NATIVE VML March Trends Report

THE TRENDS REPORT

Proudly brought to you by NATIVE VML

A MONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF TRENDS IN MARKETING, STORYTELLING AND DIGITAL

CULTURE LOCALLY AND ABROAD.

THE OVER-ARCHING TREND IN THIS TRENDS REPORT FOCUSSES ON ‘RESTORING THE HUMAN’. WE LOOK AT ENHANCING THE EXPERIENCE AND

CONNECTION OF BEING HUMAN IN WAYS THAT GO BEYOND WHAT WAS THOUGHT POSSIBLE.

CREATIVITY AND A NEW

REALITY

By way of Algorithms targeting online behaviour, marketing has started to define who the consumer is, leading to brands making assumptions about them when targeting communication.

In attempts to define their digital selves, it is no wonder so many South Africans are trying to reclaim their identities online. In fact, globalwebindex reported that 25% of South Africans are using ad-blockers, 35% delete cookies and 52% browse using a private window.

Russell W. Belk first brought up the concept of the ‘Extended Self’ in 1988, theorising that our possessions are major contributors to our identities. In his 2014 update to the theory he noted that “Not only have our possessions lost the constraints of their former physical bodies, so have we”. Two years later, his theory may need yet another update as the Digital Self moves full circle back into the physical realm.

Redefining the Digital Self

Uploading knowledge to the human brain

Electricity to the brain? Madness, right? Not exactly. HRL Laboratories have developed a brain stimulation system that increases the way humans learn. After studying and testing neuroplasticity of the learning centres in the brain, a group of scientists have been able to physically build new neural connections to enhance the learning ability of the brain.

READ MORE

Source: endtimeheadlines

Virtuali-Tee turns living bodies into a live X-Ray

Virtuali-Tee began as a Kickstarter project by Curioscope. Virtuali-Tee is a combination of a printed t-shirt and a mobile app that takes studying the human anatomy to a whole new level. It basically allows students to see the inner workings of their fellow classmates.

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Source: KickStarter

Ramblebot connects distant fathers with children

His children live in Australia and he lives in the USA - a pretty common phenomenon in this globalised world we live in. Matt Walker wanted to still be there full time for his children, so he learned robotics and built the Ramblebot, which is now available to the public ranging from $199 (R3000) for the standard bot, to $248 (R3700), which includes a robotic arm and gripper so users can physically interact.

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Source: Ramblebot

3D-printed Naked Selfies become a reality

Sending nudie pics are so 2015. Welcome to 2016 where anthropomorphism (Giving a non-human object human characteristics)is being taken to a strange new level!

For £149.99 (R3000), you can now send someone a naked 3D-printed version of yourself. Nudee, a product offering from Firebox, askes customers to send a photo of themselves from the front and behind in order to 3D-print a 20cm high naked version of themselves. The display piece claims to capture every curve and crevice and even offers free returns if you are not happy with your body.

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Source: Firebox

Artist commits digital suicide by using his own data at a London art gallery

Artist, Liam Scully, killed his Facebook Profile and downloaded all his personal data from pokes to photos, videos and chats posted between 2008 to 2013. Using this data of his ‘digital self’, he created almost 1000 drawings of his life on the social network. He then hosted a ‘funeral’ to showcase his work at London’s Union Gallery, and called it the A Digital Suicide. “The idea is to reclaim myself into a physical means,” according to the artist.

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Source: The Creators Project

Ever dreamt of being a spy with James Bond like gadgets?

Imaginative narratives are becoming reality thanks to wearable equipment ranging from scuba gear to shoes and gloves. Humans are on the verge of being able to create their own energy and turn any surface into one that can create new forms of art. Welcome to the age where being one of the X-Men is not so far off.

Beyond humanly possible

InStep Nanopower harvests kinetic energy while you walk

While you may be obsessed with e-health attributes of your Apple watch and being rewarded for it, what if you could generate energy from your afternoon jog. InStep Nanopower sneakers converts mechanical energy into kinetic energy and then into electrical energy. The 20 Watts generated while walking could very well power up your personal wireless electronics.

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Source: inhabitat

Music on tap

Sound energy has never been so sweet to the ears. Remidi-T8 - a wearable instrument allows music composers, performers and recorders to tap on any surface to make music. It’s a glove with eight pressure sensitive sensors paired with a wristband. Despite being in early development phase, the project has already received great reviews.

READ MORE

Source: WT Vox

INNOVATION AND DISRUPTION

Austin, Texas buzzed once again as the SXSW Interactive Festival saw the brightest minds in technology come together. Conversations kicked off with President Obama’s keynote speech, the looming ‘Tech vs Legislation’ issues, Bitcoin removing anonymity associated to cash, Google’s Self-driving cars and Coco Rocha from Refinery29 calling for fashion and tech to collide.

Looking beyond the celebrity talks, bands and panel discussions, the clear theme of humanoids and robotics emerged, sparking deeper discourse about robots looking and acting like humans. On the digital content side, brands were eager to display how they have adopted the Virtual Reality trend.

SXSW Trends Wrap-up

“The reason I’m here is to recruit all of you… We can start coming up with new platforms, new ideas across disciplines

and across skill sets to solve some of the big problems we’re facing today.”

President Barack Obama in keynote address at SXSW

Creepy humanoids

Social media buzzed with phrases like ‘terrifying’ and ‘creepy’ when roboticist, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, demonstrated a range of humanoid robots, the Geminoid HI-4 at SXSW. The professor from Japanese company Ishiguro Laboratories, created his own ‘Doppelganger’ cyborg, proving the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis that humans are already stereotyping and demonstrating symptoms of fear toward anything that remotely resembles the human appearance.

READ MORE

Source: Robotronica

Social and Emotive Robotics

Jibo is a ‘social robot’ designed to be a companion or a friend. Standing at 28cm tall and weighing around 2kg, it interacts with you using voice, gesture and expression technology. Jibo can help organise your home, help you read out recipes and recommend you take an umbrella if it’s raining outside.Cynthia Breazeal, Founder and CEO of Jibo, presented at SXSW on ‘The Personal Side of Robotics’ while Jibo was put on display in the exhibition hall. His meet and greet routine was used to get people more acquainted with the idea of having a personal robot in their home.

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Source: Jibo

McDonalds hungry to conquer VR Experiences

Earlier in 2016, McDonalds Sweden made headlines for trialling the Happy Goggles, where the iconic Happy Meal box was turned into virtual reality (VR) goggles using a few simple tears and folds along perforated lines. The campaign came with a ski-themed VR for children holidaying with their parents.

To continue the theme of McDonalds being a clear early adopter, SXSW saw the brand make use of the HTC Vive Virtual Reality headset, to immerse customers in the Happy Meal experience.

READ MORESource: Wired

The term ‘disruption’ has been used to infer how technology has upset specific industries, sectors or methods of communication. Through innovation, this trend is continuing to upset many industries with the likes of OTTs (Over the Top) services becoming the thorn in the side of the telecommunications industry, the mobile photograph coming to life with holograms and cars making transactions easier.

Innovation and Disruption

South Africans create the first hologram selfie booth. The Holobooth is the invention of the Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town and was first unveiled at Design Indaba. The hardware and software were all created in-house. Users can step into the booth to take a 15 second video of themselves that is then SMSed or emailed to the user. A prism is then placed on top of the user’s mobile phone to bring the hologram to life.

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Source: Bizcommunity

Google’s own cellular network, Project Fi, opens to the public

The exclusivity period is over. Google’s Project-Fi is now open to everyone in the United States using a Nexus 6, 6P or 5X. The search engine has been looking to take on and redefine the cellular network industry for a while now, especially with regard to data usage. Project-Fi has been marketed as a “fast wireless service with flexibility” and monthly bills that will be easier to understand. Services include the likes of Wi-Fi calling, text messaging and ordinary voice calling. The big draw card? Google promises to reimburse the user for data not used.

READ MORE

Source: Onwards.com

Visa integrates mobile payment tech into cars

In 2015 Visa experimented with mobile technology to make fast-food payments from the dashboard of your car. Now Visa has been focussing on being able to pay for petrol and parking using the same technology. The Visa innovation consists of apps, sensors and voice activation systems built into cars to pick up the petrol levels in the tank, calculating how much fuel is needed, what the optimal cost is, geo-locate the nearest pump station and even pay in-advance.

READ MORE

Source: Business Wire

MEDIA JUJITSU

‘Blended UX’ has become the buzz word in the User Experience discipline. It is defined as a “Mixed reality (that) is a blend of a physical space and a digital space” by Oxford Journal author, David Benyon.

Something simple as second screening could be viewed as a blended user experience as people consume content on two devices. This is nothing new. Brands have been using the likes of Shazam in television commercials and radio competitions. However, Blended UX is now evolving to create a mixed experience exclusive to the online realm, using new digital capabilities like VR, 360° video and Facebook Canvas.

‘Blended’ Digital Experiences

360° video reporting puts the spotlight on Brussels Terror Attacks

In March 2016, The BBC’s Ros Atkins held a talk at the IAB South Africa’s Digital Summit in Johannesburg on what authentic news reporting is. A little over a month later, the UK’s The Telegraph demonstrated this through the use of 360° video with their reporting of the deadly Brussel’s terror attacks. The reporting style enabled users to be transported to Brussels, to feel empathy and join the solidarity against terrorism.

READ MORESource: The Telegraph

Tinder matches millennials with a U.S. Presidential Candidate In an effort to get American Millennials to vote in the upcoming U.S. National Elections, Rock The Vote, a non-profit organisation, teamed up with Tinder to match millennials with a US Presidential Candidate. Using a new Q&A feature that works on the same Tinder principles of swiping left or right, users complete a quiz. On completion of the quiz users are paired up with a Presidential candidate that matches their own personal ideology.

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Source: Daily Mail

Facebook Canvas invite from Guinness

Guinness, the Irish Stout, used the interactive storytelling ad format, Facebook Canvas, to invite the public to their Dublin based brewery, Open Gate Brewery. This was the first ever invite to the public since the brewery opened over a century ago. The invite engaged users through a ‘Facebook take-over’ (or microsite within Facebook) plus a combination of video and photos to provide a rich taste of what they could expect on a visit to the brewery.

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Source: The Drum

Earned media for the individual

Often brands use influencer strategies as part of their earned media strategy, but what makes people influential? The controversial new Peeple app, created by two best friends has been called Yelp for people. The platform comes with the purpose of having our relationships decide how the world views us. It “allows you to better choose who you hire, do business with, date, become your neighbours, roommates, landlords/tenants, and watch, teach, and care for your children,” say the founders on their site.

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Source: Peeple

CONNECTING THE

UNCONNECTED

For years debates have been rife as to whether the  ’internet is “inherently” a force for democracy or not. Despite the side you take, it is all a matter of the motivation and the use thereof. In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg posted on his own Facebook page, saying, “The internet is one of the most powerful tools for economic and social progress. It gives people access to jobs, knowledge and opportunities. It gives voice to the voiceless in our society.”

Currently the internet is allowing for positive change like connecting those who thought they were alone in this world, building communities of commonality and rehabilitating those in need to be active citizens of society again.

Connecting isolated voices

Offline Mobile Solutions rehabilitating prison inmates

JPay’s KA-Lite allows prisoners access to education and in so doing helps in the process of their rehabilitation. The transformative tool, in the form of an offline mobile education system, uses content from the Khan Academy. Prisoners have access to quality education with results showing that over 325 000 videos have been used in over 50 prisons in the United States.

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Source: Digital Trends

Instagram brings #VisibleMe, a video channel to connect LGBT Youth

To connect and celebrate the lives of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) community, the photo sharing service teamed up with Huffington Post’s Raymond Braun to launch and create a channel within Instagram. #VisibleMe aims to make the invisible visible through the insight that “People are more likely to support the LGBTQ community when they know someone who identifies as LGBTQ”, says Braun. The biggest reason for the channel comes with the purpose of letting this community know that they are not alone.

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Source: Instagram & Raymond Braun

An online platform for Rwandan girls by Rwandan girls With backing from the Nike Foundation, The Girl Effect recently launched ‘Ni Nyampinga’, an online platform meaning “Beautiful Girl” for Rwandan girls. The platform is built and run solely by Rwandan girls who seek to challenge the perception of girls in society.

The biggest societal belief that the site aims to combat is the perception that girls can only be a daughter or a wife. Armed with the thought that girls are an untapped source of economic and social growth, the content of the site showcases examples of girls excelling at academics, sport, and overcoming disability.

READ MORE Source: Tribelessphoto

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