere vehicles that transport us from A to B, where we at present can’t do much more than simply drive, to ‘connected mobile environments’ – making them extensions of our offices and homes.

The rise of autonomous vehicles will prompt a re-think of urban planning because of a decreasing need for public parking spaces.

case of “build it and they will come.”

Our attitude and position needs to change to: We’re here; let’s build it!

Celia Romaniuk is group design director at Fjord, design and innovation from Accenture Interactive which bring digital services to life by redesigning people’s relationships with the world around them. www.fjordnet.com

A more digitally connected society – and the rise of Living Services that transform how we live, work and play – are pushing us to revolutionise the way in which we build and design the spaces we live in. It’s no more a

Inside the Bristol Data Dome where real-time city data from Bristol is Open’s emerging network comes alive Visualisation by UrbanTide www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2dnXD1nHAU

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The City

As we envision and build our cities of the future are we creating the conditions for better living, travel and communication or are we so charmed by the convenience and sparkle of new tech we are ignoring their impact on humanity?

CITY

Radebaugh’s robot staffed warehouses (1953)

Yesterday's Radebaugh’s driverless car (1959)

17th century

TOMORROW F

Correspondence cinema (1899)

lying cars feature in almost every futuristic vision from the past.

From 17th century London when Robert Boyle (one of the founders of the Royal Society) described the art of flying right through to Hanna Barbera’s Jetsons cartoon of the 60s, it seems we can’t envision a future without humans taking to the skies in a major way.

While we may not all be flying to work yet, it’s interesting to see how many ideas from the past are finally becoming realities now. It’s

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also interesting to note that when researching this piece it became crystal clear that the inventions and ideas that succeed into the future are those that serve real human needs, delivering safety, convenience and improving quality of life.

We’ve selected a few of our favourite views of yesterday’s tomorrow.

3D printed suits from 19th century France

France’s connected flying future As the 20th century approached, no doubt inspired by the writing of Jules Verne, a group of French artists including Jean-Marc Côté set about predicting what life would be like in the year 2000. While obviously limited in their ability to think beyond the technological limitations and fashions of the time, they definitely captured our current shift towards automation and ubiquitous communication devices (along with flying cars of course).

City planning with citizens at heart In 1925 Popular Science magazine published drawings by architect Harvey W. Corbett that grappled with the challenges of increasingly crowded cities. While most at the time were predicting decentralised cities in the

Corbett’s 1925 human-centric plans for typical American city

future, Corbett insisted that the real future would rely on finding solutions to significant population and traffic increases. Because of this outlook, his designs put people at the heart of them, shifting traffic underground and people above ground. Imagine a central London with all public transport and freight out of sight!

Radebaugh's Closer Than We Think!

Comic series was syndicated across Sunday newspapers. With a heavy focus on domestic life, Radebaugh’s future included driverless cars, smart watches and drone deliveries. His work had a significant influence on how mid-century Americans visualised the future.

Golden age of futurism 1958 was the year NASA was founded; it was also the year Arthur 13

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Is the future above..

H

igher ground has always been attractive, providing security, refuge and vantage. This deep behavioural encoding still drives us. When we think of successful cities we see a skyline dominated by skyscrapers.

With the UN predicting that almost 70 per cent of us will be living in cities by 2050, space will continue to be a rare commodity. To maximise space in desirable, central locations we will increasingly live vertically. The race to the first mile high building is on, but what effect will this have on those who live within its walls and those who live under its long shadow?

At 828 metres Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building.

Designed by engineer Bill Baker, the structure is made possible thanks to an innovative, buttressed core with each section protecting and supporting the next. He believes that this system could be used to build a structure taller than a kilometre.

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It is hard not to envy those with panoramic views of their city, living high above the congestion below, but it does have its drawbacks.

Fierce wind vortices can develop as the air whips around a building at height causing it to sway. A resident living in a 45th-storey unit in New York talks of views of the Statue of Liberty but disconcerting waves in the bathtub during storms. In fact, an 80-90 storey building can sway over a foot in a weather event. The clockwise spiral of the Burj Khalifa stops the build up of vortices and reduces the impact on living conditions. Many tall buildings use dampers, essentially large pendulums, which sway in the opposite direction to counter the effect. Past fifty storeys outdoor terraces are generally impossible due to the

“More people in less space will push us to live above or below”

wind force and although the windows frame stunning views they can only be opened partially. The downside of living so high could be a detachment from nature.

We are now used to new builds including gym access and manicured gardens for residents. Benefits that suggest exclusivity and luxury but also soften the prospect of living in stacked concrete. Future builds - vertical mega-towns, will feature all the necessary amenities. A fleet of building owned share-cars will be available for residents and booked through an exclusive concierge app.

The prospect of dedicated heli-pads for drone delivery, in-house supermarkets

and social areas mean residents may never have to leave.

It is perhaps more the prospect of living an insular life rather than one at height that could be most damaging to us. However, studies have shown direct health benefits - people living above the 8th floor are 40 per cent less likely to die from lung disease and in general are exposed to less pollution.

The benefits of central, vertical living in the world’s greatest cities will always be desirable. We will adjust to living at height just as we did to living 10 storeys up or commuting underground.

..or below ground?

The answer is of course both. We are pushing further up and deeper below than ever before as cities right around the world, both old and new, grapple with the challenge of finding space where there is none. But what is the potential impact on our sense of community and health?

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CITY

London’s skyline has become a showcase for architectural innovation.

Mega-structures like The Shard and The Leadenhall Building twist and lean as they rise. These flourishes are also functional, required by law to maintain the protected vistas of the historical city.

In place since 2004 the law has protected views of St Paul’s from 13 points across the city. Similar legislation was introduced in San Francisco to prevent “Manhattanisation”.

In historical cities, the concept of "earthscrapers", large underground terraced living accommodation flush with natural light, is being discussed.

Lack of sunlight can negatively affect sleep, mood and hormone function but surrogate lighting solutions are now so advanced they can trick our systems. Control over air quality via filtrations systems can offer respite to those in cities increasingly afflicted by pollution.

With restrictions on aboveground construction, citizens and services are uncovering new opportunities underground. Maximising space, uncluttering our streets, making way for experiences not services, a new wave of innovators are maximising opportunities beneath our feet.

Growing Underground is London farm cultivating greens under pink lights in a reclaimed war bunker. Locally sourced produce with minimal carbon miles and maximum freshness is in demand by a network of wholesale, home subscriptions and professional chefs. The farm grows herbs and micro-green varieties using a system that cuts water use by 70 per cent and is served in a Michel Roux Jr. restaurant within four hours.

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“The impact on our behaviour and the disruption to current services is inevitable.”

Plans are underway in Amsterdam for an underwater bicycle storage facility with the capacity to stack 7,000 bikes out of sight in a network of subaquatic caverns near the Central Station.

Expanding cities across the world are seeking subterranean solution to their space problems but in the current economic climate not all are fulfilled. A science research facility planned in Singapore connecting 40 caves and housing 4,200 scientists has stalled due to its hefty price tag.

With more space to meet demand the cost of city accommodation can stabilise. Lower costs will allow cities to provide accessible public services that improve lifestyle and health. Helsinki for example has nine million cubic metres of underground ice-rinks, swimming pools and running tracks.

The pull of cities has not waned and our appetite for convenience and proximity will continue to drive migration to cities. More people in less space will push us to live above or below, as anything other means an undesirable commute. The environments we create will shape our future, the impact on our behaviour and the disruption to current services is inevitable.

Cities are built around transport systems and Londoners spend more time with theirs than most. So how is one of the world’s oldest evolving to remain relevant in an era of accelerated technological innovation? Transport for London’s John Pizzamiglio gives his thoughts.

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016 was some year, one that will live in the memory for a long time, and maybe not for the most positive of reasons. For the Out of Home industry in general though and for Transport for London’s media team in particular, it will be looked on as a true milestone – a tipping point – the year that OOH finally looked like living up to its digital potential. And that makes 2017 even more interesting, exciting and challenging.

“The London audience will remain one of the most valuable media audiences there is” Last year saw JCDecaux take over Transport for London’s bus shelter contract and begin to transform a large chunk of our nearly 5,000 bus shelters into a network that can challenge any media estate anywhere in terms of quality, flexibility, audience and return on investment.

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And of course our advertising contract for the Tube and all TfL rail modes was launched as Hello London, the revolutionary partnership approach with Exterion Media, which will see tens of millions of pounds invested in our media infrastructure.

Clearly Transport for London is not alone in investing in OOH infrastructure around London and the rest of the UK. But this investment – welcome and necessary as it is – arguably creates a new conundrum for this year and the years ahead. By definition, this outlay has vastly improved the standard of what is available and what can be done with the medium, but this improvement in standards means that what once was 'ultra-premium' is rapidly becoming the norm. Big, new and shiny is still good – but it’s not always enough.

Outdoor Plus began to develop a number of high quality large format screens on our underpasses around London, improving the large format opportunities in the city.

This year may also see a proliferation of screens on the streetscape, again with added value to the proposition this is a good thing, keeping the industry honest and giving clients more options to deliver creative and effective campaigns.

As we all know though, more screens do not automatically mean more money. Commoditisation is a real risk for 2017.

Our roadside estate is also being upgraded and rationalised under new partnerships with Primesight and JCDecaux, further enhancing the quality of roadside advertising in London.

