PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS MONTHLY BRIEF: JANUARY & FEBRUARY Photo: Wonderlane
Inspiring Innovations
Introduction As we welcome 2015 and with it possibilities for a new era of marketing communications, a few questions become more relevant today than ever before: •
What is the next big idea that can redefine brand-consumer interaction?
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How can businesses create more lasting value for their consumers?
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Why should brands and corporations focus their energies on being more socially relevant with their businesses?
With increasing interconnectedness and shrinking global boundaries, it’s an exciting time for businesses to evolve and innovate. In this issue of the People’s Insights monthly brief, we look at 10 inspiring innovations in the space of Mobile, Citizenship and Personalization. Reaching the Evolving Mobile Audience While active presence on the web is high on every brand’s communication agenda, an increasing number of companies are now waking up to the next big platform of advertising –mobile. Making brand communication mobile-friendly has become essential in order to reach the tech-savvy, on-the-go and very busy consumer of today. Photo: Ed Yourdon on Flickr
Here are five companies that are tapping the mobile and app market cleverly: 1. Under Armour - Sports apparel giant Under Armour acquires apps in the health and fitness market, giving it an enviable edge of being in the possession of large amounts of relevant data from its target audience. 2. SAP’s TwoGo - With its carpooling app for working professionals, SAP takes a strategic step towards more meaningful relations with its customers. 3. Bellabeat - There are more pregnancy-related apps in use today than from any other category. Launching aesthetically pleasing pregnancy monitoring products with mobile apps, Bellabeat aims to redefine prenatal care. 4. UberChopper - A case study in reputation rebuilding as international car service company Uber launches chopper services via its app in its city of shame, New Delhi. 5. Snapchat’s Literally Can’t Even - This young app, with its innovative original video series on the mobile, sets the ball rolling for newer ways of content marketing. Despite all its benefits, the mobile, due to its association with the selfie stick – the gadget of the hour – is currently in trouble with museums across the USA. An increasing number of museums are banning the use of selfie sticks in their premises. Will this move affect visitor footfall?
Doing Good It isn’t enough today to talk to audiences about your brand; they want their brands to be more than the products and services they represent. Millennials, especially, demand sustainable and responsible growth from organizations. In the People’s Insights report The Future of Business Citizenship, we found that 83% of the 8,000 Millennials surveyed expect businesses to be at the forefront in addressing social issues and being active agents of social change. 72% of them want businesses to place as much importance on their social impact as on internal profits. Here are three examples of organizations that are going beyond traditional CSR to make a bigger impact. 1. Carlsberg’s ‘Green’ Beer Bottles – Beverage giant Carlsberg ups its green quotient with its plans to create a fully biodegradable woodfibre bottle for its beverages, moving towards a circular economy. 2. The UAE Government’s Drones Project – The UAE Government establishes itself as a thought leader with its Drones For Good Award – an initiative to change the perception of drones and find more positive use cases, by inviting ideas from across the world. 3. United Nations and Their 805 Million Names – The UN’s World Food Programme gets its message across with its thought-provoking new campaign – the 805 Million Names Project. A well-executed and innovative collaboration with soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović makes it one of the WFP’s most buzz-creating campaigns.
Photo: Intel Free Press on Flickr
Making Customization a Priority Not every consumer is alike; needs, expectations and attitudes differ from one consumer to the next. More and more brands are customizing services to meet individual requirements: 1. Health information in Google’s search results - With medical information so freely available on the Internet, self-diagnosis and selfmedication is a rising trend. To help people diagnose themselves better and take the necessary treatment measures, Google plans to introduce superior, more accurate and customized medical information in its search results. 2. Workspring by Marriott – White-cubicled offices are not the norm anymore. New-age workspaces with cutting-edge designs are what Millennials desire, and Marriott with its customized workspace ‘Workspring’ caters to this new and powerful workforce. Let us know what you think at @PeoplesLab on Twitter. We look forward to your feedback and comments, and hope you enjoy this issue. Nidhi Makhija-Chimnani Director – Research and Insights, MSLGROUP Melanie Joe Consultant – Research and Insights, MSLGROUP Photo: Alan on Flickr
Inside •
Under Armour’s Tech Acquisitions
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TwoGo by SAP
10
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Bellabeat
13
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#UberChopper
15
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Snapchat’s ‘Literally Can’t Even’ Series
17
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US Museums Ban the Selfie Stick
19
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Carlsberg’s Green Fiber Bottle
21
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Drones for Good
23
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World Food Programme’s 805 Million Names Project
26
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Google adds Health Knowledge to Search Results
29
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Marriott’s Workspring
31
7
Under Armour’s Tech Acquisitions
#MobileHealth Sports apparel giant Under Armour has been on an acquisition spree – buying three Health and Fitness communities in the past two years. In November 2013, Under Armour acquired Texas-based app MapMyFitness. Now with the acquisitions of Copenhagen-based connected fitness firm Endomondo and San Francisco-based MyFitnessPal, the athletic apparel company has established itself as the player with the world’s largest digital health and fitness community.
