#Consumerism – 2030

So a lot happened in this week gone by. Two big brands got acquired  (Nokia and Vodafone). Smart watches were introduced in our lives. Google had a strategic tieup with an FMCG brand (Nestle), and then in a strange, yet very correlative tweet,  Nokia took a dig at its rival:

So alliances are being formed, and rivalry being defined. It would be interesting to see what the future would be like.

Looking into the future

2012 was actually an end of an era. The end of the world as we know it. 2013 is the year when we are being introduced to newer technology, newer interfaces to interact with different mediums, while the older products and brands are slowly receding to the background.

While a QWERTY phone was the new technology in the 1990s, we are now looking at Google Glasses which can record, review stuff and watches which will help us take calls now, and show us the weather and location apart from the time.

From a behavior standpoint, this is an important shift. Currently, We have adapted to a handheld device for accessing all possible requirements. Technology like Google glass and Smart watches will now, be able to provide the same functionality in a hands free format. This is the next step in technological evolution. We are literally gazing into the future.

Endless Possibilities

While Smartwatches are being touted as the future, they would still remain secondary to google glasses in one main aspect – Audio / Visual content. We are A/V animals. We love to watch rather than read. While a google glass or any similar product will be able to help us show and tell things, the smartwatches can only be used to see or click – like a remote. These two, in all probability, will be paired together in the future.

Since the glass is directly connected to our vision, we (and with it, the brands) will be able to monitor, analyze and capture all that we see. Things which used to go unnoticed, will now be available for analysis. Subconscious behavior would now be quantifiable. This is a golden opportunity for the brands. Right from where to place the billboards, the products in a store, to actually knowing what we are thinking along with it.

Shopping in the future

Lets look at the year 2030. I choose this year because 17 years ago, around 1995, consumer market started picking up the mobile phone technology. And look at where we stand now.

2030 would help us account for a saturated potential of this now futuristic, till then well adapted and well saturated technology. Lets call this super device as the glass. it would have changed forms by then. In all possibility, it would not have to be mounted on our face like spectacles. They might look something like this:

No, the people would not be becoming Saiyans, but this design of the glass allows the device to access not just the vision, but also the hearing (ears), speech and thought patterns (should not be impossible considering we can monitor our heart rates and other body activities from our mobile phones right now).

We, as a society would have changed into a much more consumeristic, and technology dependent one. And when I mean dependent, I mean a common 18 year old (born in 2012) then, could not imagine a world without a LED TV or a phone with buttons on them. They would not have the need to go to school because they could find all information about all possible subjects just by a voice command to this beautiful device, called the glass.

Wired internet would have ceased to exist with Wi-Fi connectivity available like the mobile networks. Phone would have latched on to our wrists by then. All calls would be free as they would be made over the net. Almost everything would be automated with a decline in the areas where manual labour could be used.

Print media would have ceased to exist, as almost all the content would be accessible online. 3-D printing would be a household thing like the paper printers. Manufacturing plants would have dwindled in numbers because of this. Services industries would be booming with every brand focusing more on customer service and post purchase actvities would see a lot of disruption.

Brick and mortar stores would be restricted to huge malls where we would find everything at one place. Most of the employment will be directed towards monitoring programs. Cyber security would be paramount, as all the personal information would be online.

And, we could shop just by thinking about it. Sounds futuristic? I guess not.

Where, at one time, we were scared of shopping online, we now shop using our mobile phones. This change in mindset is ever evolving.

To entice the consumers, brands and companies keep coming up with newer ideas to get the attention of the consumers.

Ebay recently launched an application to make the lives of online shoppers simpler. This smart browser application smartly notices your browsing behaviour and gives you different buying options depending on he product you are

looking at. You can check the app here: bit.ly/eBayCheck_Extention

Consumerism in the future

 Right now, we live in a world where even groceries are being delivered at our doorstep. We can look for price ranges online, browse through the brands, make payments using plastic money, and then get the product delivered at our doorstep. If we do not like the product, we can return it, and a replacement arrives in a similar manner.

Lets try to picture ourselves shopping in 2030.

In this world, wants and impulses would reign over needs. The basic needs would mostly be automated by monitoring the inventory levels of the groceries and automated timing for clothes being washed.

Imagine a common man walking down the street with his  ‘glass’ on. While walking, he notices a shirt a stranger on the street is wearing. From the emotion levels, the glass would be able to know that this ‘object’ is desirable to its master. In a SIRI like voice, it would ask its master whether it would like to know more about the object. If the answer is a yes, it would access online data and show the available options along with the brand, price, any offers and the delivery dates if purchased. Along with this, reviews of the product, what people have said about the product, who are the people in their network who are using the product, and other currently trivial, non tracable, but then relevant data, would be flashed on the screen.

If the man wants to buy any of available options, he simply as to say ‘buy it’, and the glass would automatically make the transaction using the fed in financial data in its system.