I would argue however, that Transport for London can look forward to the year with anticipation and enthusiasm. Our customers, “The London Audience,” will remain one of the most valuable media audiences

there is and our continued investment, not just in media infrastructure, but also in the transport network, will enable better environments in which to engage and excite that audience. With our partners we will also continue to invest in more research, more insight and a more data-led understanding of how brands can gain real cut-through and traction with our tens of millions of customers every day.

In a pure transport sense, in 2017 we will continue to carry out one of the largest transport infrastructure programmes in the world to enable a healthier, more inclusive city and its growing economy. This includes introducing the first Elizabeth Line train into passenger service from Shenfield to Liverpool Street later this year. When the line fully opens at the end of 2019, it will provide a 10 per cent increase in the capital’s rail capacity, carrying more than 200 million passengers a year from Shenfield in the east to Reading in the west, slicing travel times through central London, connecting the City to Heathrow. This illustrates just one example of how our expanding network introduces expanding opportunities to our audience and the media marketplace, with a whole raft of new sites, formats and authentic media firsts.

“Commoditisation is a real risk for 2017”

“Big, new and shiny is still good – but it’s not always enough” Some of these new formats we know about. Some we will refine, discuss and develop over 2017. Maybe digital panels in-carriage? Maybe audio in certain environments?

Certainly more integration with our other commercial touchpoints such as retail and online opportunities. And absolutely more partnerships with brands that can both add value to and benefit from our customer base and its inherent value. Hello London, the new OOH media brand, sets a benchmark in this regard. Placing insight and audiences at the heart of its integrated offering, it will be unmissable in 2017 and beyond.

Only by doing this consistently as an industry, will we grow OOH’s share of ad revenue in 2017 and continue to compete successfully with other, less accountable forms of communication.

As far as Transport for London is concerned, I am absolutely confident that the foundations we laid in 2016 with our media partners will help ensure that we do just that and that for all the right reasons, 2017 will also be a year to remember.

John Pizzamiglio is Lead for Advertising Strategy at TfL. Transport for London is a local government body responsible for the transport system in Greater London, England. www.tfl.gov.uk

But for all of the challenges that this year will bring for media owners, landlords, agencies and clients, the key issue will be for their messages to remain relevant to the audience.

Irrespective of digital innovation, technical excellence, VR, AR, or whatever else the glorious world of tech will deliver, being able to convey a relevant, interestingly delivered message to the right audience will remain the function of all of us in OOH. Get this right, by combining the right environment, format, daypart, audience segmentation and many other variables, and we will deliver value for our customers and a return on investment for brands.

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OOH | Beyond screens David McEvoy, Marketing Director, JCDecaux

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

JCDecaux was founded on a business model of providing utility to citizens in return for advertising rights. At the time this was bus shelters, street furniture, public toilets and infrastructure.

Then free bike hire schemes, Wi-Fi, small cells, interactive directories and more. Public utility will continue with content and editorial, info on the move, transactional fulfillment and real world experiences. It will be integrated into the city and be multi-utilitarian.

I do believe that advertising will become a seamless part of the city experience. We’re moving from screens displaying an advertising message, to providing valuable interaction and utility - we’re already seeing this with LinkNYC totems in Manhattan. OOH will be making the lives of city dwellers better.

How is JCDecaux contributing to the city of the future?

Around the globe, cities are looking to outdoor companies to provide new utility especially with the funding gaps in civic budgets. Outdoor innovation is the lifeblood of JCDecaux and R&D continues apace. JCDecaux plans to be the heartbeat of cities where we spark conversations, colour and economic vibrancy.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

I want to create Brand Fame in the medium.

Creativity that transcends what has been done before. Creativity at scale and with purpose. I want to work with the next generation of creatives who see the huge potential of this new media.

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Tim Last, Head of Innovation and Tech, Exterion Media

How is Exterion Media contributing to the city of the future?

We are focused on enhancing everyday journeys. An example of this is the Elizabeth Line opening next year - we’re at the heart from an advertising planning point of view and we are looking at how we can add value to its audience by providing bespoke experiences with unique content, interactivity and relevant, targeted messaging. Far beyond just the panel – proper immersive experiences!

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

I love to go running though the city at the weekend. So, some form of integrated sports brand campaign that gives me personalised encouragement, feeds me snacks and gives me a big reward at the end (or a free bus ride home) would be awesome.

OOH experts give the lowdown on what’s coming next for our industry, what you should be exited about and what role the medium has to play in the lives of citizens now, and in the future.

Nicole Lonsdale Head of Planning Activation and Client Development, Kinetic

Martin Corke, Marketing Director, Clear Channel

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in the city of 2050?

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

OOH will continue to be a fantastic utility funded by advertising. As screens evolve and we automate the industry, OOH will blend seamlessly into our lives, providing engaging and rewarding content, information, advertising messages and entertainment. Our mobiles will provide a direct access point to interact both passively and actively and targeted broadcast campaigns will become even more engaging and responsive.

OOH, technology, consumer behaviour and future cityscapes will naturally continue to evolve together. OOH will be one of very few opportunities for brands to engage and inspire citizens both at scale and on a hyper-contextual, personalised level.

What tech complementary to OOH are you most excited by?

Meshh, which provides hyper local media networks without the need for Wi-Fi and ECHO, a revolutionary, outdoor display system that uses the persistence of vision effect. They’re just 2 technologies that we’re helping to grow through our new division, KineticX, an incubator for new tech companies with products and services related to OOH. If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format what would your dream OOH project be?

I’d like to create the world’s largest virtual reality game using the best digital inventory OOH has to offer! We’d offer huge prizes in return for a small fee to play. All proceeds would go to MQ a mental health charity and one of our clients.

How is Clear Channel contributing to the city of the future?

Clear Channel’s vision is to 'Create the Future of Media, Out of Home'. We continue to look to the future, naturally collaborating with our partners and city authorities to jointly benefit the cities we operate in. Our acquisition of New World Payphones is a great example of this. The iconic red phone box has been re-imagined, and the public services they provide significantly upgraded for the 21st century. Meanwhile, we’ve partnered with Trees for Cities to plant thousands of trees for every upgraded phone box, leaving a lasting legacy for everyone.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

Adshel has a big birthday this year, so we’d love to do something really special. Maybe we could have a joint celebration with other famous 50 year olds. Sadly, Nicole Kidman has not yet returned my calls!

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Joel Harris, Strategy Planning Director, Primesight

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

We have already seen early indications of the future in NYC. Phone kiosks with digital screens, using environmental sensors that measure pollution levels, traffic and noise. This will only increase in cities of the future, allowing us to gather more data. We will predict problems before they happen.

DOOH will be seamlessly woven into pretty much every area of day-to-day life, to the extent that there won’t be a conscious recognition. That then brings opportunities for brands to be seamless in their relationships with citizens.

How is Primesight contributing to the city of the future?

LinkUK will bring the world’s fastest free Wi-Fi to the capital, as part of our BT contract win. We will be upgrading a number of payphone sites to sleek, minimalist panels embedded with smartphone charging points, free phone calls and touchscreens displaying local information.

Democratising communication for everyone is the benefit, funded by advertisers who want to serve dynamic content.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

Give the entire UK OOH inventory to Banksy for an incharge.

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Richard Malton, Marketing Director, Ocean Outdoor

How is Ocean Outdoor contributing to the city of the future?

With regard to locations, we are always trying to enhance the environment and work sympathetically with the city; the new Piccadilly Lights is probably the best example of this. The development of high quality infrastructure services such as our Simplyfi fibre broadband network and also providing relevant content to the citizens; the city becomes a broadcast channel.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

The new iteration of Piccadilly Lights is pretty much the dream DOOH project; the number one DOOH location on the planet.

The DOOH.com team

Chris Earnshaw, Head of Agency Sales, Outdoor Plus

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

What role do you see OOH playing in the life of citizens in 2050?

Driverless cars will be commonplace, meaning more passengers will be more receptive to peripheral street furniture and naturally roadside screens will see their audience increase. As the technology improves it may even follow that the risk of roadside distraction will evaporate, finally allowing for full motion video.

There will be more people living in cities London is expected to see a population rise of 50 per cent, taking it to 13 million. OOH will become digital VR platforms and won’t simply be an advertising medium but will be intrinsically linked to consumers’ lives – bridging the virtual and real worlds together. Yikes.

How is DOOH.com contributing to the city of the future?

How is Outdoor Plus contributing to the city of the future?

A successful city of the future and a healthy OOH industry is one that is accountable. DOOH security and reporting will increasingly play a bigger role as media owners come under increased pressure to allow advertisers to collect analytical data whilst also allowing them to sync content remotely. We are working on an industry kitemark that key partners, networks and agencies alike sign up to in order to standardise.

We will continue to build the best screens in the best locations in the best city in the world whilst incorporating the best new tech. By 2050 all OOH will be full-motion digital, eco-friendly and will help to power cities. Our screens have all the technological opportunities available but also the wow factor. Street art with a practical purpose is how I would describe our portfolio.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

Dynamic DOOH has an ability to transport viewers to a place where they can empathise with an issue they’ve never considered before - like the project for the charity, Women’s Aid, or more recently for DOOH.com, #BiggerIssues with LYNX/ CALM. So our dream project remains to change lives and even save them.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, in any format, what would your dream OOH project be?

