Marketers relying more on blogs in the business world

Although Facebook and Twitter are highly rated from internet consumers, blogs are the standard approach for marketers in the business world (b2b).

eMarketer just released a study that states 34% of all US companies are running a public blog. The outlook for 2012 is even more promissing: The study projects an increase by 11 points to a total of 45% by 2012. In 2007 only 16% of companies used a blog for their communication strategy.

“Studies have shown that marketers perceive blogs to have the highest value of any social media in driving site traffic, brand awareness, lead generation and sales—as well as improving customer service.” Paul Verna, senior analyst, eMarketer

Especially smaller companies with less marketing bucks see the potential of blogs. Short sign-of processes, faster internal dynamics and more flexibility in choosing social technology make it easier for a managing director of an SMB company to set up a blog. Larger companies like stock listed companies have more restricted options to go live on Wordpress, Blogger or Typepad in terms of potential legal, IR-related and logistical issues.

Though Twitter and Facebook are easier to set up and kick off the conversation with clients, the impact of blogs is manifold. Blog posts are indexable and searchable on Google as well as on other search engines. And blogging has a long-lasting effect. While tweets cannot talk about complex topics and disappear quite quickly from search engines, blog post stay – no matter if you are looking for that information today ot in five years time.

Spot On!
If companies can manage it from a resources perspective, the best way to go forward is to set up many social media access points. The professionals have identified by web analysis and social media monitoring where client engagement takes place and where their clients are talking. In a perfect world, users will find the blog post via Twitter and then use the “Like” button to get to the Facebook page – and ideally find some interesting and relevant content there again. But creating different content for different access points is the biggest challenge…, bigger than writing a blog post. Don’t you think…?

Social Media oder die Qual der Wahl

Wir haben gestern einen Ausflug gemacht. An den Tegernsee, denn wir lieben die Bergregion um München. Schöne Berge, traumhafte Natur und auf den Almen immer nette Menschen und leckeres Essen. Aber eine Sache macht uns immer wieder zu schaffen. Die Qual der Wahl… Die Qual der Wahl, welche Hütte wir diese Wochenende “bewandern”. Welchen Weg wir nehmen sollen. Oder, welches Essen uns wohl am meisten ansprechen wird, wenn wir oben auf dem Berg angekommen sind. Und selbst wenn wir es wissen, lesen wir die Karte und sehen immernoch vor der Entscheidung … oder haben weiterhin die Qual der Wahl.

Eine große Auswahl zu haben, ist eine schöne Sache. Man könnte sagen, ein Luxusproblem… Aber wie auch schon Miriam Meckel in ihrem Buch Das Glück der Unerreichbarkeit klar macht, ist die Qual der Wahl eine unserer größten Herausforderungen der Zukunft. Viele Sachen stimulieren uns, viele Sinne rühren uns, viel Auswahl verwirrt uns. Ohne Filter wird alles zu einem einzigen Chaos.

Wir lieben es Karten zu lesen, die eine große Auswahl bieten und soind enttäuscht, wenn die Karte nur klassische Breotzeit offeriert. Es sei denn auf der Hütte, wo die Brotzeit zu einem kulinarischen Highlight avenziert. Und wie es immer so ist, scheint der Hunger und die Begeisterung größer als das Bedürfnis. Die Qual der Wahl wächst…

Warum erzähle ich das alles?

Manchmal möchte ich nicht in der Haut von den Leuten stecken, die ich so berate oder beraten habe in den letzten Wochen und Monaten. Social Media Marketing scheint einen ähnlichen Effekt auf Marketing-, PR-, HR- und Customer Service Manager zu haben.

