A look into the future of travel at our #OgilvyLabDay
The sharing economy, 24 hour cities, getting rid of postcodes & #Rory360.
These are just some of the themes discussed at our Lab Day last week. Ogilvy Labs, a self-funded R&D innovation facilitator organised a day looking into the future of travel and tourism for Ogilvy staff and its clients.
Here’s a brief overview of the day we captured… in 360!
The morning began just after 10am with a full house in our Amphitheatre at Sea Containers, overlooking the Thames. Paul Archer (Founder of Duel) kicked things off with an inspiring talk about his trip around the world in a black cab, earning him the world record for the longest cab journey ever, clocking up over £80,000 in fares.
In the talk he spoke about being approached by a well-known cab company ‘GetTaxi’, and how they offered to pay him to continue his journey around the world. Paul touched on the importance of brand authenticity and how by helping fund something interesting and exciting, they are perceived as good, but if it was a planned PR stunt, it probably wouldn’t have had the same effect. Paul and his friends journey were front page news and mentioned in most major global media companies. This inspirational story was a great way to start and set the tone for the rest of the day!
Personalisation for People — Firef.ly App
Microsoft ventures followed by highlighting one of their accelerator companies, Fire.ly CEO Chad Cribbins explained the concept of the application, which is a personalised travel guide to plan, guide and create moments. They describes themselves as ‘the lonely planet cut up into pieces to only show you the bits you need and care about’.
The idea of personalisation and tailoring travel for ‘people’ has been a huge takeaway from this semester of learning and seeming to become a growing trend amongst startups to meet the demand of users wanting effective results with minimal effort.
The Sharing Economy
Another trend that emerged from #OgilvyLabDay was the idea of the sharing economy. The People Who Share founder, Benita Matofska’s spoke on the growing trend around sharing with the rapid growth of companies such as Airbnb, Uber (UberPool) and more. Benita mentioned that the sharing economy is “changing the world as we know it” and disrupting many industries such as food, travel, cars, skills, goods and services. The sharing economy promotes access over ownership, much like the music industry did a few years ago with streaming to reduce illegal downloads.
Benita’s research estimated that there are roughly £3.5 trillion worth of idol resources in the world. Imagine what an economy could look like if we learnt to share these resources, only paying for what you need, when you need it. Forget paying tens of thousands for a car you use twice a week and only pay for what you use.
Her research also found that the sharing economy is growing faster than Facebook, Google and Yahoo combined. With a valuation of over £15 billion in it’s first 7 years.
Innovating the underground with TFL’s Jason Da Ponte
Jason, formerly the creator of an app dedicated to helping passengers get refunds from TFL, now works as their Innovation Manager. A somewhat difficult job to try and not only please people, but innovate with their limited budget. The innovation portal allows for partners to pitch solutions to some issues they’re faced with. This open approach is hugely admirable and their increased efforts to become open and inclusive with the public will encourage innovation throughout.
Jason mentions that there are assets north of 150 years old, that can be hard to change. An example given when he touched on our audiences most popular question (audience were encouraged to actively participate in the discussion through the use of Glisser, a game-changing audience interaction tool) “When is WiFi coming to the underground?”. The answer in short, yes. But Jason did well to highlight the huge obstacles facing innovation like this, reminding us all that the underground network was not build with wifi in mind — there are sometimes just millimetres of room between the underground carriage and tunnel ceiling.
They are currently in experimentation phase with a lot of technology, such as iBeacons to determine how many passengers are on a single part of the train, or the temperature that can then be controlled for a more pleasant experience. A recent partnership announced with Experian will allow tailored ads to be displayed throughout the TfL network — continuing on this trend of personalisation.
Innovation at your fingertips with Springwise
James Bidwell, former MD at Selfridges and CEO at VisitLondon has had an impressive career managing millions in assets and thousands of employees. He left all of that behind in 2002 to focus on his true passion, innovation. In particular innovation through collaboration.
Springwise discovers innovations from across the globe through a network of some 19,000+ (and growing) ‘spotters’ across 180 countries and each day delivers a summary of their findings to 160,000 inboxes. They have featured companies such as Facebook as early as 2006 and were the first to talk about IFTTT and Bitcoin, often months or years before the mainstream media did.
In his talk, James says “If you start to understand what entrepreneurs are doing around the world, you understand much more about innovation than you can with massive documents and theories”. A takeaway from James’ talk is that collaboration is key, especially in Innovation. James alone with his small team based in London wouldn’t be able to find all these amazing companies and new tech, but with an army of almost 20 thousand, they can.
“If you start to understand what entrepreneurs are doing around the world, you understand much more about innovation than you can with massive documents and theories”. James Bidwell
The 24hr city — #NightTimeMatters Panel
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) hosted a panel #NightTimeMatters discussing the possibilities of London one day becoming a truly 24 hour city. Cities like Shanghai already resemble twenty-four hour cities where not only bars and clubs are open, but offices and public buildings too.
One panelist, Olivia O’Toole who is Head of Leisure Marketing & Strategic Partnerships for London & Partners asked the question, “Imagine if a tourist could land in Heathrow at 3AM, get a tube into the city and experience everything? Not just empty streets, irregular night buses and a few bars and clubs.”
Good-bye postcodes — A new way to map the world (What3Words)
Your postcode is probably quite accurate living in your London apartment, or semi-detached in Sussex, but what about those who live in Favelas, shanty towns or remote locations around the world? Having an accurate location is essential as we continue to live in this hyper-connected world. Not forgetting those in less developed places, but actively seeking to help and resolve these issues.