The three apps individually have been growing exponentially. Combined, they grew 46% in 2014 and added 100,000 users per day, bringing it a total of 40 million members for the year.
What do these numbers mean for Under Armour and its acquisitions of these successful companies? Valuable Data to shape its Business Strategy These apps and their websites thrive on real-time data – making them a combined repository of big chunks of data from Under Armour’s prime target audience – athletes, coaches and fitness enthusiasts. Analysis of this data can enable the brand to create customized offerings for its audience. This plays to Under Armour’s favour as it looks to transform the way athletes train, perform and live. What This Means for the Competition Under Armour may not be the sole player in the booming fitness apps market, and it isn’t the first sports apparel brand to invest in apps or wearables. But with its acquisition of the three major fitness communities – all with their established user base and data - it has a significant advantage over its competition. Nike has invested heavily in its own family of fitness apps and achieved quite some scale: the Nike+ community is 30 million strong, and individual apps like Nike Soccer are available in 46 counties and 19 languages. Women's apparel giant Tory Burch tied up with Fitbit to create its own line of bracelets that fit over Fitbit devices. The North Face has two very popular apps in the sporting category – Mountain Athletics and Snow Report.
Such apps will only flourish in the future – at present, about 50% of mobile health related data traffic comes from personal fitness apps. At a time when marketers are experimenting with connected devices to innovate and enhance user experience, Under Armour’s strategic acquisitions are welltimed.
How effective are gamified fitness apps? Read here
Click here to read more about the growing popularity of mobile health and fitness apps
TwoGo By Sap
#MobileCarpooling Carpooling – also known as ridesharing, car-sharing and lift-sharing – is a World War II practice from the United States that has become widely popular across the globe. While carpooling has been around for a while, the number of websites and mobile apps offering ways to search for and book ride-sharing options have risen in the past couple of years. The latest in the market is the TwoGo app by SAP. Available as an app as well as on a website, it’s an interesting consumer-focused move from an otherwise enterprisecentric corporation.
Photo: TwoGo
Learn how TwoGo works here
Several corporations register with carpool services for the benefit of their employees. At present, there are dozens of carpooling apps on Android and iOS. Why Carpooling ? • A Green Practice Carpooling is highly fuel-efficient – fuel-wise, 85 million gallons are saved yearly by carpooling - and co-workers sharing a ride eliminates the need of a parking space for every employee, thus leading to a more efficient utilization of land. This also directly translates to a lesser carbon footprint for the organization, promoting growing through sustainable practices. • Conducive to Employee Productivity While carpooling has been known to be fuel and cost-efficient, it also provides opportunities for increasing employee productivity through better internal communication. Co-workers who carpool together get that much more time to get acquainted with each other. This communication outside of the workplace can lead to them being more receptive to each other, which can result in a better exchange of ideas while working as a team.
Read here why carpooling is good for the environment
Photo: TwoGo
Bellabeat
#MobileNursing The market of health and fitness apps is huge, and pregnancy-related apps are one of the most popular categories. On average, 47% of subscribers using one or more health apps use a pregnancy-related app. Bellabeat entered the market with a fetal monitor. In 2014, Bellabeat unveiled its cutting-edge collection of three new products for expecting women. Called Balance, Leaf and Shell, Bellabeat’s new products are aimed at making pregnancy and motherhood a trackable journey. Balance is a smart scale, Leaf is a smart health tracker and Shell is a smart pregnancy and baby monitor.