Die Qual der Wahl stapelt sich für sie in Form von zahlreichen Fragen…

- Nutze ich Social Media überhaupt? Eine Wahl, die eigentlich keine mehr sein sollte…
- Bleibe ich besser bei meinen Leisten und erklimme nicht die Höhen und Tiefen der modernen Medien?
- Welche Kommunikationmedien nutzt meine Zielgruppe (am liebsten und in 5 Jahren noch)?
- Welche Plattform schmeckt mir (Benutzerfreundlichekeit, Usability, Technik) am besten?
- Welche Plattform oder welche sozialen Medien ist/sind für mich zielführend?
- Kann ich eine Strategie, die meisten meinen eher eine taktisches Vorgehen, eines Mitbewerbes adaptieren?
- Geht die Geschäftsführung d’accord mit einer unstrategisch wirkenden Trial-and-Error Phase?
- Welche Tools, Taktiken und Trends nutze ich um meine Botschaften anzubringen?
- Wie und womit hört man eigentlich am besten in die Zielgruppe rein?
- Wie kommunizire ich und mache die Marke menschlich?
- Mit welchen Techniken oder Apps erhöhe ich meinen ROI-Output?

Die Qual der Wahl ist wie ein unbewanderter gebirgiger Waldweg. Man muß sich ab des Weges der Konformität wandern und testen, wenn man dann doch mal mit Ruhe einen klaren und zielführenden Gedanken fassen will.

Ein paar grundsätzliche Fragen, die man sich machen sollte…

- Wer ist meine Zielgruppe und wie ist sie im Social Web heute und morgen unterwegs (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z)?
- Wann soll mein Auswahl Erfolg zeigen? Deklinieren Sie vom kleinsten gemeinsamen Nenner der Unternehmensziele (Markenbildung, Engagement, Leads, Umsatzzahlen…
- Was schränkt mein Vorgehen (One-Voice Policy, Kunden Status Updates, Kommentare oder Posts) mit den sozialen Medien aufgrund business-strategischer Vorgaben ein?
- Warum scheinen soziale Medien für meine Zielgruppe am aussichtsreichsten? Eine gute Analyse der Erfolgssäulen gehört vorangeschaltet, um Kosten, Personalaufwand und sonstige Resourcen abschätzen zu können…
- Wie setze ich die sozialen Kommunikationskanäle Blog, Twitter, Faceboook, Youtube oder XING/LinkedIn zukunftsträchtig als Informationsmedien auf, wer testet und wer optimiert? Wie kann hieraus ein steter Prozess entstehen?

Vielleicht bietet der Post eine Leilinie zur Entscheidungshilfe. Falls nicht, sagen Sie mir, wie sie mit der Qual der Wahl umgehen oder umgegangen sind. Die Diskussion ist eröffnet…

My Starbucks Case Study – Connecting Offline and Online

One of the famous examples we all hear when we join webinars and seminars on how to leverage your brand with social media is Starbucks. Starbucks is using Facebook and Twitter for customer care and yes, we can say that to increase sales. Case studies are a lot on the web and I often talk about them in my presentations. Asking my self if there is way to improve for Starbucks when connecting offline and online…

Now, sometimes you become part of a learning curve for brands as a prosumer. It happens quicker than you want or expect. And it happened to me at my last Starbucks visit.

When I was paying my bill, the friendly women at the counter started talking about my nice netbook. She was actually getting me inside of a comfortable small talk that was obviously intended already before I accessed their coffee shop. It is a part of their customer care strategy which connects offline and online in an interesting way.

When the cash desk threw out my receipe, the woman gets a smile on her face. She cut in our conversation with a “Hey, Congratulations! You have just been selected to take part in our customer online survey“. She hands over the recipe and explains that I have to answer some question and then will get a coupon for a free tall drink. I thought for myself “Nice idea!”, let’s see if they connect it with their social media efforts.

