From smartphones to tablets to surface computers, here we give the lowdown on broad technology trends in the mobile marketing sector. Current technological advances are allowing mobile devices not only to talk to users, but to other machines too. Hyper-connected apps will create new opportunities for brands.

Technological advances are having implications for brands and marketers. There are five major technology-driven trends currently and the mobile device is at the centre of them.

1. Hyper-connected devices

Devices and other digital objects are becoming hyper-connected. Within a given radius from one another, devices are connecting and communicating at increasing speeds. Connected media devices are constantly emerging and they represent a wider spread of apparatus than the mobile telephone and tablet computer: internet fridges, interactive billboards, televisions, surface computers, vending machines, personal media devices, cars and even buildings are already talking to us via mobile phones and the internet. In the not-too-distant future they will be talking to each other as well, and talking fast. Hardware will be hyper-connected.

This area of mobile is developing fast. Seven major mobile operators from around the world recently agreed to work together to develop an international “machine-to-machine” platform that would help devices talk to each other.¹¹²

2. Hyper-connected applications

Mobile and web applications and the personal and public profile information within them have also become hyper-connected. Think of things like social profiles, real-time media habits and purchase preferences: for example, Facebook, Zeebox and Red Laser profiles connecting with Amazon, iTunes and eBay. Coupled with connected devices, these connected profiles are having a significant impact on the way we do everyday things like shopping, travelling and consuming media/entertainment.

If the way people shop has changed, then also the way that people consume media has changed. Connected television viewing, dual screening with mobile and m-commerce is one example. The digital socialization of TV is already in full swing.¹¹⁶

Imagine for a moment that we are watching a Bond film on an internet TV. The computer controlling our TV is connected to our various wireless devices and online it is connected to our various personal and commercial profiles. These profiles act as our spam filters. They do not allow irrelevant or unwanted messages to reach us, but they are open to new messages from brands which are relevant for that given place or time. Bond movies are famous for their product placement; which is great if you are in the market for an Aston Martin DB7, but most people are not and many have relatively niche hobbies and interests. Only when Bond uses a product or service that is hyper-relevant to our profile will the mobile buzz with an opportunity to have it delivered.

This kind of marketing is not “futurology” – it is literally just around the corner.

3. The mobile hub

As hardware and software became increasingly hyper-connected, the mobile phone has evolved into a digital hub. We see more mobile “phones” connecting with all sorts of things as we move around. Things like train ticket barriers, bus stops, parking meters, EPoS systems, televisions, magazines, points of sale, packaging, outdoor billboards, household devices – fridges, stereos, heating and lighting systems – and cars. Mobile is acting as a wallet or train ticket, but also as a receptacle for (connected) media distribution. One example might be when we pick up a free movie or track on our mobile from a product or advertisement. People will get used to “picking things up” from locations with their mobile device.

4. Mobile-directed experience

The new mobile media audience has more power and control than traditional media audiences. We are seeing audiences that are naturally used to manually controlling their experiences. Recent examples of brand response to this would be the Renault 360 iPad experience, The Gadget Show 360 iPad dual screen¹¹⁸ and a 360-degree brand experience created for NS, the Dutch rail company, in The Netherlands¹¹⁹ which won an award this year at the Cannes Lions international festival of creativity.

The audience of today is increasingly able to use the mobile device (as a digital hub) to direct the flow of media. With the arrival of 4G, they are now able to send media to other devices almost instantly. The mobile has already become the ultimate remote control. For example, the top of the range Mercedes Benz comes with a mobile app to control its ignition, windows and all sorts of other functions.

The A-class, Mercedes' entry-level model, has Apple's Siri software integrated into its on-board controls for voice control via iPhone. The phone connects with the car (hardware) and your Apple profile connects with Siri (software) to direct the on-board controls. In some cars it is already possible to pick up a video on your mobile and play it on the dashboard. In a different scenario we might be able to pick up a mobile media recipe for making sushi from the fish counter at the supermarket. Then take it home and transfer it from our mobile to the screen in the kitchen, or play it on our iPad with a swish of the hand.

