PEOPLE’S INSIGHTS MONTHLY BRIEF: APRIL
Part 2: The Mobile & Wearable Web
Introduction Wearable tech is the buzz word of 2015, and rightly so. The fairly new landscape of wearable technology is already dotted with promising prospects. Emerging trends and innovations are paving the way for a more connected, seamless and integrated world. Smartwatches, fitness trackers and wristbands that monitor overall health are quite commonplace today, and are increasingly becoming a part of people’s everyday lives. One of the reasons wearables are rising in popularity and preference is their association with mobile phones and the Internet of Things (IoT). Most wearables, for optimal functionality, require a corresponding mobile app. This close relationship with mobiles makes wearable tech much more accessible and desirable to people. Wearables allow people to know themselves better – by providing insights into their daily habits and activities. In Part 2 of this two-part series on the rising mobile and wearable space, we explore eight interesting initiatives - wearables and mobile applications that are changing the lives of consumers as well as modern business. Click here to view Part 1: The Mobile & Wearable Web.
Why do we as communications professionals need to be abreast of the latest developments in Wearables? Adrian Rosenthal (@neurosenthal), Head of Digital & Social - MSL Germany explains how we can leverage wearable tech to offer value to our clients. His article is filled with key takeaways and insights from the recent Mobile World Conference (MWC) and South by Southwest (SXSW).
Photo: Studio Roosegaarde on Flickr
Wearables – Enhancing the Quality of Life While wearables are still - to a large extent - looked at as personal style statements, they’re evolving to offer more features and value. We’re noticing a gradual but definite shift to improve how people live, work and socialise, especially as the wearable industry expands beyond fitness trackers and smartwatches.
1. Making Events Shareable: Insider Band The Insider Band uses NFC technology in an innovative way to make social events (like music festivals) more shareable. The wristband enables festival-goers to perform mobile activities like sharing photos and checking in to events with a tap of the wrist - without the need for cell phone reception from service providers.
2. Making Travel Seamless: Sesame Ring The Sesame Ring could change how people use public transport. The ring tackles the challenge of having to spend time fishing for travel cards in bags and wallets at subway stations. This invention embeds the RFID technology of subway cards within the rings – making getting access to stations as easy as flashing the ring.
3. Bridging the Gap between Virtual & Reality: Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset Oculus Rift is turning the world of virtual reality around with applications that go beyond gaming - for use in healthcare, military training and more.
Wearables – Pushing the boundaries of Healthcare Health and fitness-related wearables dominate the market today, and they’re predicted to grow. The data collected by health-oriented wearables presents a huge opportunity for doctors and the healthcare community, and enables them to glean better insights about their patients’ health. The healthcare industry is already using data obtained from wearables to a certain extent: research firm IDC says that by 2020, 70% of healthcare organisations will be using wearables for improved patient care.
4. Predicting Epilepsy Attacks: Embrace Wristband The Embrace wristband by Empatica could significantly improve the quality of life for those suffering from epilepsy. Combining motion data with stress levels detected from the wearer’s skin, Embrace alerts the wearers as well as their friends, family members and doctor about a possible epilepsy attack.
5. Making Healthcare Safer: Smart Bandaid Joining the fight against Ebola is the Smart Bandaid – a wearable that lets doctors and caregivers monitor patients’ health without having to be present next to them. This can bring down the risk of contracting Ebola for those attending to the patients, leading to better quality of treatment and care.
6. Monitoring Health from Day 1: Smart Diapers Pixie Scientific, a company that studies biological human data for insights, has created a range of diapers that unobtrusively track urine from used diapers to detect potential irregularities that could point to the infant’s risk of developing illnesses (like type 1 diabetes) and kidney ailments.
Mobiles – Seamless Integration & Impactful Storytelling With more and more of the world turning to mobile phones to do everything from placing a call to tracking heart beats, it make sense for businesses and brands to integrate mobiles into the communications strategy and the product development process to become more relevant to people.