Now, obviously they were lucky in some way that I am a (business) blogger and always pay attention to such efforts of companies to look after their customers. I do not know whether she saw that I have logged in on that Starbucks shop via Foursquare while standing at the cash point. That would show how well trained the people at Starbucks are. She definitely knew that I will be working and going online during my stay in their shop. If the cash maschine has a customer care survey button, I don’t know. Anyway…

So, I took the survey and thus can interpret from their questions that there is an intention to get customers into a conversation. “Cluetrain in the offline world” comes to my mind. The survey itself is a normal five minutes multiple choice research. Nothing special. In the end, I get the code for my free drink, write it on the coupon and get my drink. Their customer care process works!

Spot On!
Now, why do I write about this experience? Starbucks is said to have a good social media approach -some might call it strategy- to work with their customers. But when the survey was done, I was surprised that I did not find a button to become their “fan” on Facebook. Which actually would lead me a step further in their process to think about their customer care card (see their app promotion). Or to become a follower of their Twitter account, so I can spread the word about my free drink and praise their cool customer service approach. And now, I am asking myself, is it better that they don’t ask for too much brand commitment. Or is it normal to give when you get? Maybe you can help my find an answer…

News Update – Best of the Day

Just some weeks ago, I have been talking about the idea of replacing loyalty cards by social networking customer service to drive customer engagement. Now, the New York Times has extended the idea by the integration of location-based advertising using Foursquare… and of course replacing loyalty cards by social networks activity and mobile apps. The idea seems to be moving from trend to standard…

Often the question comes up which brands are the most valuable in the world. Millward Brown’s Optimor BrandZ Top100 Most Valuable Global Brands report gives us some insight. The key findings…

- Google is the most valuable global brand worth $114 billion (2nd is IBM with $86 billion, 3rd Apple with $83 billion, Microsoft was fourth with $76 billion.
- Social Media is a winner: Facebook has a brand value of $5.5 billion. Use of social media was a key trend across many of the successful brands this year, i.e. HSBC’s Expat Explorer online community.
- Strong brands such as Samsung (80% growth in brand value) and Starbucks (17% increase) are evidence that businesses with strong brands recover from adversity faster.

Heineken commercials know how to dive into the hearts of their main target group. “Men with talents” is another fantastic example after their “walk in fridge” idea… Sorry ladies, but we man love it!

5 strategic reasons why brands need a mobile app

Many companies ask themselves whether it makes sense to set up a mobile app. Now, often customers may ask themselves if their needs or the business interest of the company is the main driver for this decision. One thing is for sure: Mobile Apps and the mobile web, not just because of the iPad hype, are getting more and more attention from a business perspective – from companies and brands as well as from prosumers.

But apps are not completely undisputable as a verhicle for company content. Some people are already talking about an apps economy and argue apps are “valled gardens”, going against the ideology of the web 2.0 and provide content censorship. Others appreciate the user-friendly approach they offer. App developers -according to a study by Appcelerator- are more and more interested in Android then in iPhone or iPad development. And another study shows that the user adoption of apps is comparable for both systems.

The discussion about the relevance, necessity and sustainability of mobile apps will continue. The hype is there and cannot be mistaken. This is the main reason why companies think about setting up an app. But before companies start to set up an app, they should be thinking about the customers intention to use such apps. In the end, apps serve the brands interest to keep customers and make them happy with their products.

In the last days, I have set up 5 reasons why companies should produce an app for their brand, product or service as an important tactic for customer engagement.

1. Trendsetter
Innovation is the quicksand for the future of a brand. Is a company’s strategic orientating going in the direction of an outstanding position for market development, the mobile app is expected internal and external. If the external perception by customers is similar, no company will miss the permanent access opportunity to talk communicate with their customers. Especially when the brand can offer all news to the customer any time, any place, anywhere in short and essential information flow – without any possibility of distraction that the web 2.0 offers. And, only customers that see themselves as trendsetters follow the news of a brand in real-time.