This is tough as there are so many fantastic brands out there to work with. A collaborative media approach is something we excel at so a simultaneous take over using digital, radio, TV, online and DOOH would be amazing. A truly unmissable campaign!

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CITY

-A short storyThere’s nowhere to hide in an automated world devoid of empathy where everything is tracked and no mistake goes undetected. Prepare to be concerned as you step into Rosh Singh’s horrifying future vision of a dystopian London.

Kai stumbled her way up the slope towards her street. The sun beginning to tease through the mottled clouds over Primrose Hill signified that she had somewhere in the region of one and a half hours to get home, straighten herself out and get to work. Plenty of time. She took a moment to take in how beautiful the park was at this time of the morning, such an expanse of green space was a rare luxury now, even for an Èlecti.

She blinked rapidly to bring her contact lens heads-up display (HUD) into focus, it blinkered with a blood alcohol warning and a scrolling list of vital elements she was missing: Sleep, H2O, B-1, B-2, B-12, Magnesium, Folic Acid. At this point the holo-ad billboards usually raced towards her with holographic come-hithers from pharma companies selling B-Complex Vitamin expansion packs for her Rejuvenation Chamber or adverts for 'Dr. Wisham’s Alcoholic Reprogramming Clinic that seemed to follow her around wherever she went.

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But they were flat and grey. Today they were lifeless. Kai took a minute to examine the spaces that were normally an explosion of data-fuelled consumerism now nothing more than a grey metallic sheet with a black and white circle stamped into the middle. The unexpected calmness and the rapidly rising sun made her feel exposed as she quickened pace to her high-rise.

In a dark room the blue glare of a screen cast light on a man in his late 40s, his silhouette brutally betraying that he wasn’t genetically gifted enough to be an Èlecti. The frenetic patter of fingers against an input terminal played energetically against the soporific drone of late night VR broadcasts creeping from a discarded headset on the counter. His workshop inside a shipping container in the now desolate Oxford Street allowed him total privacy save for the occasional mainliner who would relieve themselves against the steel walls of his home. The incontinent

zombies would connect the contact plate at the base of their spine to a mainline internet connection, sending the senses into a reverie more powerful than any chemical stimulant, they were data junkies. He really did hate mainliners but their stolen internet connections allowed him the anonymity to ply his trade - a trade not borne only of malice but, according to some people, necessity.

A trade that would see him, if caught, disconnected in a purgatorial void, outcast and de-humanised.

Kai's heels pounded the pavement in perfect cadence with her heartbeat, the homogenous high rises of the Èlecti district building a sense of disorientation. Her HUD would guide her everywhere, complex algorithms anticipating her every move, nudging and pushing her to where she needed to be; human and machine in perfect unison to free the mind of the mundanity of simple tasks, unlocking the brain for more noble pursuits. The display this morning however showed

nothing bar the health warnings. With no street signs and having never had to find her way on her own before, for the first time ever Kai was lost.

The time on her HUD told her she needed to be at work in an hour, if she hurried she could make it in time, she had to make it in time, being late was inexcusable even for an Èlecti.

There were no transport delays to use as an excuse; your transportation pod got you across cities in the blink of an eye, alarm clocks a thing of the past since the body was programmed to be woken at exactly the right time every day, naturally. Being late was inexcusable, Kai could not be late. She checked the serial number of each high rise looking for her block E-Y345. E-Y-300, she was close. It was this side of the street, right? No. She didn’t know, she was confused and panicked, her sense of direction atrophied. She had to head straight to work. Her fragility was compounded by a sense of extreme nausea, her head feeling like it was being crushed from the inside, her eyelids sagging with a lethargy she was not accustomed to. Away from her rejuvenation chamber as the sun rose, her body was beginning to experience its first ever hangover.

Kai made her way out of the claustrophobic uniformity of the Èlecti district, her superior genes and her access to the best medical care, rejuvenation pods and genetic top-ups meant Kai, even with her alien hangover was able to keep a heavy sprint going for the four miles to the CBD. Having slowed to a walk, she began to take stock of where she was and build a route through the grid system to her office block. There were enough landmarks, brand names and architectural nudges here to allow her to get

to work, and without the distractions of the Holo-ads she was able to forge a path through the city until she was within eye-line of SpaceInc. She stopped in the street, the now constant march of people surging around her, unhindered like water past a rock. She buttoned her white shirt to the top, smoothed down her hair and fidgeted her shoulders back into the shoulder pads of her blazer.

In three hours the SpaceInc. passenger airship would begin its monthly voyage to Terra 2.0, formerly known as Mars, taking 500 more Èlectis to add to the already burgeoning colony.

If Kai was to ever make it she needed to make sure she didn’t put a single foot wrong. As the divide between the Èlectis and everyone else continued to expand it became more dangerous to be stranded on earth - Kai wanted out, and the more successful launches she orchestrated for SpaceInc., the closer she rose to the top of the list.

The Far Field Communication (FFC) scanners worked silently in the background, reading the unique personal identifier from the small contact plate embedded at the base of the spine, designed not only as a standardised global identifier but also to monitor workers in or approaching the grounds. Despite the protestations of the Privacy Party it allowed employers access to all networked data; bio-metric readings, health history, financial reports, VR browsing habits, personal conversation recordings and live video streaming from the corneal HUD contact lens. As Kai approached her building she walked past the blue chevrons embedded within the pavement to indicate she was in range of the SpaceInc. FFC. She straightened her back and walked with military precision and a steely determined look on her face, 25 25

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her every move was now being monitored, they would see she was physically drained and her blood alcohol level was well above permitted levels but she had to carry on as normal and hope it wasn’t picked up by one of her superiors. She walked with a stoic determination although her heart was beating unusually fast. Her eyes fixed on the automated security checkpoint, flashing the name and rank of each person across the opaque safety glass barrier as they approached. She watched as the glass wall opened and closed in flashes of green light allowing each person in front of her to pass through as they approached. She edged closer to the glass barrier with time moving slowly through her, her senses heightened, her HUD wasn't showing her the usual pre-work morning update instead still showing only her vitals. She looked intently at the glass wall waiting for it to open.

It took longer than usual, she had come to a standstill in front of the glass wall, nobody ever broke stride going through a security checkpoint.

She heard the mechanical hiss of a pneumatic release coming from behind her and her instincts kicked in as the room was awash with the panic of a red light and a glass partition sprung into action behind her and the words “Kai Arora: DISCONNECTED” were projected onto the glass in front of her.

The twelve enforcement officers grabbed their guns and powered towards the checkpoint, their heavily armoured footsteps rattling through the concrete passage. Bursting into the sealed chamber, they poured round the edge to corner their prey. There hadn't been a single unauthorised entry into this building in history. The heavily armed officers were poised, 26

guns pointing towards the middle of the concealed chamber. Guns pointing at nothing.

Oxford Street was always dark, thick tarpaulin sheets blocked out the sun. The dusty plastic sheets hung from once ornate buildings and shipping containers piled five high that served as slums and hideaways for the disconnected, lowlives, criminals and mainliners of the city. Kai was sat on the floor at the north end of Oxford Street, her back against a blue steel container, her feet bleeding having kicked off her second shoe moments after her first had been caught in the sliding glass wall of the security checkpoint. As the airship took off and broke the sound barrier the sonic boom shook the dust from the tarpaulin above her, only the darkness hid her tears.

The man in the blue room reached for a stack of papers running his stubby finger down a list and scratched out a line: “K.Arora : Èlecti - 786154” his monitor black save a green square at the top left corner blinking invitingly, the terminal interface dancing eagerly for his next action.

Rosh Singh is Head of Kinetic Active for Kinetic UK @BillyRoshan

@twitterhandle

The Citizen

Basic human needs don’t ever really change, but how we interact with our city does. We take a look at the social impact of rapid technological change on how we live, communicate, work, travel and spend our time.

CITIZEN

The changing meaning of

time and space A multitude of factors including new technology and demographic shifts have combined to alter how and where we spend our time. Trajectory’s Tom Johnson discusses how this less structured approach to time will continue into the future, providing new and interesting opportunities for brands.

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Do you eat lunch at the same

time every day? Do you shop at the same time every week? Are your working hours a very rigid 9-5? Or perhaps you only use your phone at certain times of the day?

If you’re anything like me the answer to all of those questions is no, and you are experiencing one of the dominant consumer trends of our time: the Deregulation of Life.

At its core, Deregulation gives consumers greater flexibility over what they do, where they do it and when they do it. Everyday activities are less likely to be confined to a particular time and place – and much more likely to be at our discretion.

The rules of society, our ability to access information and our ability to communicate with others are all changing, meaning we have greater control over our routines.

It’s not quite a free-for-all – by and large we still sleep at night and fit a few meals in during the day – but we are able to choose where we are and what we do like never before.

This has caused no shortage of changes to virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Shoppers are no longer constrained by store opening

“The breakdown of routine doesn’t diminish our chances to be out and about, but creates myriad new ones” hours as consumers can buy at any time from dawn till dusk (and they do). Deregulation has also given us the dubious pleasure of being able to check emails wherever we are – at home, in the café or even on the beach. These are activities that used to belong to specific times and specific places. Now, we can do them anywhere, including from home.

