Paradigm shifts, the ‘next big thing’, world-changing, disruptive, next-generation, XYZ 2.0… superlatives are at home when it comes to digital technology. So, it’s not surprising that most people roll their eyes at the introduction of the next tech game-changer.
With the gift of hindsight, we can see which emerging technologies were worth the hype over the last few decades – but they’re few and far between. The home PC, and in turn the laptop, the internet, and the smartphone: for the general consumer, these are the few revolutionary technologies that have truly impacted the way we live, work, shop and socialise, paving the way for smaller evolutionary trends which dictate our behaviour.
But is it really possible to make predictions on the next big shift in tech?
Well, hold your eye-rolling for now. Because it’s likely already staring most of us in the face.
Virtual reality (VR) has the Ronseal factor: it’s a self-contained digital ‘reality’ which you can digitally interact with.
VR has been around since the late 70’s. The most commonly cited first incidence of its use is from NASA, when their artist-in-residence David Em created the first virtually navigable digital world. But today you’re more likely to find it used for a video game or perhaps a training simulation.
Augmented Reality (AR) is slightly different. Instead of being self-contained, AR superimposes virtual elements onto the real world: it augments our physical reality.
You’ll most often find AR used on smartphones and tablets, making use of the device’s camera. Those social media filters which give you dog ears or a drastic makeover? They’re a form of augmented reality. And ‘Pokémon Go’ uses AR too.
AR isn’t new, but it is being used in increasingly novel ways – and no, we don’t mean the new filters which make you look like an attractively chiselled supermodel.
AR has potential because while VR removes you from the real world, AR supplements your experience with reality – and can actually increase your engagement with the real world.
Imagine, for example, your VR headset didn’t block off your view of the real world. Instead, it’s a set of glasses, much like a normal set of eyeglasses, but provided a digital overlay of useful information. As a construction worker, you could look at a site and immediately be presented with spatial calculations which could help you cut materials to size without needing a measuring tape. As a surgeon, you’d be able to see your patients’ vitals in front of you, without even turning your head. As a consumer, you’d be presented with information about the materials which make up the clothing you’re about to buy.
All these are real examples – albeit mostly in their infancy. But they have incredible potential to become true game-changers with the right thinking, creativity and application.
Through a combination of enhanced engagement and the presentation of useful information, AR’s possibilities are limitless.
We could go on about the complexities, challenges and intricacies of AR, but instead we’ll keep it snappy, as you’re busy holding down the fort in the real world.
Instead, let’s do a quick summary of AR today:
· AR won’t replace computers
While AR may displace some computers, there’s merit keeping most of them. For example, while some companies have experimented with the addition of an AR dashboard in (mostly luxury) cars, this is unlikely to become the reality for the general public – who needs another distraction while trying to navigate rush-hour traffic? A satnav is plenty enough.
· AR is platform agnostic
AR isn’t owned by Apple, Android or Microsoft: its technology can be used in combination with any of the Big Three (and any other brand, for that matter) as long as the device itself is compatible.
• AR is still in its discovery phase
While we’re already using AR on smartphones, this is unlikely to be its final form – the screens simply aren’t big enough for us to appreciate its full potential. There’s so much scope for AR to play with all our senses: haptic feedback (pressure sensing) could be used for us to more accurately ‘interact’ with virtual elements; eye-tracking could ensure whatever information we need in our peripheral remains in constant view; geo-location and movement tracking can even further blur the lines between the physical and digital. In all likelihood, the vehicle for delivering AR experiences will depend on its context and use case – and that’s really exciting.
• AR could see new tech behemoths emerge
The companies who use AR to its full advantage could well usurp many of the larger, well-established players who ignore it. This may seem overzealous, but in 2000, who could have guessed where Microsoft, IBM, or even Facebook would be today?
If technology’s history has taught us anything, it’s that when a new piece of revolutionary technology comes along, it’s true magic is revealed when it collides with culture. It’s the crucial intersection between technology and the arts which offers the most potential.
Right now, the first wave of AR applications sit in two camps: utilitarian or ‘just for fun’. What we’re seeing today is not dissimilar to the very beginnings of an App Store.
The next wave will come when vehicles for delivering AR experiences gain traction, such as the AR glasses we mentioned above (Snapchat, in fact, launched ‘Spectacles’ as far back as 2016). Not only will we see utilitarian use cases strengthen, we’ll also see AR branch out into new markets.
From seeing how much fuel your car has left just by looking at it, or receiving real-time walking directions without ever having to look down at your screen; from your phone notifications appearing in your periphery, to shopping for new clothes seamlessly without ever having to try them on, thanks to a new AR mirror that superimposes new styles onto your live reflection.
These new applications will go beyond making life more convenient: they’ll start to build the standards behind the tech, and ignite discussions about how our technologies ‘talk’ to each other.
As for the third wave… That comes down to data.
Now is the perfect time for brands to get ahead of the game when it comes to using AR in ways that will truly inspire and engage their audiences.
There are limitless opportunities. Why not contact us today at [email protected] to discuss your goals with our team.
This experimental interactive short by filmmaker Ru Howe is one of the first films crafted with trailblazing technology from Bristol based start up stornaway.io which lets filmmakers create story game experiences easily and creatively without coding. Released at Immersive Encounters this week, you can watch it here.
Part funny vlog, part game, the viewer gets to follow Wolfie all over Bristol, on multiple paths through the city – encountering and re-encountering memorable characters across two timelines.
Behind Howe’s signature jump cut editing and Wolfie’s wide eyed vlogging are layered some wonderfully meditative moments and conversations.
Life Moves Pretty Fast was made hand in hand with the creation of Stornaway.io itself. Originally mapped out on Howe’s kitchen wall with pieces of paper, he and producer Kate Dimbleby used the creative production process to design and prototype an authoring tool which would put the creative process at the heart of stornaway.io‘s revolutionary drag and drop vision.
The film was shot in 2 days with a cast and crew of professional friends on a minimal budget.
Life Moves Pretty Fast is designed to be watched and replayed multiple times – there are over 40 minutes of gameplay (if you find all the secret paths!) but allow yourself 15-20 minutes to take Wolfie through 2-3 different journeys of discovery.
If you are a filmmaker or business interested in making your own interactive content, please contact [email protected] or go to the website and sign up for a free 30 day trial and discounted licenses
https://www.lifemovesprettyfast.io
We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Microserve, a Bristol-based Drupal development company specializing in cutting-edge website design-and-build projects, UX, strategy and website support and maintenance.
The acquisition of Microserve further bolsters Investis Digital’s ability to deliver on the company’s proprietary Connected Content™ approach, which relies on building and running intelligent websites and digital experiences that are rapidly deployed and strategically measured, all of which is underpinned by its secure Connect.ID technology.
Don Scales, Global CEO of Investis Digital, said, “As we continue to see an unprecedented rate of engagement online, embracing a digital-first world is paramount to driving business performance. This acquisition reflects our commitment to our clients to deliver against our 24/7 service model and to help them communicate the messages that matter most”.
Microserve is composed of 24 employees and has developed an exceptional reputation for developing robust digital solutions. Its team of accredited Drupal developers is one of the biggest in the U.K.
“We are so pleased to be joining the Investis Digital family, especially during a great period of growth”, said Dan McNamara, Managing Director, Microserve. “The opportunity to work alongside great talent, access a wider client base and use our technical skills to accelerate the Investis Digital vision makes this partnership the right choice. We’re also looking forward to offering our existing clients a greater breadth of services and strengthening our key relationships”
Like Investis Digital, Microserve has a strong client base, ranging from global blue-chip companies to charities, NGOs, local government and more. This portfolio of clients will add to Investis Digital’s own roster of ambitious clients, including ASOS, Anglo American, Rolls-Royce, Ocado, Heineken, Vodafone and more.
Following the transaction, the Microserve team will serve as an additional footprint in the U.K. and will continue to be based in Bristol. Dan McNamara, current Managing Director of Microserve, will take on a Business Director role leading the integration of Microserve into the Investis Digital business. He will be reporting into Adrian Goodliffe, Senior Managing Director, Europe.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The tech industry is booming and we couldn’t be happier!