2. Brandsetter
Being the first and best brand is and was always a competitive advantage – not only in the real-time web (see Starbucks, Dell, Amazon, Spreadshirt, etc.). It generates powerful PR and the wonderful buzz effect of the social web community. In a competitive market landscape brands need to have a closer look at their presence and sustainability. The omni-presence and power of a brand can be optimized with as mobile app. Especially, in a consumer engagment driven economy marketers often asked: “What’s the latest cool app?” As soon as you show it to them, the app is being downloaded, tested and gets (in most cases) feedback by reviews. It climbs up in the app ranking and gets the desired brand attention from the app economy.

3. Fansetter
As brands are becoming more and more exchangable, the prosumer is more likely to swap from brand to brand. What Facebook offers with their Facebook ad strategy (including fan pages), is the app for the mobile user. It is a closed surrounding for interaction between customers and brands, in which brands can concentrate in the customer dialogue. Customers who “like” their brands will take time for it (even flyers and catalogues are used as cross-selling products and get their awareness) and want to be the first to know. In the past, Nokia and the symbian system owned the market. The iPhone has revolutionized this market. Android followed and offers some good alternative for the future. The choice for a mobile is changing quickly. Brands who want to keep their fans need to offer an app for all systems.

4. Standardsetter
Brands that want to keep their market leading position should set a standard. They can set up “rules” (standards) for industry sector processes, or may be offer those to the market. Often these lead to common sense standards which supports convergent markets and boost the brand. This applies for communication, product development and customer service. And although companies might learn from the mistakes of the competitors, the question is: Why not setting the standard for the competition? This is the idea of the web 2.0 ideology. Nothing is perfect from the beginning. if something is missing, it can be optimized, adjusted or set up anew – from the brand itself or from the community of the prosumer.

5. Servicesetter
24/7 service and support is a set standard for the modern customer. The more mobile the humen being becomes -not only in terms of web usage- the more it is awaiting the ‘always-on’acces to brand service. And the quicker the prosumer finds relevant data like hotlines, the happier he/she will be. An example? OK. This week, my wife called meand said: “Hey, you have the Nespresso app. Can you tell me their service hotline? The mashine is broken…” – “Sorry Darling, I can see their latest commercial, can buy tabs, etc. – but the hotline number is nowhere here…!”. Interested to see if Nestle understands what I mean (I doubt they will reply. On XING there was no feedback for weeks when I send them a message).

Spot On!
37% of smartphone user have bought with their mobile in 2009 according to a Compete study. And 91% of the Americans use mobile devices for social networking. if this is not enough to see where the trend is heading to, then I maybe misunderstanding the future and necessity for apps there.

BTW: The Strategy Web also has mobile apps which were nicely produiced by Motherapp – one for Android and one for the iPhone. THX, guys – you are doing a great job!

Study: The importance of cross-channel sales

Most companies wonder how the purchase funnel looks like when consumers evaluate products they think about buying. A recent study from ATG helps: 30% of consumers reach out to more than three commerce channels to research a product and make a purchase. This shows that retailers and merchants need a broader cross-channel approach to boost sales and enhance customer purchase decisions.

The consumer study found that more than three-quarters of consumers use two or more channels and nearly one-third work with even three or more channels to research and purchase products. While we have all expect that mobile use and social media find their way into consumers’ online commerce activities, it is surprising that traditional catalog channels are still popular.

“Merchants have heard the call for a stronger cross-channel strategy for many years, but what has been lacking is a deeper explanation about why this is so important. We are seeing a multi-channel revolution now, with a vast majority of consumers using multiple channels and now almost one-third actually relying on three or more channels to complete transactions. Retailers must direct their energy toward fulfilling the unique role and sales potential of each channel. This research illuminates the expectations consumers have for the Web, call centers, the store, catalogs, and email.”
Nina McIntyre, Senior Vice President Marketing and CMO, ATG

The key findings of consumers’ cross channel experiences…

- 78% use two or more channels to browse, research and make purchases; 30% said they use three channels or more

- 78% of all consumers say they use catalogs to browse and research products or services at least four times a year BUT 40% of those consumers never purchase products or services through catalogs.