The fact that we can do more from home doesn’t diminish the value of out of home spaces, but it does change their meaning. Consumers can (and do) exert greater choice over when and where they spend their

leisure time. Mealtimes, for example, were once strictly defined and consistent across the population. Now, with 2 million people eating at 10:30am, and 1.5 million eating at 4pm, new occasions like brunch or afternoon tea have developed.

These are also social occasions: we might be using Deregulation as an excuse to eat between meals, but we’re also using it to connect with others – meeting up with friends and getting out of the house.

The impact of this Deregulation is stark – with various occasions and day parts taking on new prominence.

At the weekend, UK consumers are now more likely to be out and about early evening (6pm-8pm) than the ‘traditional’ evening peak (8pm-11pm).

This greater flexibility causes no shortage of complexity. It’s easy to know where your customers are when you know that 25 per cent of the population are having lunch at the same time (12:30, as was the case in the 1970s). If consumers are 29

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plugged into their devices pretty much constantly (as 77 per cent are between 9am and 6pm), how do you make sure your message is getting through?

But this complexity masks the enormous opportunities that Deregulation brings. Our devices allow us to interact with the outside

“During the week our happiness peaks early evening, which is exactly the time we are most likely to be out” world in new ways and to make the most of public spaces and communities. The breakdown of routine doesn’t diminish our chances to be out and about, but creates myriad new ones. We enjoy that time more than anything – during the week our happiness peaks early evening, which is exactly the time we are most likely to be out.

Deregulation will continue to be accelerated by technology, but will

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not stop there. It is driven not just by our devices but by changes to society too – the advent of Sunday shopping in the 1990s deregulated our consumer habits and 24-hour drinking a decade ago changed the way hospitality services operate.

individuals to cope with too – but it provides enormous opportunities, both for brands that are able to engage their deregulated audience, and the audience itself.

Deregulation even extends beyond our daily habits and into the foundations of our lives – our life courses and demographics are deregulated too. Society was once built around the idea of an easily definable nuclear family, but positive progress on gender roles and equality means the family is now a wonderfully multifaceted thing. At work, the days of linear processes are steadily being replaced by roles that require creative thinking, problem solving skills and collaborative working – all examples of Deregulation. The devices that connect us to information, events and our friends and family are also capable of blurring the lines between the real and digital world, creating a hybrid one in between.

Tom Johnson is a Director at Trajectory.

Deregulation is a challenge for any business or organisation to deal with – and can be a challenge for

Trajectory specialise in quality, multimethodology insight and foresight analysis and is a place where thinking about the future is at the heart of every working day. www.trajectorypartnership.com

HOW MUCH DID YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU WERE DOING?

2016 was a year of disconnect.

Great social and political chasms predicted by very few split nations, families and friendship groups – 2016 felt like a year of disconnect in an age when we are more connected than ever.

And more connected we will become. But will new communication technologies fulfil the promise of better connection and understanding, or instead facilitate increased isolation where interactions are conveniently edited and created for our specific, personal reality?

Many of the technologies credited with delivering a better tomorrow are already here, invisibly integrated into our lives. Their impact on how we interact, work, shop and move is guaranteed. It is up to us to ensure we harness these new technologies for the advancement of…

CONNECTED CITIZEN

Humans will evolve a second skin. An invisible filter of zeros and ones through which we will conduct our daily interactions.

Kinetic Active’s Dominic Murray takes us into the near future where bots do our bidding and everything’s connected.

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CITIZEN

...INTERACTION Ever increasingly we will add a layer of technology to enhance our lives bringing us more efficiency, enjoyment and control. Mixed realities seen through smart contact lenses or portable AR/VR glasses will guide us through our environment with personalised annotations and updates.

AI services that target monotonous aspects of routine and daily tasks whether to manage or motivate will flourish. Users of digital virtual assistants are set to rise to 1.8bn by 2021.

AI has already infiltrated the world of dating. Potential disruptors like Bernie develop knowledge of your preferred ‘type’ before searching and swiping on your behalf, even handling the initial introductions with matches.

Relationships will no longer rely so heavily on physical proximity with technologies like Microsoft Hololens giving us a taste of teleportation. Live language translators developed by Microsoft and Google will break the final wall enabling new connections not previously possible. Our connected lives will no longer be driven by what we can find online but what we can experience as VR platforms develop and content diversifies. The possibility of reliving past events by inserting yourself into a 360-degree home video is an exciting concept but also another potential barrier between citizen and reality.

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WORK Technology in the work place is seen by many as both an opportunity and a threat. The fact is we will be working longer into our old age than any previous generation so it may be in our interest to champion the technological advancements that make lives easier. However, it is predicted

by McKinsey that such advancements will threaten between 40-75m jobs globally by 2025. In Germany, Adidas have opened The Speedfactory, a manufacturing facility staffed entirely by robots while Budweiser have delivered 50,000 cold cans over 120 miles using Uber’s self driving truck service.

A fresh workforce with different definitions of career will carve a new way to the top. Driven by a need for collaborative environments and in possession of a wide base of creative skills they will zig-zag between

employers and industries rather than play the waiting game.

Accelerated research in the field of Computational Creativity will impact roles we once thought the reserve of the naturally gifted. In 2013, IBM challenged Watson to develop novel food recipes by analysing chemical compounds and ingredients that were tasty and efficient to produce. Since then we have enjoyed a co-authored novel written in part by AI and enjoyed classical and pop music with the same origin. It is likely our insatiable demand for content and experience will override our lofty concerns of authenticity, that’s if we can even tell the difference.

SHOP We love choice and that’s what we will have. Choose passive, automated, frictionless convenience or enjoy high concept, sensory playgrounds that immerse you in a brand, lifestyle or mindset.

Already we have seen a shift towards subscription services for low interest items such as dog food and razors, disrupting historical category strongholds. Amazon Dash buttons enable consumers to reorder products with a simple push of a button.

Currently these services require human moderation and management which itself is a task not much more fun than shopping. But consumers will increasingly hand over responsibility for stocktake and shopping to bots.

Services able to make these decisions for you based on personal data will soon be available - food orders based on health data or inspired by weather and checked against historical or medical preferences aggregated from wearables, smart-fridges and a new landscape of IoT devices.

Decentralised shopping will continue as our ability to experience products and make purchases remotely increases. Flagship stores will exist in the virtual world allowing us to shop with minimal effort. Haptic screens and volumetric projections will bring us closer to the products.

Whatever form the smartphone takes in the future, if it even exists

as a physical object at all, the race is on to be the sole platform through which citizens access the world. The blueprint set by WeChat (over 728m active users) is one of aggregated utility, commerce and entertainment, integrated into a service that enables exploration and organisation of the real world.

MOVEMENT Transport and travel has always been a focus of those predicting the future - most things we find a drag tend to be. While driverless technology has been available for sometime - the Victoria Line has been ‘driverless’ in parts since 1968 - it feels we have almost arrived at a reality where mass autonomous transport will fill our streets and skies.

Automated taxis are on the streets of Singapore and Pittsburgh, ‘Roaboats’ ferry passengers and goods along the canals of Amsterdam, while take-off and landing are the only part of our flights controlled by a human hand.

seen rides increase 8 per cent while in Dusseldorf commuters can choose to watch 80 seconds of ads to earn a €2.60 fare sent to them a barcode on their phone.

For those seeking a cleaner, less chaotic environment, the idea of pushing transport underground is appealing. Projects such as CarTube, which puts private cars on an automated 50mph track below the city, may provide a solution but it will be a difficult one to realise in a populous, ancient city like London. Other famous subterranean projects include Hyperloop, which may break ground in UAE. Despite the imagined convenience of commuting by air in your own private pod, very few would want look up to a sky busy with traffic. It seems this, along with safety and licencing difficulties, means at least some of our predecessor's predictions are yet left unfulfilled, for now.

@dominic_murray0

Many hope the abundance of publicly available, on-demand options will accelerate the transition from privately owned vehicles to a more environmentally friendly future. The city of Tallinn is persevering with a free for all transport system that has 33

CITIZEN

From the lab to the streets Most technology is invented before humans are emotionally ready and before governments know how to legislate for them. Personal ethics, beliefs and feelings can all impact our willingness to adopt new technologies. So how comfortable are we feeling about the next wave of innovation coming our way?

OOH & MEDIA It is the year 2066...

Digital screens will recognise who you are when you are near them | 86% Mobile phones will have been replaced by a newer technology | 87% I will be able to interact with most advertising wherever I see it | 32%

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We asked over 1000 people right across Britain how they feel about some of the most hyped and imagined inventions. We found that while in general men are more open to trying new technologies, youth are more optimistic about tech’s role in the future. But overall we all think that society will mostly be better off.

MOVEMENT & TRAVEL It is the year 2066...

We will have colonised another planet | 30% The ability to teleport objects will be a reality | 26% Most humans will work remotely | 61% If you could now, would you...

Ride in a driverless car | 31% Fly in a pilot-less plane | 12% Go on a time travel holiday into the future | 35% Go on a time travel holiday into the past | 43%

BIOLOGY It is the year 2066...

Humans will be able to control the weather | 24%

COMPUTATION

Replacement human organs will be grown in a lab | 85%

It is the year 2066...

Artificial wombs will be available via the NHS | 58% A cure for cancer will be found | 64% If you could now, would you...