7. Catering to the Mobile Generation: IKEA’S Wireless Charging Furniture IKEA’s new range of furniture that charges mobile phones without the use of wires is a revolution in the furniture industry. With its aesthetically designed furniture that caters to the mobile era, it almost treats mobiles as extensions of our bodies.
8. Using Constraints to Create a Story: Nat Geo Wild on Snapchat Content on Snapchat self-destructs after 24 hours, making the channel a perfect fit for Nat Geo Wild’s campaign to raise awareness about the declining population of big cats in the wild. Nat Geo Wild chose the Snapchat Story feature to show its followers images of big cats – images which slowly faded away as users scrolled through them, never to be seen again.
We hope you enjoy this issue. Let us know what you think at @PeoplesLab.
Nidhi Makhija-Chimnani Director – Research and Insights, MSLGROUP @NidhiMakhija Melanie Joe Consultant – Research and Insights, MSLGROUP @melanie_joe
Wearables Galore – But How Can We Leverage Them in Our Daily PR Work?
Adrian Rosenthal Head of Digital & Social Media, MSL Germany @neurosenthal Based in Berlin, Adrian is a selftracking enthusiast and owns a Nike FuelBand as well as a Pebble smartwatch.
Google Glass, Nike Fuelband or smart watches like Pebble – smart wearable technologies are not just on everyone’s lips, but can also be found more and more on wrists (or tips of noses for that matter). Although Marty McFly already sported a smart jacket, we can’t go back to the future and are seemingly still some light years away from wearables becoming a mass phenomenon. However, they are already more than just a trend or passing fad being hyped by some tech geeks. New products and innovations are regularly being discussed not only in specialized blogs or dedicated tech websites, but also everywhere from the NYT to CNN. Wearables and other new connected technologies are more than just gadgets and an extension of mobile communication: they are the epitomes of a megatrend towards a smarter and connected lifestyle – smart mobile health, smart mobility, etc. – via IoT (Internet of Things) technologies. Thus, even though a majority of people still regard wearables as useless gadgets for self-tracking geeks, there’s no denying that wearables technologies and smart IoT devices are becoming more and more deeply entrenched in our lives. We as communications experts naturally have to be on top of the developments we have to follow and analyze new trends to see how to incorporate them into our work. That is why we attend MWC, SXSW or the IFA in Berlin - that is why we have to be curious about new products and mingle with experts and developers alike.
Top: Nike Bottom: Pebble
Under the impression of both MWC and SXSW 2015, I have also pondered the question on how we can already use wearable technologies – understood as both the trend and actual products - in our daily work for clients. Here is my top ten list:
1. We should be curious guides for our clients and colleagues As communicators with a focus on digital and tech, we need to maintain a curious mind for new technologies. Like we did with Facebook, Twitter and other social networks a couple of years ago, we need to look at how these new technologies change the modes of communications and our lifestyles, test them, work with them – and then share our insights and opinions with clients and colleagues alike.
2. We need to tell innovative stories Wearables certainly have not become a mainstream technology for most consumers thus far. While some question the value, others voice concerns regarding data privacy. Thus, our challenge is to communicate the benefits of these new technologies via creative storytelling and contextualizing these innovations as well as building trust through transparency.
Photo: Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig on Flickr
3. Big Data: Chances and challenges The collection of personal data is obviously a hot topic and a communicative challenge for brands and developers, but big data also offers chances, especially when it comes to targeted marketing and advertising. Furthermore, analyzing user data and usage patterns can lead to optimized and individualized products and/or content.
4. Building a community Many developers of wearable technologies also create communities with gamification elements around their products. Users of activity trackers like Fitbit or the Nike FuelBand don’t just want to collect their own data and keep quiet about it, they want to share updates and compete in rankings with their friends and peers. The creation of communities which enable users to engage with each other not only creates a bond between users, but also between brand and its users. Top: NEC Corporation of America on Flickr
5. Brand love and brand ambassadors In most cases, users of wearables will also become – voluntary as well involuntary – brand ambassadors. They not only share data with brand/companies, they also share status updates, activities, pictures, via Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and thus create buzz for the products they wear and applications they use. iWatch, Pebble and co. also tend to be lifestyle products, which are talked about and also shown off by its owners.