And all of this, would have happened while the person is walking on the street, without distraction.

So, in the future, we would be living in a world where just thinking about a product would show us alternatives of what we want to buy, help us get reviews from its users – either reading about it, or getting in touch with them directly, and then a simple voice command would buy the product for us.

In short, Life would be simple, and impulsive. Very implusive.

A brand’s Perspective

In these times, the most difficult part for a brand would be differentiation. Breaking the clutter.

For a brand or a company, targeting is the most important thing. If they know who wants their product, they can direct all their efforts to entice them. Thanks to technology, each of our behavior online gives a good enough description about us to tell them what kind of ads we like to see, what kind of products we have bought int he past, and would want to go for in the future. Now imagine these brands having data of all that we see, and listen to in our daily lives. They would be able to pin point our exact want at the exact time, just by a program in their system. Targeting would not be much of an issue, rather than catching the attention of the consumer.

For this, novel disruptive technologies would have evolved where gamification would be used to make the consumer involved with the brand. Disruptive strategic tie-ups like Google Nestle one, would keep them relevant and fresh in the mind of the consumer.

In the future, Word of mouth would be the key thing for a brand. The more and better talked about the brand, the more preferable it would be. The traditional media forms would have become irrelevant by then, as people would become more dependent on what others have to say about the product, than hear it from the brand themselves, who, obviously, would talk good about themselves.

Also, 3-D printing of the products would also be an option available, hence the brands would be concentrating their messaging on the raw materials used to make the products. Services industry would not be affected by this, though.

In the end, I would leave you with a video which, for a brief second, had actually given me a look into the future. This is a fictitious account of a scenario when Google and Amazon join hands to form what is called ‘GoogleZon’ and take over the world. Hope you enjoy it:

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The views and ideas are purely an extrapolation of technology present in today’s times and what it would lead to in the future. This article does not, rather cannot take into account any disruptive technologies which might crop up changing everything we know about our society currently.

#Ghanchakkar : A Case Study on Product Placement

So, I have been gone for more than a month. Yes, I have been busy and had some work cut out which needed attention.  Whether it will happen in the future or not, I do not know. But one thing is for sure: this site will keep getting its updates.

This article is dedicated to Ghanchakkar, the film. I caught up with the movie very recently, and no, I am not going to write a review. I am here to talk about the most prominent aspect of the movie (at least for me!)  : Product Placements.

Product placements in movies are nothing new. Right from the Yellow Rajdoot of Rishi Kapoor in Bobby, to the movies nowadays where Shahrukh only drinks Pepsi in his movies, we have come a long way. While earlier the brand mentions used to be either sublime, or merged with the storyline, nowadays, that art is lost in the gamut of brand names ready to throw in money to have their product being visible for 2 seconds on the silver screen. The producers too dont mind for obvious reasons. Why refuse money? After all, it does boil down to recovering money!

Amongst those Gamut of movies, Ghanchakkar can be said to be a perfect example of how to do it right! After all, it was being handled by the CEO of UTV himself, the ex P&G MBA – Siddharth Roy Kapur himself. If he would not know how to handle brands, who will? While the story was good, and the pace a bit slow, one simply cannot miss the brands which have paid their money to the producers to get their brands mentioned in the movie. This guy knows how to merge the brands with the storyline. Let me go step by step, rather  bullet by bullet:

• Vogue and Cosmopolitan- Vidya Balan is an overtly, some may say, obnoxiously, fashionable housewife who loves wearing fashionable, quirky, clothes which are in fashion. This includes a sleazy red costume with a guitar sewed on it! What are her inspirations? Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Normal movie makers would just have Vogue lying around in the vicinity of the actors. But Mr. Kapur went one step further where he has Neetu (Mrs. Balan) discussing how Vogue showcases the newest trends, and how Emraan Hashmi never appreciates it. Vogue is the new age Grih-Shobha without which the housewife cannot stay. The character of Vidya Balan is obsessed with her magazines and most of the conversations revolve around her magazines and clothes.
• Sony and Samsung – Lets come to Emraan Hashmi. He is obsessesed with Television. Like any House-Male, He loves to sit in front of his television and laze around while his wife taunts him about it. Now that they pull a heist, he fantasizes about getting a television. Which one? Samsung or Sony? While in conversations, the audience is told about the pros and cons of both brands as Emraan and Namit discuss which TV to buy when they get their hands on the money. Samsung would have a bigger screen, while Sony would have better clarity. Also, Samsung is coming out with a smart TV!
• Fortis hospitals: We all know (without spoilers) that the character of Emraan Hashmi loses his memory. How? Well, he meets with an accident. Ok.. So he must have been taken to a hospital, right? Which one, you ask? Fortis Hospital in Bandra.. the same one in which Amitabh Bachhan goes for a treatment!  When Emraan tells this to his abducters, they refuse to believe him. Why? because it is not possible for a normal person to afford the same hospital as Amitabh Bachhan! But here is the catch :  He validates his point by taking them to the hospital thus making the point that this hospital is affordable even for the normal public. Maybe, they paid the most for their product placement, as apart from the big billboards and 24X7 facility of available doctors, the word ‘hospital’ is replaced by ‘Fortis‘.  Any normal film maker would have simply shown the hospital and the billboard.
• IDBI Bank : Now, this is the most interesting product placement. In one part of the movie, Emraan Hashmi starts doubting his own wife because of his fading memory. He calles up Neetu (Balan) and asks which bank has their locker? He is told that it is in IDBI Bank. He arrives there in an agitated state, and demands to have a look inside the locker. The customer service lady ( who happens to be an extremely attractive lady) informs that since it is a joint account, it can only be opened when both the parties are present. Emraan Hashmi creates a scene inside the bank and is immediately kicked out of the bank by the security guard. He abuses the bank saying “chor hain yahaan pe sab.. police bulaaoonga” and leaves. Here we ” hear a couple of people talking about the bank. “Ye aadmi pagal hai kya?” “Haan. Kitna achha bank hai. Service bhi badhiya hai.. ” and this is said while these two characters are a part of the background in a matter of fact manner. The bank’s service, its credibility, and customer feedback, all shown within 3 minutes of the movie.
• Zee network : The only channel shown playing in Emraan Hashmi’s house is  the Zee Network. The favorite channel of Emraan Hashmi is Zee Cinema where we gets turned on by watching Tarzan starring Kimi Kaatkar. The abductors watch Horscope on Zee news, and talking about the shows showcased in the channel.
• Tata Nano – Nano has been trying to make a mark as the young India’s Scooter. Here Vidya Balan remembers the late night drives they used to take in their Nano, and they later go on a long drive in their Nano too.
• Food Bazaar – The packet of Food bazaar is placed prominently inside the trunk of their bed when Emraan Hashmi goes on the search for their lost money. Maybe, they paid the least. it was visible long enough to register in the mid of the consumer, but not too long to have been though to have consciously been put there.
• THE WINE – Emraan Hashmi is a regular red wine drinker. However, the wine is unnamed in the movie. I believe there was a chance for a liquor brand to showcase their brand and associate themselves with the film. From the looks of the bottle, it looked like a Madera red wine from Sula. Maybe, they backed out in the last moment, and their name was removed from the dialogues.

For all the budding commercial Film makers, this movie should be a case study of how product placements should be done in an overtly manner – Seena taan ke. The brands have been intertwined so well with the movie, that they become a part of the movie. Vidya Balan is inseparable from her Vogue, Emraan Hashmi from his Zee Cinema, Fortis from Hospitals, IDBI from its customer service, and the story from its.. well.. lets just leave it there.

Here is what I leave you with :

Samsung and Dropbox : Strange Bedfellows

Samsung has recently signed a deal with Dropbox which enables users of Samsung Grand, S3, Note 2 and the soon to be unveiled S4 to have 50GB of free storage space in Dropbox  One can access their music, videos, photos and other applications right from their mobile phones. The deal ensures that more of Samsung devices including cameras and PCs will have this pre-installed feature when they are passed on to the consumer.

The new TVC of Samsung Grand showcases this new tie-up and tries to educate the users of having the convenience of a Dropbox account.

Given that the smartphones are becoming increasingly smarter, and the need for users for more storage space is on the rise, this is a very interesting way to keep users happy. Instead of having a hardware upgrade, Samsung decides to strike a deal with Dropbox. Now a Samsung smartphone user can simply drop a movie in their Dropbox  and can watch the movie while on the go on their mobile devices. However, most of the smartphones still use 2G connection. Downloading a movie from a Dropbox account to your mobile phone might take ages. Songs and Photos would be simple enough though. The upside is, 3G is well on its way.

The real fun is in uploading photos and videos directly from the phone to your PC. This would be helpful especially for people who have the habit of taking a lot of pictures with friends and while travelling. Now they can transfer their files directly to their laptops or PCs. Hence, having a Dropbox account on your Samsung Camera would help you transfer files without worrying about storage space in your memory stick and allow you to take unlimited pictures.

While this deal is sweet for Samsung, it is honey for Dropbox. Firstly, being associated with Samsung gives it access to the ever increasing user base of Samsung smartphone users who would open a Dropbox account after buying the phone. The ads showcasing the features of the software gives it free airtime. without even having a media spend, people are being educated about it. The best part of the deal is, its not an exclusive one!

That right. Dropbox is still independent to have associations with other mobile phones. It already has one with HTC One where it provides 25GB of free space, and is already in talks with Sony and other undisclosed companies (Source : http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/27/dropbox-ceo-drew-houston-opens-the-door-to-samsungs-competitors-wed-love-to-work-with-you/ )

So its more of an open relationship marriage where parties are allowed to sleep with other people too. and everyone gets to have sex! 50GB of it. Porn-unintended! 🙂