Monthly Archives: September 2017
Harrison Ford’s Name Game Is in Reverse
The mysterious ways our minds can play tricks is amusing. But when it happens to us, well…
Hold on a second, I seem to have lost my train of thought.
Oh! Now I remember. Or do I?
Blade Runner 2049 arrives in theaters across the country next Friday, October 6th.
That’s something we all know for certain.
When Will VR’s Player One Be Ready?
How will customers be marketed to in the future?
Marketing, in the traditional sense, is two-dimensional. The next natural progression is three-dimensional marketing. But wait, that’s not new and exciting. That’s simply reality. The next progression from three-dimensions is four-dimensions.
Or a tesseract.
I would love to visualize a tesseract for you, but no spoilers on Jimmy’s Daily Planet (bonus point if you got that). Marketing’s next dimension is 4-dimensions in a way, in that it’s something we can’t see with our own two eyes alone. We’ll just need a helpful pair of special lenses…
Think I’m crazy for making this prediction? Think it’s absurd and foolish to make a connection between marketing real products and VR (virtual reality)?
I say think again.
Some of the most effective marketing is experience-centric. Regardless of industry, if a company is trying to sell people something by evoking an emotional connection (the “I have to have it” reaction), the ideal strategy is to personalize the sell to provide a dynamic, customizable experience. How about showing consumers what something will look like or be like in various situations as programmed by the VR experience team of each company?
Somewhere between the near and distant future, we may very well enter the next dimension of the classic “show, don’t tell” expression. Abercrombie & Fitch (or A&F), for example, is currently using interactive dressing rooms as part of their re-branding effort, in which the consumer can play music and change the mood lighting when trying on clothes.
Escapism isn’t just for the movies, it’s usually a primary driver of our emotional connection to buying all sorts of things, practical and impractical/the fun stuff.
And what better escape in the 21st century than virtual reality?
The Future of Auto is Mobile
The question doesn’t seem to be whether or not we want to live within “the grid,” but rather what type of grid we want to inhabit?
In order to remain just on the ground level of our evolving digital society, let alone any furnished apartment or luxury suite, we must embrace the ever-growing connectivity of an ever-growing networked world. From our smartphones (if anyone has a flip-phone, I’d like to see it for historical purposes) to watches to tablets to computers to social networks to commerce to business to entertainment and everything in between, life’s daily necessities focus hard on innovative, customizable software.
That’s the reality…until it soon becomes virtual (see Ready Player One).
There are some negatives to this modern lifestyle, least of which are explored by the futuristic HBO hit show Westworld and a few select Michael Crichton novels. Still, there are incredible positives to embracing futuristic technology. And it looks like BMW is working towards one of these aforementioned positives…
If I were a betting man (thanks to a college poker game, I’m not), I’d wager a large sum of money on the word “charging” on the Buzzword Market Worldwide.
Or BMW, for short.
Investing in the right battery stock may be a prudent move as well. Time to get out the credit card and charge it.
The point is that the next technological frontier, and it’s still in the very early stage, appears to be a seamless, all-present wireless charging ecosystem for all the portable products/things/necessities in our lives. The world, to prognosticate, could evolve into a 3-D electronic world of sorts akin to an ’80s video game simulation. Walls, homes, roads may, one day, become super batteries and one further day down the digitized road all-mighty supercomputers. Just imagine what the digital grid could and will inevitably look like in a few decades. The pace of change increases with every passing day, hour and minute.
But for now, the BMW charging pad looks impressive and promising.
P.S. I hope you’re skilled at driving into car washes with precision.
This Is Us
How can we best tell our story to the world?
According to Steven Spielberg, we can best tell our story by projecting it with the people in it…along with a little imagination and uncertainty.
Spielberg, a forthcoming HBO documentary, is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, I (and most likely everyone else on the planet) cannot wait to see this in-depth look into everything Steven Spielberg. The man is a cinematic and storytelling trailblazer. On the other hand, the fact that an in-depth documentary about Steven Spielberg’s life has been filmed, produced and is ready for showtime HBO means that he’s lived a full life and that it’s now time to just reflect…?
Fortunately, the greatest filmmaker in history (my humble opinion) isn’t slowing down one bit.
Ready Player One, directed by the man, the myth and the legend, is set for release with high-anticipation next year. Then, of course, the famed director has another Indiana Jones film. Plus, he has at least a couple more Jurassic World’s to produce and guide during the next several years.
That’s the good news. Now here’s some more. We won’t just be entertained by Steven Spielberg’s imaginative movies about virtual reality, genetically modified dinosaurs causing chaos in the modern world or an adventurous professor from the mid-20th century. Moreover, we’ll be entertained by stories about, well, ourselves. That’s the true storytelling genius of Spielberg.
He suspends focus on himself in order for all of us to believe in ourselves in ways we never thought possible.
And an accompanying John Williams score doesn’t hurt either…
Spielberg premieres on HBO on Saturday, October 7th.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 