- 43% start their research online or with mobile devices. BUT They need to call customer service or call center representative to complete the transaction because the product or service information cannot be found online!

- 39% browse via the online or mobile channel and then make purchases in the store because they prefer to touch and feel the product – reason for 36% is product and brand comparison

Interesting findings on mobile commerce (emphasis on the 18-34 age)…

- 27% of all consumers 18 and older use their mobile devices to browse or research products and services at least four times a year, and that number jumps to 41% for the 18-34 year-old age group

- 13% of all consumers 18 and older and 23% of the 18-34 age purchasing at least four times a year via their mobile devices; 8% of the later are doing it weekly

Spot on!
The study highlights how important it is to link online and offline sales communication and give the customers the same purchase service in multiple channels. It will always be difficult to understand where customers make their final purchase decision and where they finally buy though. This additional study by Google underlines the trend for an offline and online purchase decision mix. One things is for sure again: The need for more awareness around the incorporation of commerce activities in social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is gaining momentum.

eblizz – the next social shopping extension

In the last four weeks, some of the users of The Strategy Web might have seen a small icon on the right hand side of my blog called ‘SocialSpace’. You might have wondered what it is. Or how to use it. Here comes the answer. Now, that the team around the eblizz founders, Jeanette Okwu and Martin Wawrusch, has completed the integration of the social software tool, I will introduce you to a technology that I would call the next social shopping extension for future business.

Social networks are on an all-time high. Corporate websites and shops loose out on traffic and referential linking as people start talking, connecting and linking via social networks like Facebook, Twitter or other social networks. SEO doesn’t work here as closed front doors don’t allow access for SEO tactics. And with the massive rise of social networks, especially Facebook, the question comes up how to bridge the lack of a connection between social networks and homepages or shops.

eblizz offers this solution. It brings social networks and brands together. In a way that social Networks become an integral part of brand websites – be it homepages, shops or blogs. For now, eblizz starts with Facebook – but Martin told me, other networks will follow.

With eblizz users can interact with their social networks without leaving branded sites. Content can be shared with friends on Facebook. Users can immediately comment from the website they are on. Or store products visually in ‘The Shoebox’ and keep it for later purpose or use. Content can be, or as eblizz calls it, has to be ‘liberated’

What is the benefit of eblizz?
Business perspective Think about it. Prosumers create masses of content on the social web. Consuming that content, prosumers realize that brands become more and more exchangable. This causes problems for companies. They need to increase efforts to make their brand get heard. So ideally, companies make use of recommendation marketing to use the buzz of their brand fans.

User perspective Consumers often find things like nice products in online-shops. Or great music. Or funny videos. Or great pictures. And they want to recommend this to friends they are connected with on social networks. Today, it is impossible to take your friends from homepage to homepage, and easily share that content via a social network with one click.

Imagine your Facebook friends follow you from website to website. And, when you want to recommend something to them, you don’t have to change browser windows. You don’t have to cut-and-paste content. You just drag and drop it to the relevant person. Watch the short explanation and tell me if this isn’t really cool…

Companies pay a fee to get their websites eblizzed – no matter if it is a shop, a homepage or a blog. Their sites will be defragmented like a cake. This makes it easy for prosumers to share and recommend relevant pieces of content of a website: videos, links, pictures, etc.

Once a site is eblizzed, users find a button called SocialSpace – the button I started talking about at the beginning. The user logs in with on the question-marked face with their social network account. The SocialSpace opens up in a small picture on the website they are on. The users see their profile, the friends and updates immediately. They can also search for friends. And, they can immediately interact with their social network friends.

Users can even ‘bookmark’ interesting content in their Shoe-Box. The Shoe-Box is a place for personal content belongings. Here the users keep very special things in their SocialSpace. Maybe to recomment or remember a product or present for a Christmas or birthday in the future.

eblizz offers a next generation website customer service. eblizz integrates social network interaction in companies websites. And eblizz will become the driver of social commerce efforts by enabling engagement and brand buzz.

