Lab Weekly — 02/09/2018
Trends from the Super Bowl Ads, Smart Glasses from Intel, and more…
Lab Original
Outlook 2018: The End of the Beginning
The Lab is proud to release our annual market trend forecast report. As with years past, we highlighted the key trends that we believe will be driving audience attention and disrupting how we connect with consumers in 2018 and beyond. Read the full report now to find out the biggest innovation trends of the next few years!
How The Super Bowl Ads Reflected Our Outlook Trends This Year
Super Bowl ads often serve as a mirror on the key trends of the U.S. market and consumer culture, and this year, we see multiple trends that we highlighted in our 2018 Outlook report reflected in a number of Super Bowl ads. From our increasingly digital-driven culture to the importance of brand trust, let’s take look at the trends one by one.
News Analysis
Echo Look To Dole Out Fashion Advice & Buyable Content From Vogue And GQ [link]
This is a note-worthy content partnership that will likely help Amazon make Echo Look a more compelling product while also allowing Vogue and GQ to reach consumers with shoppable content at the exact moments when fashion is on their mind. For fashion brands, this means working with the two major fashion publishers that they probably already have existing relationships with is now opening a new channel to reach fashion-lovers at home. Although Amazon didn’t mention anything about sponsored content, this partnership at least opens the door for the two fashion magazines to potentially sneak in some sponsor messages or suggestions. As voice assistants continue to grow in capabilities, the third-party voice skills will continue to diversify and focus on more granular use cases.
Related: Microsoft updates its Cortana app for iOS with native iPad support [link]; Time Out launches a voice experience on Google Assistant that incorporates ecommerce [link]
Intel Unveils Vaunt Smart Glasses That Will Launch For Developers Later This Year [link]
It is easy to see the appeal of the normal-looking, lightweight Vaunt glasses, especially compared to other chunky AR headsets and smart eyewear products in market today. However, as a chip maker, Intel is not particularly known for making consumer electronic products, and it remains to be seen if the company can find a right positioning for Vaunt that will help bring it successfully to mass market. Regardless, its very existence once again reminds us that the current fervor over mobile AR is but a prologue to the future of AR glasses to come. As we patiently await for the arrival of a market-ready AR wearable product, brands should be proactively exploring how to leverage AR technology to add value to their customer experiences, starting with the mobile channel while keeping an eye out for further developments.
Related: New York Times introduces AR digital storytelling [link]; Google created a 3D model viewer called Article that brings AR objects to the web browsers [link]; Gucci becomes the first major fashion brand to create a custom Animoji, accessible via the Gucci app [link]
NBC Partners With BrightLine To Create Interactive TV Ads During Winter Olympics Coverage [link]
NBC Olympics kicked off the partnership with a series of promos that offers Advanced TV viewers the opportunity to access information and fun facts about the athletes using their remote control. While not particularly sophisticated in terms of the kind of interactions those ad units enable, this is still a commendable attempt on NBC’s part to spice up the TV commercials and drive viewer engagement. It is worth noting that BrightLine is teaming up with FreeWheel, which is owned by Comcast, to manage the interactive ads. As more and more connected TV sets and streaming set-top devices trickle in people’s living room, we expect to see more experiments with interactive ad units like this.
Related: ‘ESPN Plus’ streaming service launching this spring for $4.99 per month [link]; AT&T looks to launch next-gen version of DirecTV Now this spring and plans a voice-controlled client that supports DirecTV Now [link]; FCC approves TV technology ATSC 3.0, which gives better picture quality and new interactive features [link]; Netflix plans interactive programming for adult audiences after seeing success in kid’s success [link]
Snapchat Expands Geofilter With New Custom Lenses For Sale [link]
Snapchat is having a great week as its stock spiked after reporting higher-than-expected ad revenue and user growth on Tuesday. But it’s worth noting that much of that ad revenue surge may be attributed to the ad tech startup Metamarkets that Snap acquired in November. Also, it remains to be seen how much of its poorly-received app redesign, which is scheduled to roll out globally this spring, will affect its user growth and retention.
For better or for worse, however, the company seems to be steering away from flashy hardware products and re-focusing on building on its ad business, as evidenced by this expansion of its on-demand geofilter program. Providing 150 templates and AR objects is a great way to lower the entry barrier for regular users to create their own custom filters. For brands, this means AR-enabled filters and lenses is about to become even more commonplace on Snapchat, which help increase exposure but could lead to user fatigue.
Related: Snapchat adds a tool to let TV networks pipe snippets of live broadcasts directly into the app [link]; Snap-commissioned study found Snapchat users account for 50% of all U.S. movie ticket sales [link];
Stats To Know:
Apple reported record revenue and market share for 2017 holiday quarter, citing strong iPhone X sales and record average selling price for iPhones. During Q4, Apple shipped 77.3 million iPhone smartphones worldwide, representing $61.6 billion in sales, and reached its highest ever market share in the US phone market at 44%.
Pinterest Lens is catching on among users. Over 600 million monthly visual searches are being conducted across Pinterest site and apps, represents a 140% YoY increase, according to the company.