5. A new creative landscape

Advertising is no longer about the powerful preaching to the grateful. We still remember the great ads from the 80s. The best new TV ads would break in the middle of Christmas blockbuster movies. If they were entertaining we would be grateful for them. A remarkable one was the Heineken three-part ad, the first one spanned the entire commercial break and had other ads interspersed in between each part: the first part showed an Aussie rancher hunting in the outback, throwing about 20 boomerangs but nothing coming back. Next you saw another ad from the schedule, for a car or insurance or something else. Then the second part came on. You realized that they were linked but unbranded – the film cut to the same guy throwing lots of boomerangs, perhaps another 20, but nothing coming back. After another unrelated (but real) advert you see him again. This time he takes out a Heineken and has a long drink. This is when you learn that the last two unbranded ads were for Heineken. Finally we see the payoff. All the boomerangs come back at once, and the line says “Heineken refreshes the parts that other beers cannot reach”. The kangaroo hops past unaffected.

The first time we saw ads like this we were entertained. We were grateful for the story, the new format and the craft/execution. Today the audience is not so grateful and the brand not so powerful. The roles are reversing in this respect. We can already see the power tipping towards the audience on Twitter for example.

So advertising (creative work) has changed.

Marketers are still in the business of human understanding – we use human understanding to create business advantage but mobile marketing means understanding the way people adopt connected media technologies. Today we are in the mode of making insight-driven brand experiences. Platform ideas that grow beyond a single media channel. Advertising is changing again. Creative work will evolve into giving ideas to the audience: ideas of real value, as advertisements. We will be creating connected media campaigns that contain ideas that the audience can use right away. Campaigns that invite engagement from the audience and enable brands to give valuable ideas to customers, through connected media and devices.

For example: take the supermarket again. This time not at the fish counter, but walking down the condiments aisle. We are starting to see connected devices in the home like the internet fridge, which knows what is in it and how long it has been there. Also there are apps (like the Tesco app) from which we can scan our food as we use it and have it delivered with our next order. Let's say we are on our way to the supermarket, or walking past a shelf wobbler for Hellmann's Mayonnaise in the condiments aisle – we choose to receive a connected media advert from the Hellmann's package. Because the fridge and our phone are connected, the advert tells us that we have some chicken and pasta in the fridge and both are going out of date tomorrow. It offers a great new recipe based on chicken and pasta, if we grab that jar of Hellmann's. The brand gives us an idea for using up the food before it goes out of date. In this scenario, connected media devices are enabling brands to give ideas of value, as adverts.

Overall implications for brand strategy

A connected media (mobile marketing) landscape enables brand communications to become a service. With all the power going to the consumer and the mobile mode being “pull communications” then brands could need to plan how to be creative and tell stories across devices and locations.

In the early stages, most people are dual screening on their mobile devices while watching TV, or scanning barcodes for information in store – what could your brand do to make the most of that? One response would be to take a look at your various mobile internet sites and how they present themselves via different types of search on mobile.

The bottom line is this: whether they are experiencing your brand through traditional media, through the packaging or the product itself, they have a connected media device in their hand. There are many more connected things out there than you think – and a lot of these things are already connected to each other. Now is the time to plan a digital personality for your brand and start to work out how it might be able to help people (or even the planet) when the world's connected media infrastructure is fully established.

Biography

Scott (@scottseaborn) has worked in the creative industries for 15 years and with mobile technologies for the past 12. He began his career in broadcast media, then worked through digital before concentrating purely on mobile. He has owned a small agency and was Creative Director at a digital media network before founding Ogilvy Group's mobile division and then moving to his current role of Executive Creative Director at XS2. In the past 10 years Scott has won nearly 40 awards including some prestigious Cannes Lions, D&AD and London Internationals. He lives in Surrey and now and then he goes out to hug the trees.