6. “Piggybacking” and brand partnerships Many of the wearables on the market have open APIs which can be used by other companies. Fitbit for example has a multitude of existing partnerships with companies ranging from Weight Watchers to Walgreens. Thus, even companies who do not have their own wearables devices have the opportunity to benefit from these by programming their own applications and integrating their own services into existing wearable technologies. This is something we will likely see a lot more of in the future.
7. Campaigns with a focus on wearables Although the amount of users for may still somewhat limited, some brands have already started PR and marketing campaigns revolving around wearables technologies. Kenneth Cole for example called upon Google Glass users to accomplish a set of actions and document them via Google Glass. Likewise, Nike placed vending machines at certain spots in New York where runners could get goodies by way of their accumulated fuel points. Thus, even though the initially targeted group was limited: Using wearable technologies in a communications campaign is still a newsworthy novelty factor. Once Mashable and the like pick up a story, broad coverage is guaranteed.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns on Flickr
8. Communication on the run Nike is not the only company which has started a context- and location-based communication with fans and customers. Another example is the dog food brand Granata: They put up advertising billboards which animated people walking their dogs to check in via Foursquare to get some samples of the food right on the spot. With the advent of the iWatch and other smart watches in combination with new technologies such as iBeacons, we will likely see a lot more of contextand location-based marketing and PR campaigns.
9. Wearables in internal communications Various companies have already started implementing different wearable technologies as part of their internal communications. Salesforce has started a distinct developer program for smartwatches and Google Glass which has resulted in applications supporting CRM or approval processes. Another example is the corporate health app Keas, which aims at animating employees to be mindful of their health and well-being at work by incorporating gamification elements and incentives. Our role as social business consultants is to be strategic advisors and recommend the right tools out of an ever-evolving wearable toolbox.
Photo: Tayla Lyell on Flickr
10. Creation of own wearable technologies The supreme discipline would of course be conceiving, designing and creating your own wearable device, thus going beyond the programming of an app which can be integrated with wearables. Disney for example is not a brand known for producing hardware and thus being predestined to creating a wearable device, but has ventured into this sphere by launching the MagicBand, which can be used as a payment or reservation device among other functions in Disney Worlds across the globe. Again, cooperation between brands are another possibility here as Fitbit and Tory Burch have co-created and launched a set of wearable accessories. We should be creative catalysts, nudging ideas and launching the process of thinking about potentials and possibility for wearable technologies. ●●●
Photo: General Physics Laboratory on Flickr
Inside Wearables – Enhancing the Quality of Life Insider Band
16
Sesame Ring
18
Oculus Rift
21
Wearables - Pushing the boundaries of Healthcare Embrace Wristband
25
Smart Bandaid
27
Smart Diapers
29
Mobiles – Seamless Integration & Impactful Storytelling IKEA’s Wireless Charging Furniture
32
Nat Geo Wild on Snapchat
34
Wearables – Enhancing the Quality of Life + Insider Band + Sesame Ring + Oculus Rift
Photo: kris krüg on Flickr
Insider band
Photo: Mashable
#ExperientialWearables Being always connected, people have developed the habit of sharing their most memorable experiences with others in an instant. Music festivals see some of the most social and tech-savvy millennials in the world as attendees. Unfortunately for music festival lovers who want to share live updates with the world, the venues for such events are almost always nonconducive to proper connectivity. This is why the Insider Band was introduced to the hugely popular Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco. It works on NFC technology (near field communication).
Video: The Insider Band
Auto insurance company Esurance, in a collaboration with ClearHart, installed eight 14-foot towers with NFC-enabled Nexus 7 tablets mounted on each of them, around the venue. Attendees could tap their Insider Bands to the tablets to share their festival updates with friends, in real-time. ďƒ˜ Read: Why do people share their lives online?