Ingest a device that monitored everything you consumed and every activity you undertook | 7% Alter the DNA characteristics for your unborn child | 8% Eat meat grown in a lab | 13% Share your DNA with brands for personalised products and services | 8%

We will be able to store brain activity straight to the cloud | 45% Computers will be able to match humans ability to create art & literature | 57% Robots will take over the primary care of the long-term unwell | 47% If you could now, would you...

Rent a robot to clean your house | 40%

Designed by Ben Edwards

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CITIZEN

We place more trust in brands than we do our governments, so perhaps it’s no surprise to see brands increasingly stepping into areas where once only charities and activists dared to tread. Whether it’s leveraging resources or supply chains to assist in times of disaster or embedding a culture of diversity and sustainability, Kinetic's Richard Jacobs asks: "Is your brand ready for a world of new responsibilities?"

T

he phrase ‘we live in uncertain times’ is as true as it is overused and seems to apply whether we’re talking about politics, world economics, the fight against terrorism or the failing health of our planet.

So many of the world’s problems would once have fallen at the feet of our world leaders to fix but with European disunity, the potential rise of the far right, the continued instability in the Middle East and aggressive tub thumping from North Korea, the idea that the world will unite on common issues to our mutual benefit would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.

Musicians have certainly played their part in unifying people in the past with Live Aid being the most obvious example. In the UK the Comic Relief and Children in Need events raise have raised close to £2bn in their

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trendy superfoods to trending Christmas ads, #BiggerIssues held a mirror up to all the real-life, real-time things that our live social data showed were the ‘bigger issues’ dominating male conversations.

lifetime to tackle issues that arguably government could be dealing with or government departments could be spearheading.

More recently though, it’s brands that have been involved in doing the right thing, raising awareness of important issues and actually doing something about it.

Kinetic client Unilever is among the leading global brands taking a real stand and trying to make areal difference to the quality of people’s lives.

Unilever’s 2016 Cannes Silver Lion winning campaign for the Lynx male grooming brand is a good example.

Shockingly, in the UK, 80 per cent of people who kill themselves are men. Suicide is now the single biggest killer of young men in the UK. But

“A new kind of business that gives purpose equal billing with profit” few people knew that fact and even fewer were talking about it.

Lynx (Axe elsewhere in the world) partnered with UK charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) to develop the #BiggerIssues campaign, with the objective of increasing awareness of the fact that suicide is the biggest killer of young British men.

The data-driven OOH campaign, delivered by Kinetic, TMW Unlimited and Mindshare, did more to raise awareness of the issue than anything in the last 10 years. According to YouGov, awareness increased by 45 per cent nationally and by 120 per cent in London. There were 20,000 online mentions of #BiggerIssues, with a potential social reach of 108 million impressions. As the campaign climaxed, #BiggerIssues trended across the country. The number of men feeling confident enough to come forward and talk about their problems increased drastically with over 5,600 helpline calls in the campaign period alone. Finally, the exposure that #BiggerIssues gave the issue resulted in male suicide being debated in Parliament for the first time. Jane Powell, C.E.O CALM, said: "I’ve seen nothing as big, as popular and as far reaching as this in my 10 years of running CALM. I am immensely proud of this campaign."

Unilever CEO Paul Polman has explicitly called for a new kind of business that gives purpose equal billing with profit. Meanwhile, the brand’s Sustainable Living Plan is

The campaign used social listening to drive a reactive OOH campaign that highlighted all the trivial things we are more than happy to talk about, and the one thing we are not.

From new emojis to cat memes,

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also seeing them aim to double the size of the business and halve its environmental impact by 2020.

Kinetic colleagues in India found another simple but highly creative way to make people’s lives better.

In India, more than a thousand

“Brands can do things that governments either can’t do or don’t wish to prioritise to genuinely change the world for good” fishermen are arrested each year for illegally crossing international sea borders. Because they lack the correct equipment, most of them end up in foreign prisons and are cut off from their families for years; some even lose their lives.

Kinetic discovered that many fishermen carry a mask called a MUKHOTA on their fishing boats to keep them safe and ward off evil spirits and danger. Using a simple GPS system with pre-loaded distances, we turned these MUKHOTA masks into alarm systems that warned fishermen whenever they got dangerously close to the invisible sea borders.

Kinetic distributed over 2,000 MUKHOTA in twelve days to fishermen across coastal villages in India and to date they have been activated over 15,000 times in multiple regions.

The work has been so successful that the Indian Coast Guard has recommended the idea be implemented across India.

Staying in India, the state of Maharashtra has a huge water crisis.

Barren farmlands and whole families are suffering the effects of poverty 38

and loss, with many farmers even committing suicide because of the drought. There is rain in a nearby region but sadly most of it goes down the drain due to the lack of rainwater conservation locally.

Enter leading telecom brand Vodafone’s special HSW unit (Health Safety Welfare), which alongside Kinetic India set out to help the farmers and their families.

On roadside billboards Vodafone and Kinetic created a metallic ‘U’ shaped structure that channels rain water into a tank underneath. These tanks are fitted with an alarm that lets an administrator know whenever the tank gets full. Tankers then arrive to collect the water and supply it to the areas that need it.

So, it seems clear that big brands and their agency partners have the scale, reach, and resources – along with the skills and knowledge – necessary to stimulate massive change.

They can do things that governments either can’t do or don’t wish to prioritise and they have the potential to genuinely change the world for good. However, we now need so many more brands to get involved and also to activate their consumers to do the right thing for the benefit of our planet and all its citizens!

The New Context

Uncovering and leveraging contextual triggers through data is easier than ever before. The argument for targeted broadcast and OOH’s unique ability to deliver it. AI and IoT are coming to a city near you. Are you ready?

NEW CONTEXT

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behaviourial datasets allows us to add the granular time targeting needed for efficient DOOH usage.

In a world increasingly seduced by new and shiny things, particularly if you work in media or marketing, Kinetic's Amy Horton argues for the proven power of targeted broadcast.

O

ne of the biggest media stories of 2016 was the debate surrounding the value of precision targeting vs mass reach. The former’s reputation driven by the accelerating investment in digital media, the latter’s traditional positioning enough of an attribute to be considered ‘uncool’.

The debate was fueled further following P&G’s assertion that “its targeting went too narrow and that mass reach remains important”.

While the increasing desire to find ways to use digital (that is online or mobile) with the right message, at the right time, to the right people, can guide us as a principle, any strategy adopted to deliver contextual messaging in DOOH should vary greatly from the methods deployed online. All DOOH campaigns should take into account the attributes of the format, and environment; of the time, positioning and placement; as well as the behavior and characteristics of the target audience viewing those screens.

digital OOH - the ability to deliver contextual relevant messages to mass audiences through data-lead planning will deliver greater value over the longer term.

A DOOH screen is not consumed by one person, at one given moment in time so we shouldn’t overlook the impact that same message has on other consumers in that space.

Personalised messaging works if viewed from your personal devices, but it doesn’t work as well if consumers are singled out from the crowd whilst driving past a large format digital screen.

At Kinetic we believe that Targeted Broadcast is a more effective way to plan audience delivery today and into the future. The method minimises wastage and ensures you reach more of the audience you want within your budget.

As we shift towards using programmatic techniques in DOOH, it is fundamental that we remain true to the basic strengths of the medium - that it delivers mass reach to broadcast audiences.

For example, as a film distributor with a core target audience of 15 to 34 year olds, you can reduce the number of people outside of that group seeing your ads, but most importantly you can ensure that more 15 to 34 year olds who have an interest in film, or have spent time in a location near to a multiplex cinema see your ads.

While the application of creative technology allows us to interact with consumers on a one-to-one basis, in OOH this will never be the sole justification, or the true potential of

We already use robust survey and captured data to target broad demographics by place (ROUTE, Census, TGI etc), but the additional data available from more contemporary

We also now use mobile data to understand people's active journeys, where they go before and after they have been exposed to OOH messaging, giving us the ability to retarget. We have already tested the use of mobile carrier data to define when and where to serve DOOH ads programmatically and seen an improvement in value delivered via this method.

What is becoming apparent is that it will be a while before we integrate live audience data into activating OOH, as most of the data that supplements our audience knowledge about their geography and time is historical to some degree, even if it is only by a few weeks. Humans are generally creatures of habit with regard to our geographical movements so we don’t think, for a while at least, that real-time should be the focus of data targeting in OOH. Instead, targeted broadcast looks to bring together best-practice use of OOH with best-practice targeting of herd behaviour audiences that we can learn from online digital.

A targeted broadcast approach capitalises on the traditional strengths of OOH, while also bringing the value of dynamic digital to the fore.

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Trigger Happy

Introducing Active Journeys Kinetic’s Global CEO Mauricio Sabogal outlines how our agency is evolving and why his vision of the future places Kinetic at the helm of redefining the moving world.

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ut of home is where everything happens for audiences on the move - they shop on their phones, watch TV while in transit, scan music on the streets, share pictures on social media, and manage their day from mobile apps. Activities that leave a journey trail, opening up new opportunities for interaction that were not available before and resulting in a new ecosystem that demands the role of OOH be redefined, from an auxiliary media touchpoint to the backbone on which brand communication relies on.

“The world’s leading expert in contextually connecting and activating audiences on the move” In order to address this evolution, we must evolve as well. An evolution that results in a new vision for the future and places Kinetic at the 42

helm of redefining the moving world, where each audience/brand interaction ignites engagement and drive actions that result in tangible benefits for all involved.