“Prosumers” create masses of content on the internet, including blog posts, product reviews and ratings. Producing all that content, prosumers begin to blur the lines between brands, making them more interchangeable. Not good for individual brands. That’s why companies need to increase efforts to distinguish their brand from all the rest. One way is to capitalize on “recommendation marketing” — build the buzz created by their brand fans. eblizz can help.

And here is how it works…
Consumers often discover products that they love online. And great music, funny videos and awesome pictures. They want to recommend them to their social-network friends. Today, it is impossible to take social-network friends from homepage to homepage, and easily share that content via a social network with one click. This is a universal social web problem!

So, imagine your Facebook friends follow you from website to website. And, when you want to recommend something to them, you don’t have to change browser windows. You don’t have to cut-and-paste content. You just drag and drop it to the relevant person.

eblizz was created to make things easier for anyone who wants to recommend content, product and services to any or all of their social-network friends. Websites and blogs sign up to get “eblizzed”. The fee seems very reasonable. Once a site is eblizzed, a button appears on the site’s homepage called “SocialSpace.” When a user logs in with their social network account information, Facebook for example, the SocialSpace opens up into a small picture that displays the user’s Facebook profile, Facebook friends (and their pictures!) and updates that are happening on facebook right from the website the user is on. The user can then drag and drop anything from the website right onto the Facebook page of any or all of their Facebook friends.

The user can also ‘bookmark’ interesting content from the website by dragging into their “ShoeBox.” This content stays in the Shoe Box for the user’s later use, can be edited and also shared.

Spot On!
So for me, the reason for a website to get “eblizzed” is simple. eblizz integrates social network interaction for all the users who visit a website, making it easy for them to recommend and share the website’s content. That’s how eblizz helps companies distinguish their brands. What is your take on it? Maybe you want to test it with my eblizz SocialSpace button? Drag and drop me your best videos on advertisement, funny pictures, shopping tips or cool texts. Looking forward to it!

And sure, let me know what you think about eblizz…

Neurological study: Bad websites causing ‘web-stress’

Bad designed websites and slow loading times are causing ‘web stress’ for internet users. This is the result of a new neurological study by CA in cooperation one of the leading customer experience and consultancy consulting firms Foviance. The study even shows that bad websites have a negative effect on the users health.

During the study, which was conducted at the Glasgow Caledonian University, volunteers (eight women and five men between the age of 25 and 42 years) were wired up to sophisticated neurological and physiological testing equipment (incl. an Electroencephalography cap) which was used to monitor brain wave activity. The volunteers carried out a series of everyday online tasks such as finding and buying a laptop PC and travel insurance. During the test the internet connection was slowed down to increase the stress factor.

With the generated data, CA and Foviance found the two most stressful points of the online sales cycle which caused a high level of ‘web-stress’: search and checkout. Although the volunteers completed the purchase, more than three quarters of customers will abandon the site in reality. And it took the volunteers up to a minute to recover from that ‘web stress’.

This result corresponds with CAs Web Stress Index study. In 2009 CA interviewed 2500 consumers. The key finding was that slow loading websites were a frustrating experience for 92% of the repondents. No wonder that volunteers in the experiment were leaving bad websites, or wanted to call the company’s hotline

“The results of this study sends out a clear message – businesses need to reduce ‘web stress’ and improve the online experience of their customers if they’re going to maximise returns from their web channel” (…) It’s not just about website design or internet connection speeds – the performance of a website is dependent on the performance of the web applications that support it. Businesses need an Application Performance Management (APM)** solution which not only provides real insight into how customers are experiencing their web applications, but will proactively manage the performance and availability of these applications. This translates into better customer service, improved brand loyalty and increased sales.”
Kobi Korsah, Director, EMEA Product Marketing, CA