A Tap to Stay Connected Attendees to the festival could register online for an Insider Band prior to the festival and connect it to their Facebook profiles. After collecting the band from the venue on the day of the festival, they could tap the activated bands on the towers to check in on Facebook, find friends at the venue and message them, and also win goodies to exclusive events – all without having to rely on their service providers’ network reception. As per ClearHart’s data, during the three-day festival, 8,060 registered users tapped 29,753 times and uploaded 4,780 photos. That’s a lot of tapping!
Revisiting Existing Technology with Creative Ideas The idea worked because of an intelligent approach to the existing NFC technology – which enables connected devices to establish radio connection with each other by touching them together or being in close proximity. It gave people the opportunity to tell their story in a fun and interactive manner, without having to compromise on the quality of their experience – which is what happens when festival-goers struggle to establish connections on their cell phones. Users could check in and post photos to Facebook, which would also later be available in an online memory bank. Being relatively new, the full potential of NFC technology is still to be realised. It also is an idea that’s scalable because it brings together, in a fun manner, what the millennial generation is most familiar with – experiential events and wearable tech. ●●●
Photo: Mashable Infographic: How to Use NFC technology in Your Marketing Strategy
Sesame ring
Photo: ringtheory.com
#SmartTravel The Sesame Ring, designed and developed by MIT students and the Singapore University of Technology and Design, is an interesting invention that aims to introduce smart travel to public transport systems.
What is the Sesame Ring? A unisex ring that passengers can easily slide on to their fingers, The Sesame Ring is designed to work as a replacement for the CharlieCards that are required to gain access to the trains and buses in Boston. “Having missed the train many times while fishing for our CharlieCards…we looked for a solution in wearable technology”, say the founders of the ring. It’s interesting how the rings are made – through 3D printing, which gives the makers the opportunity to produce larger quantities of the ring quickly and easily, if the idea becomes popular. Video: Learn more about the Sesame Ring
The rings are equivalent to other fare cards and can be used on any T machine that accepts a CharlieCard. These rings are embedded with the same tap-and-go technology used in CharlieCards issued by the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority), the fourth busiest public transportation system in the US. Similar to CharlieCards, the rings – with an RFID chip inside each one – can be recharged at the several designated kiosks across train stations.
Kick-starting hassle-free and efficient travel Born as a Kickstarter project, the idea received several backers on the website, and also caught the attention of the MBTA itself, whose approval was instrumental in lifting the project off the ground. The ring has already become popular, with more than 1,000 rings shipped out after the initial testing. They’re available in several bright colours at the moment, and the makers have promised to make it customisable. The rings are also resistant to natural elements – a feature that makes sense for a product that’s susceptible to significant wear and tear from daily use, in a city notorious for snow storms and strong winds. While the rings can only be used in Boston now, the founders’ goal is to make it available for use in public transport systems across the world, and eventually replace smart cards altogether.
Photo: Sesame Ring on Kickstarter
Photo: Sesame Ring on Kickstarter
Disruption in Travel The Sesame Ring makes for a telling example of how wearable tech is gradually but surely blending seamlessly with various aspects of our daily life. It’s a product with potential for success because it blends utility – which is no longer looked at as an advantage, rather as a necessity in wearables- with style. Experimentation to transfer this technology to more products like keychains, smartphone covers and personal accessories like bracelets is already on. Could we soon see a future where access to public transport – made possible with train tickets, subway passes, etc. – will be granted with our wearables? ●●●
Oculus rift
Photo: Oculus
#VirtualReality Virtual Reality (VR) – the simulation of real-world physical sensations while involved in an activity like playing video games – is a concept that’s been around for decades. One company that’s made waves in this space is Oculus, with its groundbreaking virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift. Designed to provide a fully immersive virtual experience to gamers, the headset boasts of cutting-edge technology that’s changing the face of gaming, and more. How does virtual reality tie in with social communication?
Social giants are realising the potential of virtual reality – which Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift in 2014 clearly shows. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most vocal advocates of the Oculus Rift.
Video: Founder Palmer Luckey on the Oculus Rift
“Oculus has the potential to be the most social platform ever,” he says. “Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.”