Technology now empowers audiences to connect and take action anytime, anywhere. And we are experts in location – we know spaces and environments. Powered by data and technology, we understand audience journeys better than anyone, physically and emotionally. Thus, a simple mission for Kinetic emerges, “to be the world’s leading expert in contextually connecting and activating audiences on the move”.

But what does this mean?

Contextual relevancy is key when communicating with audiences.

It is only through context that the meaning of communication is understood. Without context, meaning is lost. Without context, audiences do not understand why a brand message

is relevant; let alone what they should do with the information. Context is not something new in marketing; what’s new is the vast access to audience data and the ability to manage this data to provide truly relevant, personalised and targeted communication. And with the rise of mobile devices, it’s becoming easier to profile and target audiences while out of home.

Audiences today interact with touchpoints that provide them with value, searching for and receiving content determined by real-time, data, location and mindset. Their behavior generates and increases transactions in both the real and virtual world.

Thus, we strive to blur the lines of the physical, emotional and digital, and deliver value through context.

Value for people to connect and act, and once they act we deliver value to the brand. So, we bridge one-tomany to one-to-few and one-to-one

Calvin Klein’s Lovers watch interactive campaign, Xidan Juntai LED in Beijing, China

communication strategically throughout their journeys delivering value and driving performance.

How? Introducing Active Journeys Active Journeys dwell in the fringes of the physical and digital world, leveraging digital audience data to identify the physical location and mindset of our target audience to generate unique and contextually relevant experiences.

one-to-one communication. We are bridging the gap between physical and digital world with this pull marketing strategy, because we understand context and audiences on the move better than anybody. And by infusing insights and innovation into everything we do, we create unique and relevant experiences that drive people to take action.

Why Active Journeys?

Active Journeys in action

Insights, powered by data and technology, allow us to understand the entire consumer journey – physically and emotionally. From there, we create strategies in the right context that bridge one-to-many to

I love this recent campaign from Kinetic China for Calvin Klein as it demonstrates how linking OOH media with mobile through simple activation triggers can turn consumers on the street into brand advocates online.

“Interaction ignites engagement and drive actions that result in tangible benefits for all involved”

The challenge: Leverage Chinese Valentine’s Day to build brand awareness for Calvin Klein’s lovers watch, drive traffic to stores and of course increase sales. The campaign needed to affect as many people as possible and deliver

on the brand message of LIFE IN THE NOW. The Active Journey solution: Attract consumer attention through large format digital screens, encourage them to join the campaign themselves via mobile activation and in turn become brand ambassadors by amplifying the campaign through social platform WeChat.

And it worked!

Within one hour over 800 passers-by responded to the call to action by scanning the creative and then submitting a photo with 76 lucky enough to have theirs showcased on the giant LED screen. As well as consumers engaging with the campaign at the point of display, they responded with their feet – footfall and sales in proximity stores increased by up to 50 per cent.

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OOH: Technology’s OOH has evolved into a growing universe of connected screens tied together with an ever-changing web of technology. Our role has evolved from selecting which panels to purchase, to understanding which technology, platform or media channel is appropriate for our audience at any given time and place.

The following is an overview of some of the most exciting technology trends you need to know now.

Humanised Technologies Clumsy, analogue and primitive physical interfaces between humans and machines are a thing of the past, taken over by touch, swipe, fingerprint and increasingly natural language.

Our relationship with technology is becoming decidedly more human, we expect to interact with our devices in the same way as we would integrate with our friends or loved ones. The runaway success of Amazon Alexa points to a future where the lines between human and technology begin to blur - we expect our technology to behave like a friend. Embedding 44

humanised AI and chatbots into OOH should be seen as a natural progression to a future where every connected object (including advertising) is addressable by nothing more than voice.

Meshh At its simplest, technology when viewed through the prism of advertising should be seen as an enabler to an experience rather than a barrier. As advertisers we should be making the process of engaging with our brands as easy as possible, it should be seamless and require no active learning

curve. Meshh is a closed loop Wi-Fi network that allows brands to create hyper-local experiences through Wi-Fi on their connected devices, with no downloads or apps. Meshh is an enabler that makes the technology invisible to the end user, unlocking an experience without barriers.

The Internet of the Sublime (And the Ridiculous) It is very easy to get lost in the stupidity of some connected devices (we look tat you, smart hair brush) but the true value of the Internet of Things has yet to be fully realised. A future

where all of our devices are working in unison with us and for us, communicating amongst themselves to predict the things we need and when we need them is just round the corner.

By tapping into this data we can start to understand macro trends and ad-serve against them. For example, when biometric data indicates that there is a spike in people showing flu-like symptoms we can instantly start ad-serving cold and flu remedies in the desired areas.

We already use a profusion of data to make our campaigns more relevant, reactive, real-time or rewarding and with the growth of the IoT and connected devices we will see the data sources increase and the sophistication deepen.

Beacons. Beacons, Everywhere!

After years of conversation and pontification, 2016 saw the first

campaigns roll out using beacons in OOH and while the results have to date been somewhat underwhelming, we have not even begun to see their full potential. The issue on everyone’s mind is: scale. Lack of scale in the beacon-enabled partner apps and the ever-increasing scale of the network of beacons out there in the world.

Whether using beacons to unlock content, push an offer or to crack OOH attribution, beacons will play an increasingly important role as we see the number of partner apps increase as the number of beaconenabled apps increases along with the number of beacons in the overall network.

Mixed Reality While 2016 was the zenith for VR, the real excitement lies in the future of Mixed Reality. With Magic Leap and Microsoft Hololens stealing

the column inches throughout the year, it is clear that the virtual experiences we create are greatly enhanced when tied back to the physical world.

Truly immersive VR experiences do not live online, they do not live on TV, nor on radio - they live out of home, where the physical and the digital worlds meet. Shared virtual experiences within the same physical spaces will become a possibility allowing us to transport people as groups - friends, family and loved ones able to experience the same virtual experiences within the same physical spaces.

There has never been a more exciting time to be involved with OOH as the industry transforms and by embracing new technology we will be at the bleeding-edge of the transformation leading the change.

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016 was a tough year to be an optimist. The world around us presented ever more complex political, social, economic and environmental challenges, and many of us entered the new year with trepidation and uncertainty.

However, the world of technology lies at a juncture of immense opportunity. As an industry, tech is attracting the brightest, the most entrepreneurial and the most visionary.

Making money in technology has greater alignment with advancing society at large than say, the financial industry of recent decades. So now, the richest ingenuity of the human race is now being channelled towards advancing our society and tackling social challenges.

The internet as we know it will transform over the next decade‌ from a destination for information retrieval, shopping and entertainment, into a ubiquitous, unseen companion akin to

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Will the impact of AI and IoT on our society be a cause for optimism in 2017?

Robots taking your job before taking over the world. Sensors tracking your every move - AI and IoT are the technologies most likely to cause us anxiety. But the benefits are vast and the time to understand the potential is now.

IBM Watson’s Phil Westcott on the reasons to be optimistic.

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electricity. Built on this transformation are two major technology revolutions: Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things.

INTERNET OF THINGS Society and cities have always been defined by the people in them and the way in which they interact and collaborate. But increasingly this interaction has a digital presence running parallel with the physical. Our homes, our cars and our built environment are becoming ever more instrumented and interconnected.

The fact that so many ‘things’ are now embedded with sensors and computing power means that our world is now humming with data; structured data (such as temperature readings) and unstructured data (such as video content).

Some of the computing can be performed at or close to the device, known as ‘the edge’, but most of the hard core processing assimilated on the Cloud as Big Data.

Advances in processing power means computers can make sense of it in real-time. From transport to agriculture, from crime fighting to healthcare, decision-makers in every walk of life are empowered to solve chronic, multi-dimensional and/or time

“The richest ingenuity of the human race is now being channelled towards advancing our society and tackling social challenges” sensitive problems with this data. In IBM, we describe this data as the great natural resource of the 21st century.

IoT can bring an ‘enchantment’ to the physical world around us.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Artificial Intelligence is set to storm into our lives during 2017, largely through the emergence of and our familiarisation with bots and Natural Language Interfaces. Less noticeable, but equally important is the underlying development of Ultra-personalisation, AI Discovery and Machine Learning. Built on the new digitised world of IoT, 2017 will see the following developments take root: Bots: Many companies are training their bots to represent their brand, answering customer queries and building relationships through a new digital channel. Cognitive chat bots promise to displace the horrors of phone trees and on-hold music, remove language barriers and semantic errors, and derive answers of higher quality and more consistent and contextual to the customer. But one thing is clear - not all bots are created equal. Rules-based bots will soon yield the same frustrations in customers. Bots are more art than science and must be architected and trained by skilled teams to bring them to life, to personalise, humanise and create that delightful customer

experience. These are all skills native to the agency mindset, and 2017will see the best agencies stepping up to the mark.

Natural Language Interfaces: As gifts were rolled out this Christmas, you’ll have noticed the number of devices that now have natural language interfaces. For now these ‘bots’ appear quite dumb, limited to controlling your music and a few neat gimmicks. But voice command will soon be the dominant mechanism to interact with computing power and the internet. 2017 will see the integration of these interfaces with our app catalogues, allowing a whole swathe of voice commanded services.