What3Words have used an algorithm to map every 3x3 metre square of the earth with three words. For example, my desk at Ogilvy is ‘ranch.maple.plan’. This innovative solution can not only help to connect billions living in developing countries, but also help emergency personnel. What3Words was trialled at Glastonbury festival last year to help people connect better — instead of being next to the green tent, you had a unique 3 word location. Easy.
This innovative problem solving is exactly the type of thinking we should apply to many other issues we have around the world. Tech may just be the perfect solution to connect the world.
Rory concluded #OgivlyLabDay
To end the day, our very own Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Group UK) summarised the day in this hilarious talk discussing the sharing economy and the future of travel. We captured his hilarious conclusion in 360 video that you NEED to watch:
…and of course, someone had to ask! #RoryForPM
Wait, there’s more!
Not only was #OgilvyLabDay filled with amazing speakers and thought leaders discussing the future of travel, we also had some of the most innovative companies in this space demoing their products.
Take a look at some of the awesome companies we love:
Blippar
We were joined by Blipper, the leading visual discovery app, using augmented reality and machine learning to bring the physical world to life through smartphones and wearables. They were demoing some of their hugely successful VR campaigns with Coca-Cola as well as their new visual discovery platform to connect the web visually.
Travelsify
Another exhibitor, Travelsify, using artificial intelligence to recommend hotels based on your preferences, personality and knowledge it builds about you. The tech uses DNA personalisation to better the way we travel.
Edge Retreats
Following the theme of personalisation, Edge Retreats is a premium vacation experience where you can tailor every aspect to make it perfect. From beautiful villa’s to personal chefs. A huge trend we have seen from #OgilvyLabDay is it’s about people and Edge Retreats make your vacation about you.
Making it easy for owners to rent out their properties, and people to rent these properties is the core of Edge Retreat. Their solution to the travel industry for the sharing economy is one of the ways they’re scaling globally.
Pufferfish
Pufferfish create innovative displays such as their flagship sphere display. It can be used for promotions, exhibitions and presentations. Their touch-screen displays are fully interactive for the user and offer an immersive experience.
The example shown at #OgilvyLabDay was a globe with travel information highlighting the possibilities of how advertising in travel could be used.
Eyetease
Eyetease is a multi-award winning media and technology company specialising in disruptive digital media propositions for taxis. Ranked in the top 20 tech start-ups in the UK, the company has developed Europe’s first digital taxi top proposition (‘iTaxitop’) and the world’s first ads-for-access high speed in-cab wifi system for taxis (‘CabWifi’).
Their flagship product, the iTaxiTop is changing the way in which companies advertise on taxis. Instead of a static print, their high-def screens can change between ads, or use video to help promote.
Glisser
Glisser champions itself as a presenter’s secret weapon. Their platform, built to aid presentation at events, conferences or meetings allows for an easy way for users to instantly get hold of a presentation/deck’s slide and tweet it within seconds. They also allow for the ability to ask questions during a discussion using a unique code, which can be voted by other members of the audience and answered during/after the presentation.
Jaunt VR
Jaunt VR is a leading production media company producing virtual reality films across sports, travel, music and more. Based in Silicon Valley, they’re at the heart of technology and through their Jaunt VR app, you can access their immersive content including The Lion King VR and much more.
Their latest camera captures extremely high quality 360 content and is pioneering the VR industry with its innovations.
Realtimes
With so much content stored on our devices, it’s hard to manage this and tell quick and easy stories. Realtimes fixes that. Formerly Realplayer, this rebrand manages the content on your device and categorises into events to automatically create a montage set to music.
It’s quick and easy way to share memories and removes any difficulties people may have with the technology currently available. Perfect for your next travel snaps!
Pavegen Live
Pavegen is redefining sustainability in the built environment, through the creation of our pioneering flooring technology. Pavegen can improve our data-driven smart cities and inspire future generations to diversify the renewable energy mix of tomorrow.
Their product creates energy which can be used to power lights. Pedestrians walk across the Pavegen system creating kinetic energy that is stored or used to power nearby street lights.
Bottle Rocket
Bottle Rocket are a mobile experience company founded the day after Steve Jobs announced the launch of Apple’s App Store in 2008. They work with some of the biggest brands to deliver effective applications to engage with audiences.
Their highly specialised, multi-disciplinary team guides their clients from the initial idea stage through strategy, creative, development, testing, release and ongoing maintenance and support. They consider themselves experts in mobile trends, gaming, TV everywhere, second screen experiences, publishing, and mCommerce.
Crowd Connected
Crowd Connected are pioneering the next generation of location intelligence through their platform that maps movement, not location. Their cloud-based software can track mobile connected devices to turns customers into a connected sensor network.
Designed to create better customer experiences, their software is currently being used across the globe in live events and beyond.
FatMap
Skiing is an adventure, but up until now there hasn’t been a solution for accurate mapping on your mobile device. FatMap solves that. Their innovative app allows anyone, from beginner to pro’s find the right information easily.
Their platform not only makes things easier for a rider, but safer. Using expert knowledge and high-detailed 3D mapping, the app calculates safe routes to stick too.
Retinize
Retinize create immersive VR content using high-quality equipment. They work with brands to help tell meaningful stories using this new technology to engage with a brands audience further, telling stories they couldn’t before.
At Lab Day, they were demo-ing the hottest thing in VR right now — the HTC Vive. Even Rory Sutherland had a go:
We also captured the #OgilvyLabDay on our Snapchat story.
You can watch here:
Our next Lab Day will explore innovation within health. To be involved or learn more, please contact us via twitter @Ogilvy_Lon_Lab or email us.
Tom Sharman — Social Media Strategist, Ogilvy Labs.
Find out more about the speakers at #OgilvyLabDay:
