EBOOK PREVIEW
There are no longer such things as separate online and offline realities. The digital and the analog worlds are fast colliding. Technology is placing at our fingertips a constellation of information and experiences. 2019 is the year of the Mixed Now, and it’s redefining how we experience the world around us.
Last year, we highlighted six emerging technologies which would impact consumer behavior. Our predictions consisted of an array of technologies with varying degrees of accuracy. In general, what we discovered:
- Technologies which promote integration and end-to-end solutions are going mainstream. We’ve seen newfangled search capabilities and an increasing co-mingling of digital and analog. The tech which begins the brand experience in one realm and ends in the other will form the focus of most of our efforts.
- Consumers gravitate towards technologies which enable “try before you buy” experiences. The emphasis on experience-first marketing is crystalizing into the norm. From innovations on Instagram to the use of augmented reality, consumers demand richer and more valuable content to experience products before purchasing.
- Some of the most exciting and futuristic technology is still a while off. The Internet of Things is not quite here, nor has extended reality gone mainstream, or even the use of blockchain. The dramatic story of Bitcoin is a cautionary tale which has dampened some of the excitement around revolutionary technology.
This subsequent eBook details E29’s perspective on the emerging technology and trends at this intersection of digital and analog. These trends are all having a tremendous effect on the way we conduct marketing. Not only changing are the very items people want to buy, but also how marketers identify, communicate to, and interact with, target audiences.
Looking forward, our main impression is that 2019 herald’s integration and synthesis. We’re coming out of a year which saw incredible experimentation and innovation, but we’re not quite at the point of technological revolution. We have the knowledge, the data, and the technology. Now marketers need to look for the best ways to apply it which make our lives, communities, and environment each a better place.