experience matters

Katie Bogda & Jim Kim | Critical Mass Chicago

In attending the recent Mobile University event in Chicago (produced by the Heartland Mobile Council), one idea kept banging at the door of my brain. Working at a digital agency, most of the content wasn’t brand new to me, but it was extremely interesting to see that it is very much still new to brand marketers. “Demystification” was a common theme. Conversations throughout the day focused on starting small and strategically planning mobile efforts that make sense for your brand. That all fits nicely underneath the Education umbrella. But while it’s extremely important for us all to know where the masses stand (and take it on as a mission with our clients!), I was more interested in the associated comment that we are our own barrier to the potential of mobile. In short, we’re just not there yet. But we could be. At the risk of sounding naive and idealistic, the possibilities are truly endless.

There are countless manifestations of mobile technology that are no where near mainstream yet. I would love to say “that we haven’t even thought of yet” but I think there are some smart kids out there who  are ahead of the curve… See the MOCOM2020 video above. Those smart kids just need to keep working out the kinks and then tackle the biggest challenge of all. The demystification. Tackle the early adopters and the influencers and then we can work as a crowd to help prove the value and show the world how this will transform our lives.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the smart mobile ideas surfacing lately. Creative Director, Jim Kim spent time in CM’s own Mobile U follow-up to look into the future. He expanded our minds, sharing trends, excellent execution examples and the following “Up and Coming” opportunities in mobile. Here are my 5 favorites. Shout-outs to the providers Jim mentioned, but we know there are other groups working on the same ideas too.

1. AR browsers for mobile: Layers of data embedded in the real world around you that you can toggle between. Applications for real estate, food & entertainment, retail. This use of augmented reality will become how we live; not just an app. But will we be holding up our phones for long? (Check out Layar. View their demo)

2. Augmented Mobile Profile: A social user interface implementation of your public profile. Real time information about the people around you and their entire “clouded” identity–from business card to playlists, Facebook profile to thought capitol on Slideshare. One of the ultimate social/mobile integrations I’ve seen. (Check out TAT Augmented ID. View their demo)

3. The Active Idle Screen: Replaces your current homescreen with personal and valuable information (weather, trivia, sports scores, horoscope, etc.) in addition to advertisements for deals/coupons. Will reach the lowest common denominator audience. (Check out Mobile Posse)

4. QR codes without the QR: Recognizing that camera phones are crappy, we can analyze the photos. Take a picture of something and you receive contextual results around it. Mixed with geotargeting, this becomes very powerful. (Reviews, Where to buy, etc.) (Check out Mobot. View the demo)

5. Data Conformity: Location-based content and services are the promise of mobile marketing. But it has to work across all devices, content providers, and mobile carriers–one of today’s greatest challenges. When the great aggregator arrives, it will help to bring data conformity and data consistency. (Check out Useful Networks)

What other glimpses into the future of mobile technology have you seen recently? How about killer executions?

Katie is Associate Marketing Manager and EM Blog Administrator.
Jim is Creative Director for Bud, Autotrader and Vegas accounts.

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