And Foviance adds…

“Consumers have very high expectations of web applications and web sites – to be always available and instantly responsive. This experiment simulated the experience of underperforming web applications for our volunteers. The results show that when online expectations aren’t met, people quickly become agitated, confused and have to concentrate 50% more than normal. All these problems can be detected and prevented as long as businesses take a proactive approach to measuring the customer’s experience of web applications.”
Catriona Campbell, Director and Founder, Foviance and leading behavioural psychologist

Spot On!
In the summer of 2009, Akamai already revealed that 2 seconds is the new threshold of acceptability for eCommerce websites response times. The study showed that 40% of consumers won’t wait more than 3 seconds for a web page to load before leaving the site. This study by CA and Foviance makes this clear again: Corporations should have a close testing eye on the essential features (loading time for search and checkout) in order not to affect online shopping revenues. Especially if you bear in mind that online retail is predicted to grow to 320 billion EUR in 2011. More information can be found in this video on the CA study.

News Update – Best of the Day

What kind of advertising is better for campaign conversion for companies? Search or advertising? A recent Eyeblaster study states the combination of both.

“72% of the conversions of cross channel search and display campaigns are a direct result of the display channel while only 28% are the result of the search channel”.

And if we think a bit further, then we might ask if engagement creatives will be the most powerful future of advertising conversion? What do you think?

As mentioned in a post some days ago, augmented reality can offer great customer service or even be used as a sales tool in terms of visualizing products that people might want to buy. Lego shows how this could be integrated in the POS sales strategy…

Commercials in the 60ths have been recorded live. Should not commercials in our todays world of real-time be recorded like this? I doubt somebody can talk as professional as this car dealer today. Most of the social web workers are probably better in writing as quick as he speaks…

Augmented Reality – the future of customer service?

The customer service world around us is changing with the social web, new technologies, and especially mobile apps. The question is how much this is effecting our perspective of the real offline world around us. A new technology is evolving that is beginning to connect the offline and the virtual world from a customer perspective as it will offer some new form of customer service. The term is Augmented Reality (AR).

It is a technology that brings your visual experience and information from the web or networks together, and by doing this enriches daily situations with relevant data from the web – and in more and more cases the information provided will come from the user.

The competition for users and companies has already begun. We have augmented reality browsers like Layar, explaining us instantly which famous buildings are surrounding us. Or, another AR browser named Wikitude that starts to become one of the most-wanted AR browser apps (not only for iPhone users) and gets nominated for one award after another. With wikitude.me shops and service providers of all sorts can already use this cool service to make themselves visible in the offline world by geo-tagging their office or location with simple online entries. If somebody is new in a city, this person can find a laundry or the next wine shop much easier in the future – just by using an AR browser app.

There are products like T-shirts projecting interactive games with AR. Digital cosmetic mirrors where women in cosmetic shops can see in real-time what a new eye-liner or make-up is looking good at them without testing it in reality. Adidas will launch a series of shoes, each printed with an AR code on the tongue which give you access to an interactive game that changes on a montly basis. Is this the customer service of the future?

Now, just imagine what this technology could do for customer service in the future. Wouldn’t it be a positive effect when we get immediate feedback on health information about the food and drinks we consume?

The following short film, called Augmented (Hyper)Reality, shows us a world some time ahead, where augmented reality is part of our daily offline life. We see what the actor sees, from his own perspective, and get to know the oppotunities that AR might offer to our daily life. OK, if we agree to getting networked completely…

The interesting acknowledgement for companies will be the advertising part of the film – although in some way it might be shocking…

Spot On!
The complete overkill seems to be the massive sea of logos flooding our sight in the beginning. Although the above examples might seem an exaggerated view of a futuristic branding scenario, it gives some idea on how the world might change customer care in the future. And you never know if this will be really happening, or not. Today, this all might sound strange to us but just think about how common the use of artifical medical help is for us, or how often we use the navigation system in cars today.

And then, think about the options when combining location based advertising with augmented reality. This opens a complete new world of customer care…

Don’t you think?

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