dirty, nasty, digital

Internet enabled cars

In the first internet bubble there was a lot of talk about internet enabled domestic devices, but somehow the idea of a fridge that could order beer from Sainsburys before you ran out never really took off.

Fast forward to 2009 and BMW have launched their ConnectedDrive, which will be available as an option across the range for German customers. ConnectedDrive is tacked onto the iDrive interface, offering on board internet access for driving apps (mapping, tracking and roadside assistance). It also offers unfettered access to the internet, so you can poke your friends on facebook from a service station or search for Sushi as the charming euro ad above shows.

For safety’s sake you’ll have to be doing less than 3mph for the system to work in the driving seat, although rear seat passengers can use the service in full motion (see more about this in the “innovation lounge”). Critics have argued that this is an unnecessary distraction in the “ultimate driving machine” and that these kind of services can easily be accessed via your iphone or PDA.

Scientists have also been hard at work, with UCLA Engineering's Network Research Lab team, led by Mario Gerla and Giovanni Pauhave working on a system dubbed “CarTorrent”, after the popular filesharing service “BitTorrent”. This will allow cars within 300-1000 feet of each other to talk to each other simultaneously downloading information in the shape of road safety warnings, entertainment content and navigational tools. They say this system could be ready for the market in 2012, there’s more information on the Guardian website.

2009 Digital Trends: Optimisation, Multichannel and Succinctness

  

El Pais 2009 trends predicts that we'll be wearing pyjamas more often in the street

This year is going to be tough for consumers, brands and their agencies. After the perceived “corruption” of 2008 from banks, financiers and failing brands, consumers are looking for honesty and transparency.

Respected Spanish newspaper El Pais (El Pais 2009 trends, via google translate) states that “white is the new black”, with brands looking to distance themselves from the events of last year and white coloured goods dominating recent motor shows and upcoming product ranges.

Amongst all of this there are three key trends that look certain to dominate the digital landscape:

Optimisation

Over the last couple of years, brands have invested a lot in digital destinations and now they need to see a payback. Those big new commissions are getting put on hold as tactical communications come to the fore. It’s about using the budget you have to delivery better a better user experience and better results.

Maths is back with Taguchi, latin squares and statisticians using their insights for multivariate testing across email, landing pages and sign ups.

Planners need to focus on using hard data to free up budget to make business change.

Multi Channel / Multi touchpoint

2008 saw the evolution of complex ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) into softer versions for the mass market.

The best example of this was the Vodafone Liveguy campaign which used blogs, facebook, twitter, picassa and the inevitable google mashup to create a competition where you could win a Dell netbook by interacting with him and following the clues to find him in a different UK City each day.

Another example of this was the Samsung Pixon campaign by Lean Mean Fighting Machine, which wasn’t quite as direct as LiveGuy, but had the multi touchpoint spirit.

The key to these campaigns was 2 way communication (you ask a question, he twitters back), participants in social media are often seeking attention and brands can deliver this in multi-touchpoint campaigns (there's a great slideshare presentation here called "discovery is the new cocaine"). As the dialogue builds online it should resolve offline in an event or real life interaction. As phones get smarter and consumers more demanding, this type of branded entertainment seems a good way to get attention for brands and build relationships.

Succinctness

A long held maxim of communications is to keep your message singleminded, concise and memorable. Made to Stick, a book by brothers Dan & Chip Heath has some great case studies and principles to evaluate and make your ideas more sticky. Among other things, they imply the length of the message is important, but looking at the best performing channels for 2008, succinctness feels like the defining characteristic.

SMS: 140 characters max

Email subject lines: most effective at under 49 characters

Google Adwords: 105 characters (25 for the title, 70 for the description)

Twitter: 140 characters max

Facebook status: unlimited, but generally less than 140 characters

The ability to be concise, descriptive and interesting in short communications environments looks like a key to success in 2009.