Photos: Bellabeat
All three products are connected to corresponding apps which monitor the activity of the wearable/useable products. There are similar pregnancy-related apps in the market, though none with an interactive app-and-product feature like Bellabeat. What makes Bellabeat unique is their aesthetic quality – both with the app as well as the products. The products have been designed to look chic and appealing. So much so that one of the products – the Leaf monitor – can be worn as a bracelet, necklace or brooch. Bellabeat’s strategy is a good example in how seemingly ‘techie’ products – like health monitoring devices – can be made more appealing to consumers by (a) engaging them with the product (interactive apps) (b) implementing innovative product design
Pregnancy guide apps for the dads. Click here to know more
Photo: anuncios mexico on Flickr
#UberChopper
#UberChopper As a brand, international car service company Uber is known to be innovative in its communication efforts, and it has been pushing the boundaries with each campaign. Teaming up with EuroCopter, Uber provided chopper services for couples on Valentine’s Day, in New Delhi, India. This comes on the tail of its hugely successful chopper service to the Hamptons in the U.S. Though a first in New Delhi, Uber had similar services in Mumbai and Bengaluru over Father’s Day in 2014.
Read Uber’s announcement of the offering here
Click here for the promo video
The US-based taxi service has been in the news recently for the alleged misconduct with a female passenger in New Delhi. The brand’s new offering, in the wake of this incident might seem like a gamble, but it seems to be working in Uber’s favour. Consumers (men and women) are beginning to welcome back the brand:
Banned on the roads, Uber has taken to the skies in New Delhi to win its consumers back, and it’s a bold move that may help repair its reputation. It’ll be interesting to watch how this affects the brand’s long-term image with old as well as potential consumers.
Snapchat’s ‘Literally Can’t Even’ Series
#SnapchatDiscover Consumer attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and Snapchat’s latest venture into video content drives home this very point. Called ‘Literally Can’t Even’, the social networking site’s new original web series is a part of Snapchat Discover – a digital property set up for creative content promotion. What makes it unique is the length of each episode (4 and a half minutes) and that they self-delete 24 hours after their release. The scripted show, written by and starring Sasha Spielberg and Emily Goldwyn, daughters of legendary filmmakers Steven Spielberg and John Goldwyn, follows the lives of the two protagonists around Los Angeles.
Click here for a how-to on Snapchat Discover
Only two episodes into its release, the series is already a topic of discussion. While reviews range from applause to disappointment, Snapchat seems to be confident in its content marketing venture. Most of the active Snapchat community is made up of teenagers and women, and the brand is targeting their content directly to them. Its split-screen presentation, meanwhile, is an unprecedented step in mobile content marketing, giving it an almost pioneer status. Negative reviews notwithstanding, this attempt at in-house content creation is a smart step by Snapchat, making it future competition for bigwigs like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. 2015 will see several apps revolutionizing content marketing, and Snapchat seems to have set it in motion.
Click here to know more how major organizations are changing their approach to Snapchat
Read reviews for ‘Literally Can’t Even’, or click here for a video review
Photo: Maurizio Pesce on Flickr
US Museums Ban the Selfie Stick
#MuseumSelfies The list of dos and don’ts have a latest addition in the museums of the USA – No Selfie Sticks. An increasing number of museums across the country are banning the ever-present photography aid that consumers have taken a particular liking to. While photography (including selfies) is encouraged in these museums, it’s the use of the selfie stick that has museum management worried. As users of the selfie stick wave around their phones with gusto, it’s the potential damage to exhibits that museums fear. “I’m worried about visitor safety and protecting our art”, says Sree Srinivasan, Chief Digital Officer at the Met.
How ‘selfie’ became the Word of the Year in 2013. Read here
With good reason too – in January 2015 alone, the camera equipment company iStabilizer claims to have sold over 15,000 selfie sticks. And that’s a conservative figure considering the number of companies who sell this accessory worldwide. The actual figure could be closer to hundreds of thousands. Waving goodbye to free word-of-mouth? While visitor and exhibit safety is a valid concern, it raises one question – are museums saying no to instant and free advertising, as people upload their selfies to their social networks? Selfies have taken over popular culture, and equipment that lets people take clearer and more defined selfies is here to stay. It rings true especially for museums as more and more tourists carry selfie sticks to capture their moments at tourist attractions. Selfies tend to spill over to multiple platforms. A quick search on Instagram shows more than 200 million photographs with the #selfie hashtag. With the reach of user-generated content today, the selfie has the potential to be a free advertising tool with a lot of power. Such voluntary endorsement by people carries more value for the general public. Instead, a middle-ground that lets visitors use their selfie sticks with some boundaries could be advantageous for museums in the long run.