This has been a challenging year, with people forced into their homes and businesses forced to digitalise at a rapid rate. Just remember: whilst you work at home, hackers are as well.
It’s been tough to keep up, and there’s been a huge rise in malware and ransomware attacks as a result. One in five people feel more at risk of cyber attacks during the lockdown.
The UK industry is rising up to meet this, with cyber tech booming over the last couple of years to be worth more than £8 billion a year.
Now is the time for cyber tech companies to step up and be seen — companies from enterprise to start-ups are looking to improve their security and this is where we can help you. Check out some of our recent articles on how to get started in cyber tech marketing and how to scale up your business.
One of the tools we used during discovery were sacrificial concepts. They enhanced discussion with participants, and provided a foundation for the upcoming design sprints.
Here, we’ll explore what sacrificial concepts are, and why they are useful.
Sacrificial concepts are a tool originally developed by the design firm IDEO. They are used in early research as a stimulus for discussion, and are different from presenting prototypes later in the design process for the purposes of testing or validation.
Sacrificial concepts are:
Sacrificial concepts can be a powerful tool to enhance discovery. For the health and wellness project, they gave us a deeper understanding of people’s attitudes and needs, which enhanced the research insight, design principles, and set of personas from discovery.
We entered the design sprints with a better idea of how much information different people wanted and why, what type and depth of information they wanted, and how they might want to engage with the service.
Mace & Menter are specialists in service design, user research, discovery and prototyping for public services, health and the third sector.
To find out more, contact us on 020 7193 8952 or email [email protected].
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With home internet usage at an all-time high over recent months, I have been thinking a lot about customer experiences. It’s shocking how many online customer experiences are still slow, clunky and confusing. When you pick apart so many customer journeys you can see that many that look good are filled with sticky tape solutions and cracks that are exposed as you go through.
Customer journeys today are varied but most customers now have a low tolerance for friction. Cult make up site Trinny London has a very well-managed customer journey and provides a great example of the customer experience done well. The site has seamless UX that follows the user across channels to remind them what their colour set is, and what products they’ve already bought. Next also provides a very seamless experience across all channels. The company undertook a full digital transformation early on and can now build on a stable platform. But there are plenty of opposing examples. I logged into Harvard Business Review on all devices but when I click a link from Twitter or elsewhere, I’m still asked for login details. Firewalls are certainly a big source of friction for customers.
There’s also Made.com where a colleague bought a rug and was subsequently sent a reminder email asking if she wanted to buy a rug. She continues to receive rug-focused emails even through the same email address used to purchase.
A common trait among poor customer experiences is that nearly all of them are non-linear. They move from social media to an app and sometimes even to human interaction. Comparing experiences makes the flaws of a platform blindingly obvious. Take logging in to Netflix vs Amazon on your smart TV for instance; Netflix makes you use whatever horrid UX your TV and remote have to put in your full email address and password. On the flip side, Amazon gives you a simple code to put into your phone/tablet/computer and that’s it. Putting the user and their real-world context first always removes friction and this is a prime example of that. So, how can businesses strike the right balance between user experience and strong security? When security is linked to respecting your data and privacy, rather than being bloody-minded or a hangover from legacy systems, then I think customers can be more willing to accept a little friction. They don’t mind logging in again across multiple devices if they know it’s for their own security. If not, it looks like sub-standard UX.
Businesses often fall down when apps aren’t comfortable making use of the customer’s device. For example, I have two banking apps on my phone, one only uses fingerprint, the other allows me to use facial recognition which is much quicker and more convenient.
There’s the expectation that if you share a certain level of data with the brand, your experience should then be seamless. It is vital that you are able to deliver and it’s always been the case. How often have you been driven mad by call centres passing you around departments where you keep having to give the same information? If you can convince someone that they will have an easier life because they told you something, they usually won’t mind telling you. In most cases, handing over data is hope over experience. The trick is for brands to give people a good experience from the start, so they understand what they are signing up for and what the clear benefits will be to them.