With features to match its futuristic looks, the Oculus Rift has been creating a buzz in the gaming industry since the company unveiled the product. Though still available only in developer versions – it’s slated to be launched for commercial sale in 2016 – the wearable has piqued the interests of individuals and corporations alike.
Not Just A Game Anymore Customised tracking technology in the headset allows for subtle head movements of the user to create corresponding movements in the game, making it as close to reality as any gaming experience has ever been. The combination of stereoscopic 3-D viewing with wide field view makes it possible for the headset to provide a seamless experience that has the power to evoke real-world emotions in the virtual space. Though created primarily for taking the gaming experience to the next level, Oculus Rift has the potential to make an impact beyond only gaming. It has already started sharing its technology in development kits with a number of industries for testing and use. Virtual reality the likes of which Oculus Rift headsets make possible could be used in conducting training via simulation for high-risk industrial jobs, providing more efficient customer service, and even in healthcare. Doctors note how simulation therapy can help trauma patients strengthen and rebuild their neurological pathways. It can also be extremely useful in education – especially for remote learners who don’t always have access to classrooms. 5 Amazing Non-Gaming Ways People Are Using Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Vs. Augmented Reality. Click here
Photo: Sergey Galyonkin on Flickr
Photo: Sesame Ring on Kickstarter
Virtual Reality – Potential game-changer in communication? Heightened social experiences through virtual reality will change how people interact with technology and the world around them. It can in the very near future become a part of people’s everyday lives. This also means newer and more exciting opportunities for brands to connect with their audience. Experiential virtual activations with a focus on creating value for the consumer – through innovative and creative storytelling – can strengthen the brand-consumer relationship. It’s not too early for brands to start evaluating the relevance of VR technology for their communication. Virtual reality may just only have made a serious splash, but it helps to be prepared with a strategy in place for leveraging existing messages through this new and very promising medium. ●●● Examples of brands already using Oculus Rift in their promotions
Wearables – Pushing the boundaries of Healthcare + Embrace Wrist Band + Smart Bandaid + Smart Diapers
Photo: Charlie Llewellin on Flickr
EMBRACE WRISTBAND
Photo: Embrace on YouTube
#PredictiveHealthcare Wearable technology has permeated the health and fitness space - there are more health-related wearables today than in any other area. Wristbands that track physical activity are the most common, since they are the easiest to use. Empatica, a company which builds wearables to measure and study the relation between biological signals and emotions, has developed the Embrace wristband to detect seizures in epileptic patients.
A crowdfunded initiative, the idea for Embrace was launched on Indiegogo, and has raised close to $700,000 in support.
Video: How Embrace Works
While it also tracks fitness and sleep patterns like other wristbands, most of the technology is dedicated towards measuring both movement and physiological signs to detect and alert patient about seizures, before they occur.
How Embrace Can Save Lives Embrace picks up motion data from the from the band’s accelerometer and gyroscope and combines it with conductance data from the wearer’s skin. This enables the device to accurately predict the onset of epileptic attacks based on stress levels. On detecting a possible attack, the band sends a minor vibration to the user, which they can turn off if it’s a false alarm. In the event of no response from the user, the band alerts the user’s friends, family members and doctor – through an accompanying mobile app. Users can also set the band to track their stress levels and alert them whenever they cross the levels that are suitable for their bodies.
Wearables – The New Face of Health Medical-quality wearables like the Embrace could lead the way in health technology – the data these devices collect could give patients, their caregivers and doctors highly personalised insights into the individual patient behaviours that trigger certain ailments. By keeping patients up-to-date about the factors that have the most potential to trigger an attack, it also can help improve the quality of life of those suffering from epilepsy. This is one avenue where we will see wearable technology will veer towards eventually – moving beyond tracking to making an impact. ●●● Read: Wearable Tech – Your Doctor’s New Assistant
Photo: Indiegogo
Smart bandaid
Photo: Ebola Rising
#SafeHealthcare The recent outbreak of Ebola and the fight against it has been a complex and taxing one for the human race. With no vaccine or medicines developed yet, the fatality rates have been as high as 90%, and more cases are being reported every day. The ones most at risk are the doctors and caregivers who work at dangerously close proximities to the patients. One of the challenges the international health community faces is safeguarding the health of the caregivers of Ebola-stricken individuals. As of April 2015, as many as 864 caregivers have been infected in the African countries, with 503 deaths. This challenge may just have a solution soon. At South by Southwest (SXSW) this year, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) unveiled a Multisense Memory wearable – one that can help doctors monitor Ebola patients from a safe distance.