For example, IBM is working with the likes of BMW, General Motors and Panasonic Automotive to bring intelligent co-pilot functionality into your driving experience. From practical advantages such as improved maintenance and safety, to enhanced experiences like entertainment and voice commerce, the car becomes a platform to engage the new internet.

Ultra-personalisation: Our digital footprint trails our every move, tweet, post or voice command. Brands and agencies that have embraced Big Data have been the success stories of the decade to date. But AI technology now has the ability to ultra-personalise, to understand the individual in way never possible before, expanding their structured data footprint with their unstructured footprint. From a consumer perspective, we as citizens and consumers are often trading our privacy for utility.

2017 should bring this into focus as we, each as individuals, take a more active decision in what personal data we share with the brands that serve

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us. My hunch is that if it continues to improve the service we receive, it will be an acceptable trade-off for the vast majority of people.

AI Discovery: As the internet expands with a proliferation of data sources, AI plays a key role in guiding us. Traditional search will no longer suffice. For the ubiquitous internet to exist, we’ll need to uncover knowledge, not just information.

This requires an ability to synthesise and interpret data that is structured and unstructured, present and past, contextual and rich. (“Where could Dave and I go for dinner tonight?” drawing upon for example: (i) Dave’s food preferences and health requirements, (ii) where we ate last time and our feedback, (iii) where we’ll be travelling from and avoiding the tube strike, (iv) a street party promoted on social media, (v) the weather, (vi) our calories burnt and mood as recorded by our wearables…).

Machine Learning: This is the area of AI that scares people, and true enough it will need some regulation and stewarding over the coming years.

But brought to its essence, Machine Learning is allowing a computing system to optimise iteratively against the mission you set it. So if you set it the mission of optimising your calorie intake or your commute to work, then the system will learn and improve and take into account the contextual conditions of ‘now’. Coupled with the above, this becomes incredibly useful.

“We describe this data as the great natural resource of the 21st century” For example, imagine the introduction of AI technology to provide real-time governance of a financial services 48

institution. Auditing no longer needs to be a retrospective activity coupled with vast overhead. The system could be trained to red flag anomalies in the data and learn over time to improve and provide structural feedback.

SOCIETAL IMPACT One negative association with AI is the threat to jobs. A much-debated topic recently, we can look to history to learn that, most likely, our jobs will become more interesting, richer and more effective. The human or machine working in isolation will never be as effective as the partnership.

“Bots are more art than science” One example of such a partnership in action is in agriculture, where instrumented farming practices can track precise moisture levels in soil to improve yields and reduce the use of water resources and chemical fertilisers. And this is not just for the rich industrial nations; these technologies are being applied by NGOs to offer agricultural knowledge to illiterate farmers via natural voice interfaces.

most human traits of compassion and personal contact. What role then for the robot? In caring for dementia, this technology can provide a reassuring (and ultimately patient) voice for sufferers and their families. Providing an “always on” companion to answer awkward questions a thousand times such as, “when did I last see my son?” or “when is the next meal served?”. For family members, there is a potential to be quietly monitoring without intruding into the privacy of your elderly loved ones. You could be alerted to ‘red flags’ from structured data - such as unusual biometrics – or from unstructured data – such as detection of stress levels in conversation with the AI companion.

These are just two examples of a global societal issue being tackled by IoT and AI technology. I could give countless others that great minds are now applying themselves to solving.

As we embark on 2017, it is the technology sector - and the human ingenuity that is driving it - that give us cause for optimism.

A second example tackles the global issue of our aging population.

Understandably, you might consider elderly care as a preserve for the

Phil Westcott is Director, IoT Practice & Partnerships, IBM Watson Internet of Things @philwestcott www.ibm.com/internet-of-things

Enhanced Reality Human expression and imagination through art has been elevated by technology with the urban space acting as the ultimate canvas. Be inspired by what’s possible now and in the near future.

ENHANCED REALITY

A BBL LEENNDDEEDD F U T U R E With costs coming down and creative possibilities going up, is this the year you take your OOH to the next level?

Here are the three amazing creative technologies to get excited about now.

scanner system to break down a digital image into columns of pixel data and beams them sequentially off the reflector strip towards the viewer at high-speed. The viewer’s eyes reassemble the image data, allowing them to perceive the full image for a brief moment. The images can also be captured using a mobile phone and shared on social media.

How long until we can see ECHO in action on the streets?

Our first commercial unit, 20m tall, will be ready for installation in Q4 2017. Being mobile we can use it for events, short-term campaigns and more.

What other new or complementary tech are you most excited by?

LIGHTVERT’s ECHO - described as "a radical new dimension in digital Out of Home" - wants to print images onto your retina.

Media Director Stephen Allen explains what ECHO is and what makes it so radical.

ECHO creates amazing largescale images without a screen using an ultra-fast scanning projector and a narrow reflective strip that mounts on the side of any building. It projects images directly into your eyes that appear to overlay the city landscape.

The really radical part is that the images exist only in your vision and not in reality!

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2017 is a major year for us as we fundraise to build the first commercial ECHO units. And if you’re reading this in Feb 2017, then you can participate in our equity crowdfunding campaign through Crowdcube.

ECHO uses persistence of vision display technology. What even is that? And why should brands be excited by it?

You will have experienced an image remaining on your retina for a moment after you look away from a bright light. We use this same effect to essentially ‘print’ images, fleetingly and safely, in the viewer’s eye using our patented projection technology.

ECHO displays use a high-power

We’re really thrilled by Li-Fi “light-based broadband” and the almost unlimited bandwidth this offers! And AR, which will inherently open up new viewer behaviours and more rich and layered OOH media experiences.

What role can you see ECHO playing in the life of citizens in the city of 2050?

I see a network of ECHO systems becoming an integral part of the skyline around the world. Using hive intelligence, these displays would communicate wonderful and constantly evolving brand stories, and enhance the lives of the citizens with high-value artistic and civic messages.

That’s a start anyway, and why not!

VR dominated the headlines in 2016 so we asked Henry Stuart, CEO of VR production studio VISUALISE what to expect next from the immersive tech.

What has happened/changed to allow VR to finally break out? And what should we be excited about in 2017?

A steady increase in the number of headsets in the market, launch of Google’s Daydream platform, Sony launching PlayStation PSVR and much more.

In 2017 we can be excited by VR experiences that are led by really strong creative. People won’t be doing VR because they can, they will be doing it because the story demands it, the narrative is made for it and crucially because they understand it.

What applications of VR have you seen that surprised or inspired you?

The best I have seen is Notes on Blindness, the VR version of John Hull’s powerful description of losing his sight. This perfectly balanced piece shows how VR can be used so as to immerse you in another’s world and really feel what they feel.

Another great VR experience was Mr Robot by Here Be Dragons and director Sam Esmail. This experience is beautifully polished, feels very much like part of the Amazon Prime series but crucially has a number of innovations in the film that I have never seen in VR and would not have expected to work so well. For example, one scene when the couple are high and in bed, the whole perspective of the room is upended, so you see the couple lying in bed but orientated like they are standing in front of you.

Hard to describe but really adds to the feeling of being high or feeling like they do.

What role do you see VR playing in the life of citizens in the city of 2050?

Firstly I think it will be in entertainment – blockbuster experiences that transport you to the heart of stories, sports coverage that lets you float behind and around players.

Secondly, shopping experiences that allow you to pick up and browse items, touching and feeling them, like they were really there. Or test drive cars before buying them. Thirdly people will be plugging into the ‘metaverse’ this alternative world that exists in VR where they can meet

Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness VR experience by Ex Nihilo, ARTE France and AudioGaming

people play, work, hangout.

Finally there will be all of the practical uses of VR – work, health (operations, therapy, pain relief etc), conferencing.

What should brands looking to get involved with VR be thinking about now?

About the place they want to take their clients – the feeling, the magic, the moment they want them to experience. VR has moved so far, so fast, that the limits are really just with the imagination.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, anywhere what would your dream VR project be?

Something that covers the planet and its beauty/majesty, think Planet Earth in VR. Or capturing the 7 wonders of the modern world.

The idea of bringing people to the most spectacular events in the world; be that a Monarch butterfly migration, amongst a shoal of Hammerhead sharks or to The Day of the Dead in Michoacán would be so powerful in VR. To take that journey with someone, a fellow explorer who narrates or appears in the scenes naturally would add to the experience greatly.

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As projection tech evolves so too do the opportunities for brands looking to wow their audience and make the urban space come alive.

James Murray from Projection Artworks gives us the lowdown on an increasingly spectacular future.

What has happened/changed to allow the tech to become so popular?

The rise of laser technology has had a huge impact. Higher brightness and improved overall performance has made the technology more effective and affordable. As a result we’re anticipating working on more permanent installations.

What should we be excited about in the next few years?

The newest daylight-visible LED installations we have are definitely something we look to progress over the new few years. They form part of our new OOH offering that includes LiveCubes and LiveColumns, which are top of the range LED install pieces, allow for a seamless experiential experience, and are suitable for practically any campaign.

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What applications of projections have you seen that surprised or inspired you?

Our recent ventures into retail have been a fantastic experience, and something that we are expanding on. The application of projection on smaller scale POS installations has shown the true potential of this technology, with instore builds injecting real life into otherwise static shop displays.

What other/complementary tech are you most excited by?

Social media engagement is a current hot topic. We worked with Lloyds Bank to create a huge interactive Christmas tree on London’s Southbank; this gave their online campaign a physical fixture and point of interest. Engagement was high, and more brands are looking to drive this kind of interest.

