‘DIGITAL disruption is a mind-set that ultimately leads to a way of behaving; a mind-set that bypasses traditional analog barriers, eliminating the gaps and boundaries that prevent people and companies from giving customers what they want in the moment that they want it.”—James McQuivey
Digital disruption is, indeed, heating up. It can reach its raging point and, like a volcano, we can’t prevent it from erupting. There are two things involved here: It’s either we adapt or we die. Just like most industries, an urgent need for culture change hangs in the public relations industry’s door.
What is happening today is just a ripple effect of what has already been brewing for more than a decade. We are moving from an information economy to a digital economy. We can’t avoid it. And we need to change the way we do things. PR communication is going to be more complex and challenging. The future holds lots of opportunities for those who are able to adapt to alterations in technology, media and analytics.
The Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), in partnership with The Economist Corporate Network, produced and recently released a white paper that covers key trends in the digital economy that PR communicators need to be familiar with. The paper, titled “Asia Pacific’s Digital Disruption—The Next Set of Waves”, talks about the significant developments in digital technology that the market is advancing toward. The findings were shared in the DAN Communications Conference this author attended recently in Capella Hotel, Sentosa, Singapore.
The next digital movements include the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI). They are all groundbreaking and herald a new era where product manufacturers will rely on technology to develop a closer, more direct and more individualized relationship with their identified customers. Without a doubt, these technologies are redefining the possibilities of marketing.
Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT is a network of connected physical objects that communicate with one another. An estimated 2.9 billion people worldwide are using the Internet to access information, communicate with others, conduct business and shop online. But increasingly, physical objects come equipped with sensors, embedded software and wireless network connectivity, which enable them to collect and exchange data. IoT is fast becoming a part of everything around us: from intelligent fashion to smart homes, offices, manufacturing facilities, vehicles and retail outlets.
IoT promises to reshape the way people consume and how they live their lives. Possibly, the most far-reaching consequence of the proliferation of IoT is a shift from consumers buying and owning products to new offerings where the buyer may no longer own a physical thing, but rather be billed on a pay-per-use basis. Companies like Airbnb, a vacation-homes rental platform, and Uber, a transportation network, have firmly established the “on-demand everything” mindset among consumers.
The IoT surge will force many company leaders to rethink their business models at the most fundamental level. Dr. Wen-Syan Li, senior vice president and IoT Head of a software firm, sees a strong link between the smartphone boom and consumer acceptance of IoT products. People are now very familiar with the idea of services that seamlessly connect the physical with the digital world. As a result, it is now much easier to grasp the concept that any object imaginable like fitness devices, cars, bicycles, anything, could be digitally connected, trackable and controllable. This has led to a marked increase in acceptance of consumer IoT devices for personal and home use. IDC, a market-intelligence consultancy, reported that close to one third of all connected devices worldwide will be in Asia by 2020.
People are now very familiar with the idea of services that seamlessly connect the physical with the digital world.
Virtual and augmented reality
Virtual reality /augmented reality (VR/AR) are poised to become the next major consumer-computing platforms after the personal computers, the Internet and smartphones, enabling new forms of experience. According to the 2016 report by Digi-Capital, a US consultancy group, total investment in VR and AR start-ups worldwide over the past 12 months amounted to $2 billion, double the amount of the previous period.
The Pokémon Go craze exemplifies the AR technology. VR and AR are often lumped together as similar technologies, because they both generally require some sort of head-mounted display or headset. But there is a basic difference: VR s imulates a full immersive physical presence in a real or imagined three-dimensional environment, while AR supplements the view of live, actual physical surroundings with an overlay of digital assets.
Media companies and advertisers across Asia have already started experimenting with VR/AR. Shangri-La Hotels in Hong Kong has equipped its global sales office with VR headsets to let customers experience its 94 hotels and destinations in highly engrossing 360-degree videos. Audi, a German car manufacturer, ran the “Drive Back in Time” campaign in Singapore, creating VR videos that allowed people to drive around iconic areas of the city in 1965. Over a period of 10 days, 6,000 people experienced an Audi drive, which would have taken more than two years to achieve through regular showroom visits.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial ntelligence is a rapidly developing set of technologies that aims to impart anything. From smartphone apps to voice-controlled home devices, connected vehicles and personal robots with advanced cognitive abilities patterned on the human brain. This allows digital devices to perform complex tasks, like understanding natural communication, identifying consumer preferences over time or recognizing someone’s moods and adjusting their responses accordingly.
Highly personalized interaction with consumers and sophisticated predictive analysis will become the norm rather than the exception. Marketing and PR communication will be increasingly conversational in nature. Consumers will often be the ones that initiate contact with a brand. Each interaction between brand and consumer helps build the understanding of individual wants and needs of a consumer. The more meaningful the conversation between the brand and the consumer is, the more relevant the marketing program becomes.
Robots will play an active role as interfaces for consumers to make sense of their environment. The International Federation of Robotics has predicted that 35 million units of robots for personal use will be sold between 2015 and 2018; but only 8,100 of these will be social companion robots. The vast majority will be units that are only able to perform simple tasks, like vacuuming floors or mowing lawns. A robot personal assistant is being tested in a Kentucky Fried Chicken concept store named “KFC Original+” in Shanghai. The robot gets visitors’ orders, taking into account KFC’s customer data to better adapt its behaviors to patrons’ needs, as well as to improve transactional efficiency. Other leading global brands, such as MasterCard, Pizza Hut, Nestlé and many more, are integrating robots into their consumer’s journey.
On the downside, price and culture-based issues are primary hurdles for AI. Key technologies that power robot mobility and object manipulation are still expensive, despite the fact that the smartphone boom has contributed to falling prices for some hardware components commonly used in robot production, like displays and sensors.
Each culture has a specific view on robotics. In Japan people tend to idealize robots and see them as companions and friends. China has a strong government emphasis on the AI technology because it is strategically important to the country’s manufacturing sector.
In the west, there are privacy concerns, and pop culture’s message about robots is more mixed: The “Hollywoodization” of robots as a threat to humans in films like Terminator, as well as robots like Baymax and the Iron Giant, whose purpose is to serve humans.
Asia is likely to play a critical role in the growth and acceptance of these technologies. The region’s high population growth, rapid urbanization and growing affluence are creating the conditions for fast adoption on a large scale.
As many consumers are investing in big-ticket items for the first time, they are leapfrogging to smart, connected products, bypassing traditional technology. These digital disruptions will surely impact on business and life, and on the way people and companies relate to their publics.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association, the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Bong R. Osorio is a communications consultant of ABS-CBN Corp., SkyCable, Dentsu-Aegis Network and government projects, among others, after retiring as vice president and head of the Corporate Communications Division of ABS-CBN.
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