Dubbed the ‘Smart Bandaid’, this wearable could be a game-changer in the treatment of Ebola. While working with Ebola-affected patients, doctors note that using medical tools like stethoscopes becomes a challenge, because they bring caregivers in closer proximity to the patients.
Caring with Safety A flexible, sensor-rich rubber patch, the Smart Bandaid can be attached to a patient’s sternum to take a baseline vital rating of heart rate, temperature and oxygen levels, and makes it possible for doctors to eliminate the use of a stethoscope.
This helps caregivers to track patient progress and even administer treatment, all from outside the area of risk. At the moment, the beta version uses a USB cable to transmit data, but the final version is slated to be Bluetoothcompatible. The readings can then be done on a screen in a room that’s at a safe distance from the affected patients. In addition to the specially-constructed suits that Ebola caregivers use, this invention can significantly improve safety of the caregivers. Eliminating the risk of infection puts doctors and other caregivers in a better position to fighting the disease in the long run. The Smart Bandaid is a testament to how far wearable technology has come – from personal style statements to being aides in fighting deadly diseases that plague mankind. And this, is only the beginning. ●●●
Photo: Next Billion
Smart diapers
#SmartDiapers The talk around usually revolves around devices like fitness trackers and smart watches. Contenders in the race for the most innovative technology in quantified self don’t usually involve diapers. Until now. Pixie Scientific, a startup from New York, is redefining the wearable market with its ‘Smart Diapers’ – which rely on data to monitor and detect health irregularities. The data that these wearables measure is one of the most reliable when it comes to studying human health – urine. The technology is designed to analyse the urine from used diapers and scan it to detect possibilities of infections, kidney problems and even type 1 diabetes in infants.
Photo: Pixie Scientific on YouTube
Video: What Smart Diapers is all about
Could this be the product that could establish predictive infant care?
While it looks like any other disposable diaper, the Smart Diaper has several nontoxic square panels on the outside of the diaper, which when wet, react to leukocytes, nitrates and other agents in the child’s urine that are useful in detecting the health of the child. The reaction causes the panels to change colour, and parents can use the accompanying mobile app to scan the QR code on the panel. The app collects daily readings and over a period of time and checks for emerging patterns that may point to health anomalies. If it detects a problem, it alerts the parents to visit their paediatrician.
Smart Diapers – New Best Friend for Parents and Peadiatricians? Due to its feature of daily tracking and storing of data from the child’s urine, the Smart Diaper can alert parents and doctors before any serious illness actually sets in. Pre-empting an illness based on data can go a long way in improving child care at the day-to-day level. Though under testing now, once it is launched for sale, the Smart Diaper can play a significant role in providing better care in NICUs and peaditricians’ offices – which see the most number of infants who are in need of constant health monitoring. The Smart Diaper is interesting in how it turns something as simple as a diaper into a device that brings together wearable tech and human data to create superior services in healthcare – a direction the wearable tech market will increasingly take in the near future. ●●●
Photos: Pixie Scientific on YouTube
Mobiles – Seamless Integration & Impactful Storytelling + IKEA’s Wireless Charging Furniture + Nat Geo Wild on Snapchat
Photo: Helen Capstick on Flickr
Ikea’s wireless charging furniture
#WirelessCharging Mobile phones have not only taken over most aspects of our lives, they’re also changing how the world innovates – innovation to make the usage of mobile phones more seamless and integrated into our daily lives. This is no more evident than in IKEA’s latest range of furniture with wireless charging. They do exactly what the name suggests – charge your phone without the need for external wires or cables. With a range of tables, lamps, desks and standalone charging pads, this new series is IKEA’s attempt at creating perhaps the ultimate connected home.