What role do you see projections playing in the life of citizens in the city of 2050?

All immersive experiences will only improve as technology advances; we envisage experiences of the future to be far more commonplace! Plus the use of holographic effects, which are already being explored.

If you could do absolutely anything with anyone, anywhere what would your dream projection project be?

Projecting onto the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina would be an amazing experience. Combining real time and theatrical visuals you could make something breathtaking of what is already an astounding feat of nature. Not to mention you’d have a reason to take a business trip to go glacier walking!

Art, tech & architecture As tech gets more portable and data travels faster, creating moments of magic in urban spaces has never been easier. All it takes is a little imagination and willingness to experiment. You can expect to see more artists and brands augment the urban space using an ever-increasing line-up of technologies, to the delight of those who happen to catch them. We’ve collected some of our favourite executions from the last year.

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3 1. The Murmur Wall is an artificially intelligent installation giving insight into what the city of San Francisco is thinking and feeling while also anticipating what will soon matter most to the city. Passers-by can see data streams moving across the wall via animated LED light and digital text displays reflecting the real-time desires and anxieties of their fellow citizens. www.vimeo.com/130132677

4 Transparent Seas interactive mural by Jason Levesque and Grow

2. An art exhibit masquerading as a high-concept retail flagship, The Glass Room, challenges us to confront our privacy in the age of Big Data by showing us just how vulnerable we are. To drive home the point, the interactive experience ends in a room with nine consumer-ready surveillance technologies pointed at visitors. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGe-xh-us5k 3. A simple act can create a magical impression.

Cyclists in Brabant, birthplace of Van Gogh, can enjoy a star lit ride made in honour of his famous Starry Night painting. Artist Daan Roosegaarde transformed the quiet path using solar powered LEDs and luminous materials embedded in the ground to lit the way. www.vimeo.com/111688272 4. This shape-shifting mural, Transparent Seas, changes form in reaction to the people near it.

The 40-foot installation, a collaboration between artist Jason Levesque and digital agency Grow, uses reactive sensors to illuminate the mural with different colours depending on how close or far the viewer gets, delivering a unique experience for every viewer.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AYBIf6-4pA

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6 5. Using a network of projectors and Kinect cameras, the Connected Worlds exhibition encourages a system-thinking approach as it teaches children the complexity and consequences of environmental decisions. There is no magic fix in this world where kids can plant seeds, play with wildlife and divert river systems, with each actions triggering reactions. www.vimeo.com/131585517

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6. It’s not all about digital. Constructive Interference is a static steel sculpture that reveals hidden patterns and visuals as the viewer moves past. Created by Hypersonic and Plebeian Design the artwork’s two large patterned sheets create an effect of constant kinetic change. www.vimeo.com/186022053 7. At 7m high, the world’s largest air purifier has been installed in Beijing. The Smog Free Tower converts 75 per cent of the atmospheres dangerous particles into carbon, which is then transformed into diamond jewellery. Functional as well as architecturally impressive the Smog Free Towers enhances the environment in more ways than one. www.vimeo.com/138380728

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8. Jaguar turned the world’s tallest building into an 829m high backdrop for a jaw-dropping projection of the Dubai cityscape, F-Pace car included. Thousands of people turned up to see it live. Watch the video to see what 70,000 LED bulbs can do for stand out in the urban space. www.youtube.com/watch?v=16SQok0Y6kw

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9. Inspired by the plight of the bees, artist Wolfgang Buttress conceived The Hive, a giant, multi-sensory installation that combines sensory tech with 44 tonnes of metal to bring the world of the honeybee to life and educate visitors on the importance of protecting it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEsq8GREX9A

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10. Land Rover’s 2016 Hibernot campaign transformed digital OOH sites into transparent picture frames highlighting the beauty of the winter urban landscape. Cameras positioned on the DOOH sites streamed the hidden views to screen through a CMS that enable creative citizens to apply Instagram filters before publishing. www.vimeo.com/178011887 11. As the world’s oldest advertising medium OOH advertising can be a key link to understanding our local, urban history.

Experience designer Craig Roberts and urban explorer Sam Roberts used light projections to resurrect the past as part of the London Design Festival. Ghost Signs, faded hand-painted advertisements on building facades, were enhanced with a little help from the artists and their projector. www.vimeo.com/183522909

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Interview

Having worked across multiple start-ups Kim Monney knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed in an environment where time is short and the room for error is tiny. What has she learnt so far and what advice does she have for those of us that want to work in this exciting but challenging space?

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Monney Talks What can more traditional businesses learn from start-ups?

When you're in start-up mode there's less margin for error, so you need to be sharp and able to move quickly to adapt to your customers' needs and what you're learning about how they're using your product or service. That means gathering great customer insight, ensuring you can measure everything you do and paying super-close attention to what the results are telling you. Doing, and doing it quickly, is critical. Reframe your expectations on how fast you can make stuff happen.

You once described working in a start-up as a little like going to Glastonbury for the first time, what did you mean by that?

Going to Glastonbury was a life-changing experience for me. It's enriching and life-affirming in the loveliest of ways, but also a lot of hard work in terms of both the preparation to get there and at times whilst you're there. The ups and downs of both experiences were very similar for me. You do, see and achieve a lot in a very short space of time. There are loads of challenges, and there are brief but intense moments when you wonder why you're there, but the rewards make it totally worthwhile.

Is there a common thread or ethos that runs through start-ups?

In my experience it's a combination of determination, belief, self-motivation and work ethic.

What advice can you give companies who want to work with start-ups?

Scale down your offering. Whatever it is, think about what a 'lite' version could look like in terms of both cost and time, whilst retaining the core. Start-ups move incredibly quickly. If something normally takes four weeks, a start-up will want the essence of it delivered in four days and for 58

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“ Start-ups rely heavily on personal networks and recommendations” a fraction of the cost. But get it right, and you have the opportunity to grow your business alongside theirs. Start-ups rely heavily on personal networks and recommendations so word will spread and, by making yourself easy to find, you should be able to build on it quite quickly.

At what point in a start-up’s life does it stop being a start-up and what are the upsides and downsides of that transition?

At the early stage it's about survival, but with the benefit of being a small number of people in close communication who know everything about what's going on.

In my experience, once you're able to successfully sustain a workforce who can't all sit together, you need a process to facilitate communication and other ordinary things of day-to-day working life in bigger companies. While it's awesome to have more people, it's a challenge to adapt to taking care of those people and ensure everyone has a consistent understanding of what's happening.

You’re originally from New Zealand, what’s the startup culture like over there and is there anything we can learn from it?

I've lived in London for five years now so I'm not as close to the start-up community in NZ as I used to be, but I'm aware of some great businesses coming out of the tech scene there. In particular I've been really proud to see the small business accounting platform Xero taking on the UK and making such an impact, with great use of OOH over the last year or so too.

You’ve been a great supporter of OOH, what do you like about the medium?

For people who spend most of their day looking at screens, OOH is the one medium that's there and around you in the physical environment. For online or digital businesses and products, having a physical presence is incredibly powerful.

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Recent research shows that 82% of 16-21 year olds want to start their own business. What advice would you give them to get their ideas off the ground?

1. Do you research and make sure there's a genuine need before you get too far down the track. Don't just ask your friends or people who will tell you what you want to hear. Talk to real potential customers and understand what they need that you can deliver that either doesn't exist or that you will do in a way that's considerably better. Knowing your customers and their true motivations is key.

growth

2. Things that look glamorous from the outside never are on the inside. Be under no illusion about how much hard work is ahead of you. It's going to take over your life.

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START-UPS!

3. If you're still keen then have unwavering belief in yourself, good people around you to help make it happen and support you through the dark times - and go for it! Pin an inspirational quote on your wall to keep you going when the going gets tough. My favourite is from Sir Edmund Hillary: Be determined, aim high.

Aside from the impact of Trump or Brexit, do you have any predictions or things to watch out for in 2017?

I'm expecting to see and hear a lot more about emotional intelligence in the workplace. About how powerful it is to be a good, self-aware human; a great manager who treats other people with kindness and respect, and creates a positive environment in which to spend a large chunk of your waking hours. While we are all incredibly fortunate to be living through and participating in the digital revolution, it's not all about technology. The world is still filled with people and, as mad as this sounds, I feel like we've somehow forgotten that over that last few years.

belIef

Kim Monney

is currently Global Head of Product Marketing for Just Eat

“Reframe your expectations on how fast you can make stuff happen”

networks

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About Kinetic Worldwide

We are the global leader in contextually connecting and activating audiences on the move.

With offices in 34 countries worldwide, we have the scale, partnerships, and location expertise to deliver the most efficient and accountable media solutions.

What makes us different is that we use insights, powered by data and technology, to understand the entire consumer journey, from the physical to the emotional.

And we infuse these insights into everything we do to create innovative, relevant experiences that drive people to take action.

For more information about us, please go to www. kineticww.com or follow us on Twitter @kineticwwUK. We are #ContextHackers.

Editorial Director Christy Johnston christy.johnston@kineticww.com CEO Stuart Taylor Staff Writers Amy Horton Richard Jacobs Dominic Murray Rosh Singh Designer Anna Jarvis Cover Image Anna Jarvis Printed by The Color Company

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