Really, Customer Experience (CX) should never be a department, but a state of mind across all business areas. The minute organisational structure trumps the customer experience, it becomes sub-standard. You must always remember to design with a customer-first approach – it sounds trite but is still depressingly the exception rather than the rule. If necessary, share your KPIs across business units to ensure alignment, and force silos to consider the impact of their actions. It’s easy to fall into the trap of different business units actually working to different objectives – for example, one team is tasked with reach, another with conversion when the real KPI is sales.
All decisions made should be in order to remove the barriers between the customer and the goal. There’s also a huge value for working closely with customer service. It gives an invaluable understanding of what real people do when they use products, interact with brands, and so on. Businesses should look outside the standard channels for new employees and find people who have lived the life they are trying to service.
This article was written by Rob Pellow for PerformanceIn on August 25th 2020.
HubSpot customer Indicia Worldwide has seen a huge uplift in website conversions after teaming up with Noisy Little Monkey to design and build their new website.
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“Since our new website went live in HubSpot, we have seen a significant rise in the number of visits to the website and also leads coming to us through the website.”
~ Alan Thorpe, EMEA Marketing Director at Indicia Worldwide
Many businesses in the marketing sector have suffered in the COVID crisis but Indicia Worldwide’s new website has bucked the trend by converting more website visitors into leads at a time when uncovering new opportunities is essential in the business service sector.
An imminent rebrand for the global communications agency meant that deadlines were tight but a novel approach proved fruitful. Rather than simply migrate the existing website from WordPress to HubSpot, Noisy Little Monkey spotted the opportunity to reimagine the site and focus it on the Inbound buyer journey.
This required a redesign and rebuild more substantial than the original client requirement but delivered a huge return on investment, initially in the form of a spike in, and then sustained growth in: incoming enquiries, webinar signups, newsletter sign ups, and so on.
The biggest challenge was merging two established domains onto one, preserving the user journey and existing search engine rankings. Indicia Worldwide also faced several other typical website problems:
The team set to work on a series of audits and workshops to help lay the foundations of what a best-in-class web build would look like for Indicia Worldwide.
Workshops about buyer personas and the buyer journey combined with Noisy Little Monkey’s legendary SEO skills meant that the site’s architecture, content and UX were built around the perfect combination of buyer journey and SEO ranking factors.
In addition to the persona workshops, the team ran an audit which researched the client’s competitors, how their content performed on search and social media, and the effectiveness of their on-site buyer journeys. Armed with information about what made their customers tick, our team were able to bed this information into the briefs for the new web design and contextualise the customer journey for Indicia Worldwide’s highest value personas.
Indicia Worldwide had a tight turn around for the web build. To ensure we were meeting the client’s strict deadlines, our team launched the new site in phases. Within 10 weeks, the team had:
Project managing a web build for a global marketing agency which was in the middle of a rebrand required regular client catch-ups. To keep us on track and ensure we were meeting key milestones, our team set-up:
These meetings helped us address the inevitable bumps in the road and when needed, we would go in and run additional workshops with their senior team to reiterate the value of the inbound approach and keep us all on track.
The website redesign and migration project for Indicia Worldwide was more than just a vanity project; with our help they transformed their website into a lead generation machine.
In a six month YoY comparison, Indicia Worldwide saw a 200% growth in web traffic and a 1250% increase in new leads via the website.
Speak to Noisy Little Monkey about how we can turn your website into a lead generation machine https://www.noisylittlemonkey.com/contact/
Our industry has just experienced its worst quarter ever. With almost 64% of panel members registering a decrease in marketing spend and two-thirds forecasting a pessimistic financial outlook, July’s IPA Bellwether Report has given us the hard data to prove what we have previously surmised.
Agencies need to respond fast or risk being side-lined. Three areas where I think we can make an immediate impact are: measurability, speaking the CFO’s language and the contribution we can make to our clients’ bottom line.
Clients are faced with a bewildering range and volume of different agencies and Covid-19 has given brands a good excuse to prune – as Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s CEO, also says: “Sometimes a crisis helps [a company] to be more selective and to be more impactful, to generate internal momentum against simplification and focus against fewer and bigger. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
There’s also a growing threat to agencies of clients bringing elements in-house – both as a potential cost-saving exercise and as a response to ‘always on’ marketing communications. As Laguarta acknowledges: “[through in-housing] we can actually get the same or more value for less money, which is obviously a terrific outcome for the company.”