What IKEA offers
Photo: IKEA
Video: How does wireless charging work?
Made with inbuilt wireless charging spots, each of the items in the range have a plus sign onto which the mobile phone can be placed for charging. The furniture still needs to be connected to a wall socket and isn’t completely wireless in the true sense, but it does eliminate the need for clunky cables for the mobile phones themselves.
The mobile phones need to be compatible with the Qi wireless charging standard to be able to make use of the charging pads. Most smartphones these days come with an inbuilt compatibility to this technology.
Integrating Aesthetics With Technology While IKEA isn’t the first company to make wireless charging products, its entry into the segment may change how the concept of wireless charging is viewed. With its globally acclaimed sense of design and powerful reach, IKEA could leverage this technology to make it a fixture in homes worldwide. It could also come in handy in commercial settings – malls, coffee shops, restaurants – which look to increasing the quality of customer service. Although there’s lots of room for this technology to develop, it’s a step towards making the mobile experience more seamless than it is now. People love staying connected to their devices, and furniture that blends with mobile phones to offer effortless connectivity could prove to be popular. ●●● Different Types of Wireless Charging
Photo: IKEA
Nat geo wild on snapchat
#SnapchatStory More and more brands are waking up to the importance of reaching their audience directly on the mobile – this includes innovating ways of distributing content as well as newer platforms to feature them on. Snapchat is a unique social network for brands to explore. Its feature of limited content storage could help in pushing marketers to be more innovative in their content approach than they might be otherwise. A good example of leveraging this Snapchat feature is Nat Geo Wild’s awareness and teaser campaign for Big Cat Week, their annual week-long event on the channel.
Photo: Nat Geo Wild on Shorty Awards
For five days leading up to Big Cat Week, Nat Geo Wild created a Snapchat Story – a series of images – for each day. The images were of big cats in the wild, and as users scrolled through the story, the images would fade – a hard-hitting symbolic representation of the declining numbers of these animals in the wild.
As each story ended, the screen faded to a black background with a statistic about the falling numbers in the wild. Five different big cats were featured, with a different statistic each day. The message that Nat Geo Wild wanted to convey – that of the alarming rate with which these animals are perishing – was made all the more real by the fact that all stories on Snapchat are auto deleted after 24 hours. The campaign was impactful, with 91% of the users viewing the story to its entirety. Nat Geo Wild received positive feedback as well, both on Snapchat and Twitter, where the campaign was cross-promoted.
Using Creative Constraints to Storytelling Advantage Snapchat has more than a few times been at the receiving end of criticism about the kind of content that gets circulated on the network. It also isn’t looked at as a platform with the power to make a lasting social impact. With this campaign, one can see how even Snapchat – where content is permanently deleted – can be used to create powerful, riveting content that makes people sit up and take notice. It also is an example of how it’s important to leverage a platform the new mobile generation understands and is comfortable with. Nat Geo Wild demonstrated how with the right idea and execution, storytelling can be intelligent, concise and relevant. ●●● Read about how constraints can actually be aides to creativity, in our report The Future of Creativity.
Photos: Nat Geo Wild on Shorty Awards
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.
People’s Lab People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary crowdsourcing platform and approach that helps organizations tap into people’s insights for innovation, storytelling and change. People’s Lab helps organizations build and nurture public or private, web or mobile, hosted or white label communities around four pre-configured application areas: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Expertise Request Network Innovation Challenge Network Research & Insights Network Contest & Activation Network
Our community and gaming features encourage people to share rich content, vote/ comment on other people’s content and collaborate to find innovative solutions. People’s Lab forms the core of our insights and foresight approach, which consists of four elements: organic conversation analysis, MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, client specific insights communities, and ethnographic deep dives into these communities. The People’s Insights reports showcase our capability in crowdsourcing and analyzing insights from conversations and communities.
Thank You!
For more, visit: peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights