DIGITAL. TRENDS. FUTURE.

28
Sep

Virtual Brands

I just discovered two great movies about “Branding in Virtual Worlds”. Half a year ago we already prepared a customized TrendReport about “Branding in Virtual Worlds” like in The Sims 2 and Second Life for one of our customers.

Here you can now watch two good movies about this major Trend:
The First one explains the Branding in Virtual Worlds with examples like American Apparell or Adidas:
http://mirror4.video.blip.tv/SCWombat-IntroductionToSecondLifeHighResolution433.mov

The second movie shows a good example about how to use Second Life as an advertising medium.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=synxFmQJ_0A

27
Sep

Internet Evolution 2020

A recent PEW Internet Study shows the Internet Evolution until the year 2020.

Do you agree with this statements?

A survey of internet leaders, activists, and analysts shows that a majority agree with predictions that by 2020:

A low-cost global network will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a “flattening” world.

Humans will remain in charge of technology, even as more activity is automated and “smart agents” proliferate. However, a significant 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans’ ability to control the technology in the future. This significant majority agreed that dangers and dependencies will grow beyond our ability to stay in charge of technology. This was one of the major surprises in the survey.

Virtual reality will be compelling enough to enhance worker productivity and also spawn new addiction problems.

Tech “refuseniks” will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change.

People will wittingly and unwittingly disclose more about themselves, gaining some benefits in the process even as they lose some privacy.

English will be a universal language of global communications, but other languages will not be displaced. Indeed, many felt other languages such as Mandarin, would grow in prominence.

27
Sep

The perfect mobile device?

Nokia N95

I just read about the new Nokia Mobile-Phone the N95.

It is a kind of blackberry with GPS and a 5 mega-pixel camera.
This makes it a major tool for all local-based services.

The phone is a small video-camera and a high-quality foto – digicam all combined in one mobile… wow.

Nokia N95

See the press-release:
It’s what computers have become – the new Nokia N95
September 26, 2006

Nokia Open Studio 2006, New York, US – Nokia today introduced the Nokia N95, an all-in-one multimedia computer with a pioneering 2-way slide concept, integrated GPS functionality, a 5 megapixel camera and support for high-speed mobile networks, making it easier to watch and record videos, listen to songs, take high-quality photos, browse the internet, or catch up on email while on the move.
read more.

20
Sep

The Future of Newspapers

This is a great article I found at FastCompany written by Richard Watson.

The Future of Newspapers

In this age of user-generated content and citizen journalism, it might seem like newspapers are becoming yesterday’s news. But there’s more life in them yet.

Someone (I think it was Kevin Kelly) once said that in the future all media will be free — we will only pay for functionality and personalization. I’d like to disagree — but I can’t. I can’t think of a single reason why this statement won’t be true, especially if you take a liberal view of what constitutes payment, functionality and personalization.

Newspapers are a good example. In 1960, 80 percent of Americans read a daily newspaper. Today the figure is closer to 50 percent — and it’s falling. Globally it’s the same story. Between 1995-2003, worldwide newspaper circulation fell by five percent. In 1892 London had 14 evening papers. Now it has only one. Also in the UK, a staggering 19 percent of all newspapers delivered to retailers in the first quarter of 2006 came back as returns and three national newspaper titles had return (non sale) rates approaching 50 percent.

If these trends continue, the last newspaper will be probably be produced by Grace Murdoch sometime in the year 2040.

However, if newspapers were invented tomorrow they would be hailed as a miracle innovation. They are cheap, paper thin, easy to annotate and don’t use batteries. You can read them in the bath and when you’ve finished with them they can be thrown away and safely recycled. Unfortunately they also go out of date the minute they’re printed, cost a fortune to distribute and user-generated content is limited to the letters page and classified advertising.

Despite predictions of paperless offices and the leisure society, we are all working harder than ever. As a result we are time starved and the family breakfast (along with home delivered newspapers) is being replaced by fly-by breakfasts listening to up-to-the-minute cable TV. Either that or it’s a milkshake in the car listening to the radio or a Starbucks and The New York Times online at the office.

In other words we are becoming digital nomads. We read, listen and watch what we want when we want. We no longer have the time (during the working week at least) to read newspapers and readers are shifting their eyes and ears to online sources of information delivered via everything from mobile phones to iPods. Online news is especially useful because it’s usually free and the content can be easily controlled and personalized. If you’re of the active (or exhibitionist) persuasion you can comment on the news through your own blog or send your own homemade entertainment to YouTube. We don’t even trust newspapers these days. Only 59 percent of Americans believe what they read in the newspapers compared to 80 percent in 1985.

Continue Reading..

15
Sep

Consumer Based Entertainment

“It is a show build around a community.” And the community is made up by the fans of the show.

The Fans have th ability to comment all the videos, to interact with the characters and also to create their own videos as a video-response. The Fans have the power to affect the story and communicate with each other and with character about the story.

That is the driving force behind LonelyGirl 15.

The project became an phenomenon by the culture of the internet and the technology of the internet. The producers take advantage of the fact that a majority of internet users have webcams, digital cameras or video-cameras. These teenagers take media and they make it their own. They are producing their own media and this show really let’s them do that.

— read more click here.
http://www.cscout.com/blog/2006/09/15/consumer-based-entertainment.html

14
Sep

Sand – Marketing

Back in Munich I wrote an article about “The World of Soccer and Sand” on the Live-Marketing-Blog.

Here is the article:

As sand goes by …

Beachevents and sandsculptures seemed to be one of the more foppish trends in the last year, with nearly every barkeeper poking out grains of sand from his drinks on a palm tree-contaminated beach. But there is more behind entrepreneurs, who suddenly like to find a dozen tons of white Sahara-sand in their office-reception. The sand as a marketing instrument offers nothing less than an always positively occupied instrument and symbol for all kinds of viral-marketing and pleasure-intruding guerilla-tactics as well as acceptance by conservative firms with their CEOs reminded of their last Barbados-trip.
Sandevents in Berlin

Continue Reading..

12
Sep

Chinese Boutique Hotel with a “00” License

See and Seen Villa

We are doing a CScout Strategy Retreat at the “Commune Hotel by the Great Wall” in China.

And I have to tell you – we are feeling like in a James Bond Movie with a touch of “Dragon and Tiger”. The whole staff at the Hotel are dressed in black, wearing a small red star – they just look like in the movie “Goldfinger”.

The Villas are designed by chinese contemporary architects and are very impressive. A great place to stay for a couple of days.
Have a look at the Villas: Commune Hotel Villas.

Kempinski just took over the Hotel Project and will open a big second phase on September 23rd.

06
Sep

Get ready for Beijing 2008

After one week of many meetings and a lot of work in Munich I left Germany to visit Beijing.

Beijing Forbidden City

Beijing is getting ready for the Olympic Games in 2008. And so do we.
My collegues and me are here for a couple to find out more about Beijing and the Olympic Games.
Furthermore we will expand our office and our team in Beijing; we have a small team in China since last year.

So we will visit the Olympic Stadium and other Olympic Sights.

I already found the cool Olympic mascots Bebe, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini.
Each name is one part of one expression:
“Beijing huan ying ni” which means “Beijing welcomes you”.

May be I get one of those for my little son. 🙂

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