However, brands disrupted by Covid-19 need transformative ideas more than ever. Agencies are in a unique position. DDB founder Bill Bernbach sums it up well, gendered pronouns aside; “We think we will never know as much about a product as a client. After all, he sleeps and breathes his product…By the same token, we firmly believe that he can’t know as much about advertising. Because we live and breathe that all day long.”
Historically, our industry has not been brilliant at drawing a line between what we do and things the brand’s CFO would recognise and value. We now need to get better at developing this dialogue. In tough times this is harder, but even more important.
As agency people, we need to ask ourselves if we really understand the goals and objectives of the finance people amongst our clients. Have we got under the skin of their targets? These will be different to those of the CMO.
We need to establish what our common ground is and communicate our value in their language. Marketing done well can make a significant difference to a business’ bottom line. You only need to look to companies like Coca Cola to see how the intangible value of its brand value underpins the net worth of the company.
How much of the marketing jargon that we use in our industry day-to-day resonates with the CFO, and, in turn, how much financial shorthand do we understand? If having direct access to them is proving difficult, let’s look to our own resources. Are we making good use of our own finance people, for instance? They have all been schooled in same language – use proxies where it’s helpful to do so.
Equipping everyone with a basic grounding in the business side of the industry we’re involved in is important – a course like the IPA’s Commercial Certificate can really help with the fundamentals.
Demonstrating measurement and effectiveness is nothing new. However, given that client budgets won’t be getting back to pre-Covid levels any time soon, marketing departments and their agencies will be under more pressure than usual to deliver tangible results. That means even greater scrutiny for every pound spent.
We are up for that challenge at Armadillo. Our focus has always been on cost-effectiveness – it’s baked into our DNA . We are lean and results-driven and have consistently delivered good value for clients which has led to long-term relationships with clients such as McDonald’s and Disney. Despite working with a major client in the severely-impacted eating out sector, we’ve seen them double down on CRM activity. For example, while other channels have been cut hard, our budgets have grown. That’s mainly thanks to proving strong ROIs on a continuous basis pre-crisis.
We believe the goal should be to have an end-to-end relationship with customer – tracking all the way through from first point of interaction through to purchase, to help influence the decision-buying journey.
Now is the time for agencies to create clearly defined market positions in line with commercials. We need to fulfil our role of trusted advisors, drawing on and demonstrating specialist expertise, experience and performance. We need to stay focused and be even more open to collaboration.
Whilst this is not a time to be naive, we must also try to balance our pragmatism with optimism. The world is not coming to an end just yet. Take our worst hit client in the travel sector. We prioritised pivoting to meet a dramatically different set of challenges – by thinking like stakeholders in their recovery rather than hard-done by suppliers, we’ve seen projects start to flow again far sooner than we might have expected.
Agencies must keep scanning the horizon for opportunities and be prepared to move the business in new directions to stay in the game. We’ve long positioned ourselves as nimble and responsive – those that can now display those attributes will prove invaluable.
This has not been an easy time, but we need to avoid giving in to nostalgic defeatism. A crisis like this could kill agencies off, but equally, if we could get more on the front foot, learn from past successes and fuse those learnings with the good things we’re doing now, this could also be the start of our renaissance.
This article was written by Chris Thurling for the IPA on 17 August 2020.
Pre-Covid, creative teams benefitted from being in close proximity. This is mainly because one of the driving forces of creativity is (ironically) its infectiousness.
Being part of a creative idea gaining traction – being able to see, hear, and feel its potential – is why most of us do this.
Now, with the panic of lockdown beginning to fade, and the possibility of remote working remaining part of daily life for a while yet, we’ve been evaluating the ways we’ve adapted over the last few months.
While our technology enabled us to switch locations immediately, our creative habits needed a little aligning to ensure a smooth transition.
Seeing people’s expressions and body language is vital when briefing, sharing, reviewing and presenting ideas.
Being able to notice the difference between silence when they are excited and scribbling ideas, and silence from them drawing a blank, ensures you can keep things moving.
Creativity needs energy and nurturing, and audio alone is not enough.
Creating a way to bounce ideas around as a team when our four walls became two-dimensional was an initial challenge, whether they were conceptual ideas, executional solutions or UX planning.
We found using collaborative programmes, especially Google Chat, Google Meet and Google Docs, meant we could share work straight away.
Sharing screens and documents in small groups for live ideation, or sharing screen grabs or photos of sketches in larger project chat groups, ensured the momentum was never lost.
None of these programmes recreate the beauty of walls covered in layout sheets bursting with ideas; but programmes such as Miro allow us to get nearer to the satisfaction of problem solving with Post-it Notes.
It’s easy to become task-orientated when you can’t physically see your team and without strong intentions individuals can become siloed.
But it’s vital that ideas are seen and challenged by others. A fresh perspective will ensure ideas are robust and refined.
We have staggered project team video ‘scrums’ each morning which serve to not only align us to our goals, but also alert us to opportunities to collaborate outside our initial tasks.
When you’re physically surrounded by creatives the unplanned check-ins that occur when you catch a glimpse of a colleague’s screen, or overhear an exciting idea, are often the times when projects gain momentum.
To attempt to create these naturally and informally without the pressure of a booked ‘meeting’, the team is encouraged to frequently share roughs, and experiments either one-to-one, or in small groups, via screen shares in video chats or screen grabs or sketches in chat groups.
When things get exciting and we want to share wider, the seconds it takes to drop a Google Meet link into individual chats is far quicker than running around a studio looking for other team-mates.
All this constant sharing means that the team has also had to allow for calm times in order to focus and produce the work.
We’ve had to become better at prioritising our time; knowing when to ask for time to focus and how ensure others are getting it.
We’ve found that early afternoon is when we can carve out concentration time; and for this isolated working can be a blessing.
The last few months have affected our work lives more than any impactful event I have experienced during my career; whether worldwide, like the 2008 recession, or the more localised and terrible 2005 London bombings.
Everyone is navigating their ‘new normal’ in different ways, at home and at work. This makes finding the right time to check-in and support each other a bit of a challenge.
But I think our communication and transparency has been forced to improve; bringing us closer, and making us far more efficient as a team.
This article was written by Art Director, Hannah Waters, and first appeared on Mediashotz on 15 July 2020.
Do Something Digital is delighted to announce a partnership with Canadian audio guide tech company Spoken Adventures, in a bid to bring interactive audio to the European market for brands and consumers.
At the crossroads between a podcast, audio guide, and adventure game, Spoken Adventure’s technology offers a new way to experience storytelling by playing a role in the story through voice-based interactions. It can be deployed as a location based experience, just like a traditional audio guide, but runs on guests’ mobile devices, and it’s interactive, enabling users to ask and answer questions about what they see in an exhibit or read in print material. The application is geolocalized, and audio content can be triggered according to a users’ interactions or location.
Primarily developed for entertainment, Spoken adventures is also a game engine and can be used to create gaming experiences such as adventure games, treasure hunts or escape rooms. It can also be played from home using print material including books, posters, leaflets, postcards and inserts via audio capsules that are triggered by naming legends written within images.
Ex-coworkers, Paul Stancheris (Do Something Digital), and Eric Marradi (Spoken Adventures) originally worked together on projects at Triotech, a Montreal-based developer of interactive and immersive family attractions including Merlin Entertainment’s/LEGOLAND’s Ninjago interactive dark ride. They continue to be Triotech alumni members, and are both passionate about interactive media, and the children’s media & entertainment industry.
Paul Stancheris said; “we are excited to reunite for this new venture, and I believe combining our knowledge and experience of creating and delivering projects for publishers, broadcasters, and family attractions will provide a unique route to market, new revenue opportunities for brands, and an enhanced customer experience.”
Eric Marradi said; “Simulated dialogue is a great way to drastically increase learning and retention, and it’s great to be partnering with a trusted partner in Europe to help us educate businesses about the opportunities we can offer.”
Do Something Digital is the exclusive representative across Europe, and is currently seeking brand partners looking to enhance new or existing attractions, products and marketing initiatives.
https://dosomethingdigital.com/interactive-audio-guides
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