At South By South West, there are a huge number of sessions dedicated to marketing. With the presentation of new technologies, there also comes a need to market them to the public. The latest innovations are actually just everyday things that we use but connected to the internet. For instance, automated cars and refrigerators. We are not talking about smart phone applications anymore though, these are practical devices that are able to monitor your daily life.
One such idea is a device that can monitor your heart rate, blood pressure, and a number of other body functions and offer suggestions to you as you do your grocery shopping. It can attempt to dissuade you from purchasing fatty, sugary foods that are high in cholesterol and suggest to you a healthy alternative. In doing so, advertising companies would have endless opportunities for product promotion. Brands would be able to create their own diet programs that would work with the device application.
Another possible innovation would be things like smart refrigerators, which would alert you when you’re low on a particular food product. These devices would be able to make a list for you and in the future, as more things become interactive, they could even order your groceries for you, to be picked up from the store. This is when vertical integration would really come into play, as the food companies would want to team up with the appliance companies in order to promote certain brands. For instance, your GE freezer might suggest different Ben & Jerry’s flavors when you are low on ice cream.
Right now, it’s mostly a waiting game for advertisers. They must await the day that these new technologies are actually available to the public, but now is the time that they prepare for the marketing renaissance.