Read here about how brands on Facebook are using selfies as a marketing tool
Read Why Millennials Take Selfies
Photo: Floris Oosterveld on Flickr
Carlsberg’s Green Fiber Bottle
#SustainableInnovation Carlsberg, as a participant on Wasteless Supply at the World Economic Forum in Davos, announced that it will be developing the first ever fully biodegradable bottle for its beverages. Partnering with packaging specialists ecoXpac, Innovation Fund Denmark and the Technical University of Denmark, Carlsberg hopes to bring the product to the market in the next three years. This is a significant step for the company towards a commitment to sustainable development. Called the ‘Green Fiber Bottle’, it is proposed to be made from sustainably sourced wood-fiber.
Click here to learn about Carlsberg’s Circular Community
One of the largest brewery groups in the world with 500 beer brands to its name, it makes sense for Carlsberg to adopt a greener production technique. Especially since packaging accounts for 45% of the group’s CO2 emissions, according to its annual report. Moving towards a circular economy is a trend that’s picking up amongst corporations. In addition to contributing to a more eco-friendly economy, sustainable innovation also helps in gaining consumer trust and loyalty in the long run. If Carlsberg’s Green Fiber Bottle proves successful, it has the potential to become the next economically viable trend that could change the FMCG industry.
Photo: 8#X on Flickr
Drones For Good
#DronesForGood Since their invention, drones have been associated with warfare, espionage and other undercover military operations. People – the common man and those in the government alike – have been wary of drones. While drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are most used in combat today, they also have the potential for making human lives less complex and more efficient. There’s a need to bring about a shift in the current perception about drones. And that’s what the UAE Government attempted to do with its Drones For Good Award.
Launched in October 2014, The UAE Drones For Good Award was a contest run by the UAE Government, calling innovators to submit working prototypes of drones that could be developed into fully functional systems within the next three years. This social innovation campaign initiated by the UAE Government aims to raise awareness about the positive benefits of this cutting-edge technology, and to collaborate with the brightest minds for groundbreaking innovation. “We want to reach to people before they reach us. We want to save time, to shorten distances, to increase effectiveness and to make services easier.”, said Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai while launching the award.
Participation was open to International and National audiences and those employed with the UAE Government. With a prize money of US $1 million and AED 1 million (for the National participants), the contest saw participation from across the globe. The winners from each of the categories were announced on February 8 th, 2015 at the final event.
Read more about the Drones For Good Award here
Click here to view the winners
The mention of drones usually raises red flags – concerns about privacy and safety of civilians and governments. There’s no denying though that these machines in the sky will become a common sight in the coming years. According to one estimate, there could be as many as 30,000 drones (small and big) in the American airspace by 2020. Drones can be used to provide real-time aid to areas affected by international crisis. It can also benefit daily human lives in unprecedented ways. E-commerce giant Amazon, for example, is looking into ways to use drones for quicker deliveries to customers – an astounding 30 minutes from placing the order!
This initiative by the UAE Government is noteworthy for its effort at rebuilding the image of drones in the public mind. More awareness of the good these machines are capable of can lead to more minds coming together to facilitate that good. The Drones for Good Awards is seen as a social and scientific initiative for the larger benefit of humanity - a step that positions the UAE Government as a supporter of tech innovation.
See: Zephyr – the drone that broke records for the longest high-altitude flight
Click here for an infographic on the future of drone delivery
See how farmers are using drones for agriculture here
View the full infographic: The Big Business of Consumer Drones by Jabil
WFP’s 805 Million Names Project
#805MillionNames ‘805 million people are suffering from hunger today. Make sure the world knows.’ With a call-to-action like that, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strikes the right chord in its brilliant new 805 Million Names Project. Partnering with soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović, striker for Paris-SaintGermaine and captain of the Swedish national team, the WFP unveiled the campaign during a match Ibrahimović was a part of, which also happened to be on Valentine’s Day. What’s made the campaign stand out is the advertising medium – Ibrahimović’s body which was tattooed with 50 names – a symbolical representative of the estimated 805 million people affected by hunger globally. And his Twitter account which is followed by 2.47 million people.
Photo: World Food Programme website
Watch WFP’s video about the campaign
While advertising on human bodies – what came to be known as ‘skinvertising’ – is not new, the scale on which this has been executed has the potential to create a lasting impact.
Ibrahimović revealed the temporary tattoos on his body to a wave of applause from the audience. With the fan base he has, his endorsement of the cause will not go unnoticed. “Each one of the 805 million people suffering from hunger in the world has a name, a voice, a story to share,” says Marina Catena, WFP Director for France and the Principality of Monaco. “Zlatan accepted the challenge and wished to carry their stories on his own skin so that the world does not forget them.”
Read Japan’s version of ‘skinvertising’ - advertising on women’s thighs, here
Meet the people who’ve been ‘branded for life’ with body advertising. Read more here
With this campaign, the WFP hopes to highlight the work it has been doing in crisis-affected regions of the world, and also encourage more people to join the fight against hunger.
The campaign does not end with the tattoos though. Ibrahimović, on his Twitter account, posted a photograph of the shoe he’ll be wearing for his next match, with ‘805 Million Names’ engraved on it. He has received an outpouring of positive response from his fans on the social networking site. Such innovative approaches to reaching people are essential for organizations that typically struggle for a share of attention on the common man’s several screens.
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For an interesting look at how unconventional modes of advertising have been used, click here
Google Adds Health Knowledge to Search Results
#EvolutionofSearch The data shows it – more and more, people are going online to learn about their health, sickness, symptoms, treatments and so on. 1 in 20 searches on Google are related to health - that’s about 175 million searches on health every day. It’s easy to understand why – it’s quick, convenient and cheaper than visiting the doctor, and there are millions of web pages offering answers. The trend is continuing, but raises worries about the quality of information people are using to self-diagnose and self-treat.
See: Are you a Google hypochondriac?
To address this problem, Google will soon offer higher quality information about symptoms and treatment alongside search results. This information will be vetted by its own doctors and doctors from MayoClinic, and will be accompanied by illustrations commission from licensed medical illustrators. A disclaimer reminds people to consult doctors for advice. It’s an interesting move, and pits Google against the likes of search giant Wikipedia and medical website WebMD.
Photos: Search Engine Land blog
Read Google’s blog post announcement here
For more about Google’s knowledge graph efforts, click here or watch a video
Marriott’s Workspring
#InspiredWorkspace ‘A day at the office’ today looks a whole lot different than it did decades ago. As professional lives see shifts from the mundane to the more interesting, workspaces aren’t left behind. As the trend is veering towards alternative workspaces, cubicles are being replaced by more innovative designs. Catching up to the need for workspaces that offer more flexibility, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, the signature brand of Marriott International, has introduced ‘Workspring’ - a new-age meeting space for small and large business groups as well as individuals.
Watch a video about Workspring
Collaborating with workspace design expert Steelcase, Marriott provides integrated spaces and common areas in Workspring. With features like ergonomic seating, natural light and individual as well as community spaces, the aim is to create a work environment that’s highly conducive to creative productivity. A combined survey by WIRED and Marriott Hotels & Resorts says that 48% of the people they polled feel they are more productive when they work remotely, while others felt they have unmet needs when working remotely.
The New-Age Workspace The survey results clearly show that more and more people are embracing the working-without-boundaries style, and expect workspaces that facilitate a transformation in how they meet, collaborate and innovate. This holds true especially for Millennials, who come with a different set of work ethics than previous generations. The demand for the inspired workspace will continue to rise, and Marriott’s offering with Workspring couldn’t have come at a better time. Adapting workspaces that have the potential to lead to better employee productivity and wellness is a priority corporations need to make.
Have a look at the 12 coolest offices in the world, here See: What Millennials Want in a Workspace here
Photo: Marriott website
People’s Insights – The Voice of SPRINT People’s Insights is a collection of inspiring initiatives, insights and foresights shared by MSLGROUP’s SPRINTers – our global team of 100+ strategic planners, researchers and insights experts. People’s Insights covers the latest trends in engagement on both consumer and corporate sides. We feature the best of these initiatives as People’s Insights monthly briefs, and original insights and foresights – from our SPRINTers and other MSLGROUP experts - in our People’s Insights reports. We share these on our social platforms and distribute freely to inspire more engaging campaigns. Check out our latest report, The Future of Creativity:15 drivers for engaging creatively in 2015. * People’s Insights is available as a blog, powerpoint decks, infographics, white papers and magazines, a Kindle eBook and even an iPad app. Follow us on Twitter at @PeoplesLab or subscribe to our newsletter to receive our monthly briefs and quarterly magazines.
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